John Walter Combs

June 17, 1947 - February 22, 2022

John Walter Combs, age 74, died on Tuesday, February 22, 2022 (2-22-2022) at his home in rural Washington from complications associated with a short but courageous battle with advanced metastatic pancreatic cancer, after being first diagnosed with the disease on December 31, 2021. He was born at the Washington County Hospital on June 17, 1947. He was the oldest of three children born to John Benjamin and Ovida Louise “Dolly” (Parnell) Combs. He was raised on the family farm 3 miles west of Washington and attended the Franklin Center country school through sixth grade. After grade school, he went to the Washington Community School District graduating high school in the class of 1965. He then attended Fort Dodge Community College for one year where he played football. In his younger years, he was an avid bowler having once rolled a 733 series in his Washington bowling league. He often went duck/goose hunting at Lake Odessa. He also enjoyed spring mushroom hunting, a yearly fishing trip to northern Minnesota’s Lake Kabetogoma, and trapping fur bearing animals or deer hunting. But, the one thing that he most enjoyed was trap shooting where he won many prizes and awards. He was affiliated with the following organizations: Life member of the N.R.A. (National Rifle Association), N.R.A. training counselor and certified in all 12 teaching credentials of America, life member of the A.T.A. (Amateur Trapshooting Association), life member of the I.S.T.A. (Iowa State Trapshooting Association), life member of the Iowa Hunter Education Association Instructor’s. John taught gun safety for many years. The last few years, he has been Iowa’s Southeast district zone director for the I.S.T.A. (Iowa State Trapshooting Association). He particularly enjoyed working with and organizing the youth trap shooters for the last couple of years. He was a Washington County deputy sheriff for 5 years. During this time, he was the N.R.A. police combat instructor for the Washington County Sheriff, Washington police department and the police reserve. After law enforcement, he ran Fern’s Weeping Willow restaurant in West Chester for 1 year, then bought and ran the Talleyrand café for 5 years. John was still driving a truck fulltime for Delong Construction in Washington when he was diagnosed with cancer. He had a strong faith in God and stated, “I have no fear of death.” He is survived by one brother, Jerry, of Kalona, Iowa, sister Jane Adrian (John) of Richland, Iowa, daughter Ashley Owens (Matt) of Kalona, Iowa and several nephews, nieces and cousins. He was proceeded in death by his parents and grandparents. In honor of John’s life, the family will be present to receive friends from 3:00 p.m. until 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, February 27, 2022, at the Jones & Eden Funeral Home in Washington. Private family burial will take place at a later date at the Elm Grove Cemetery in Washington. It was John’s wishes that memorial contributions be designated to the I.S T.A. (Iowa State Trapshooting Association) in his memory. This would be his last gift to the shooting sport that has been such a big part of his life.