Généalogie Wylie » Billie Houston Combest [Wk] (> 1915-2012)

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1. Obituaries, 11 novembre 2013

   
   Billy Combest, who served DPD for more than 50 years as officer, chaplain, dies at 80
   
   
   By JOE SIMNACHER
   
   Staff Writer
   
   (XXXXX@XXXX.XXX)
   
   Published: 10 February 2012 10:47 PM
   
   Updated: 10 February 2012 10:47 PM
   
   
   
   
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   Billy H. Combest
   
   
   
   
   
   The Rev. Billy H. Combest, who served 26 years as a Dallas police officer and detective, became a Baptist minister in retirement so he could continue to serve the department as a chaplain.
   
   He was a detective on Nov. 24, 1963, when he had a brush with history. Mr. Combest was one of the officers who formed a human corridor for the transfer of the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy. Lee Harvey Oswald had just passed Mr. Combest when the prisoner was shot by Jack Ruby.
   
   Mr. Combest later told the Warren Commission he tried to get a dying declaration from Oswald, realizing he had been mortally wounded. Oswald gave no response. The detective also helped remove Oswald’s handcuffs before he was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital.
   
   Mr. Combest, 80, died Jan. 31 of a brain tumor at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Allen.
   
   Services were Saturday at Faith Baptist Church in Princeton, where he was a member. He was buried in Ridgeview Memorial Park in Allen.
   
   Mr. Combest was born in Anna and graduated from high school in Sherman.
   
   He served in the Navy during the Korean War and was working in a lumberyard in Redwood, Calif., when he met his wife to be, Freda Carbaugh. They eloped to Reno, Nev., two months later, in June 1954.
   
   Mr. Combest joined the Dallas Police Department in 1955 and was promoted to detective in October 1961. He didn’t have much to say about the history he had witnessed in 1963, beyond his testimony before the Warren Commission.
   
   “Billy didn’t talk about it much,” Mrs. Combest said. “People called him from different places to get a story, but he … didn’t talk about it.”
   
   Mr. Combest began studying to become a minister before he retired in 1981 so that he could become a police chaplain, his wife said.
   
   He presided over many weddings and funerals during his 28 years as a chaplain — mostly for police officers and their families. But by October, pain associated with the cancer no longer allowed him to continue, his wife said. His last ceremony was for one of his granddaughters’ wedding.
   
   “We made a pact,” Mrs. Combest said. “I said, ‘Billy, I think it’s time for you. You’re too sick. You can’t handle their needs right now.’”
   
   Mr. Combest’s civic contributions included having served on the Princeton City Council for about the past 10 years. He was Princeton’s mayor pro tem at the time of his death, his wife said.
   
   He was an active Mason with groups in Dallas, Sherman and Princeton.
   
   In addition to his wife, Mr. Combest is survived by two daughters, Debra Boyd and Susan Pruett, both of Princeton; two sisters, Peggy Minihan of Wylie and Edith Barnett of Princeton; four grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren.

Événements historiques

• Jour du décès 31 janvier 2012

Même jour de naissance/décès

• Egalement décédé(e) le 31 janvier

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