d/o Roland Hancel Hanks & Hulda Jane Jeffery
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LENA GERTRUDE (HANKS) COMBS, 101, Taneyville, MO, died quietly on March 12, 1997, at Forsyth Care Center, Forsyth, MO. Funeral services will be 10 a.m. Monday, March 17, at Park Lawn Funeral Home; burial in Green Lawn Cemetery. Visitation will be 3-5 p.m. Sunday, at the funeral home.

Mrs. Combs was born January 25, 1896, at Harris Bottoms, Stone County, (near Mountain View), AR, the tenth of 14 children born to Roland Hancel and Hulda Jane (Jeffery) Hanks. She was raised in Mt. Olive, AR, across White River from her birthplace. She married Alfred W. Combs on August 4, 1917, and they were married for 57 years until his death in 1975. Lena was of the Cumberland Presbyterian faith. She was a schoolteacher and librarian. After retirement the family moved to Taney County in 1973.

She was preceded in death by all of her brothers and sisters; her mother, Hulda Jane, in 1929; her father, Roland, in 1940; her husband, Alfred, in 1975; a daughter, Elizabeth Pitcher, of Omaha, NE; a son, Anthony Combs, of Richmond, TX; four grandsons; two granddaughters; and a great-grandson. She is survived by five daughters, Alfredda Rhoades and Frances Todd, both of Kansas City, MO, Dorothy Bradley, of Taneyville, MO, Virginia Lammers, of Independence, MO, and Patricia Retherford, of Wright City, MO; three sons, Donald Combs, of Independence, MO, David Combs, of Taneyville, MO, and Norman Combs, of Kansas City, MO; 37 grandchildren; 74 great-grandchildren; and 35 great-great-grandchildren.

Her philosophy for long life: Obey the TEN Commandments and do not abuse the temple God loaned us to use while on this Earth.
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