Linda Combs

Linda Rae Combs, 75, of Gaithersburg, Maryland, passed away on March 23, 2020 at Dove Hospice House in Westminster, MD.  She was the beloved wife of 50 years to Gene Dewey Combs.

Born July 31, 1944, in Seattle, Washington, she was the daughter of Daniel Boone and Lucille May (Kossack) Twining. Linda graduated from Bellingham High School in Bellingham, Washington. In search of greener pastures, she moved to Tacoma, WA and then down with her precious Aunt Marge Malarky in San Francisco.

Gene and Linda met in San Francisco and within 3 weeks were engaged to be married.  They were married in Marge’s house where Linda was thrilled to be coming down the staircase to be married.  Their initial years were tough, but both Gene and Linda stuck with their marriage throughout all the pain.

When her own children were young, Linda enjoyed working as a teacher’s aide in several special need’s classrooms. While her children were in school in Dale City, VA, Linda was President of the PTA and kept an active role in their classrooms and other school programs.

Linda was a very outgoing person and loved engaging with people.  She had a tremendous ability to create avenues of caring relationships with people from all walks of life.  Linda’s understanding of others was a tremendous asset to her developing deep relationships with women based on their interests and hers, and especially adored children. Linda opened her own in-home day care after moving to Gaithersburg. She loved to host “porch parties” at their home with all of the neighborhood moms gathering for conversation while the children played in the yard.  Linda was affectionally known as the neighborhood “mom.”

After 22 years of a tumultuous marriage, Linda and Gene committed themselves to following Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  It was then that they realized God had brought them from a place of unfathomable discord to a point of healing.  They soon recognized they needed to share the reality of their struggles with other couples so they, too, could see transformation in their own marriages by following God’s design for marriage.

Linda was an active and longtime member of the Church of the Redeemer in Gaithersburg until she suffered a debilitating stroke. Throughout those years with the church she and Gene were blessed to serve with Pastor Joey Vazquez in marriage ministry.  For more than 16 years, Linda and her husband facilitated marriage classes. She enjoyed organizing events and enjoyed serving in various ministries.

Linda was a very talented and crafty person who enjoyed a variety of hobbies over the years.  None of these hobbies were as important to her as making homemade stamped cards customized with a variety of embellishments.  Throughout her many years of creating cards, Linda was honored to make wedding invitations, thank you cards, birth announcements, and hosted a group of about 40 ladies in the church who created cards for the military during the Iraq and Afghan wars.

In addition to her husband, she is survived by her loving daughter Kristen Michelle Clark and husband Thomas “Tom”; grandsons, Joseph and Jonathan Clark; brothers, Dan and wife Theresa Twining, Dave and wife Connie Twining and Dick and wife Linda Twining all of Washington state. She is also survived by numerous nieces and nephews.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her son, Richard “Big R” Combs, and a nephew, Nicholas Twining.

Memorial donations can be sent to Deep Waters Tabernacle, care of Pastor Joey Vazquez at 9861 Old National Pike, Ijamsville, MD 21754.

A beautiful celebration of Linda’s life will be held at a future date.  Please check here at the Stauffer’s website in the upcoming months for additional detail and information.