OBITUARY - BIRDIE M. (MCKEE) DOBLE COMBS Submitted by: Jan Redelsperger, jansperger at gmail dot com Source: "Longview Daily News," Longview, Cowlitz Co., Washington, Monday August 19, 1991 page A4 Birdie M. (McKee) Doble Combs of 976 Delaware, Longview, died Aug. 17, 1991, at Community Hospice at the age of 101. She was born April 3, 1890, in Garfield, Wash;, the daughter of Joseph and Sara (Rafer) McKee, and was christened “Carmen” but was always called by her nickname, Birdie. The reason, she had told interviewers, was that when she was young her skin was so fair and her eyes so black that they looked like bird's eyes. She graduated from Cheney Normal School in 1913 and taught in Spangle, Wash., Plaza, Wash., and Pendleton, Ore., before coming to Kelso in 1918, where she taught at Catlin School and Carrolls School. Eventually, she became principal of Carrolls School, where the pay was $145 a month. She also drove the school bus for a year. She was a noted seamstress, having made some 200 wedding dresses in her lifetime. She also did alterations at the Columbia River Mercantile Co. in Longview and at Caplan’s Dress Shop. Her memberships included the Kelso Eagles Auxiliary, the Rebekah Lodge No. 57 and the Grandmothers Club. She held several office, including president, in each of the clubs, and was Senior Mother of the Eagles. She had been name Cowlitz County Mother of the Year in 1974 and was feted as the oldest living graduate of Eastern Washington University in 1987. She was noted for her lively sense of humor, which often poked fun at the trials of her own life, and wrote witty poetry. Her readings have been heard by people throughout the Northwest. She also like to dance and play pinochle. She was preceded in death by her three husbands, Walter Bailey, Lou Doble and Nathan Combs. Survivors include a son, Lincoln Joe Doble of Kelso; a sister, Josie Murphy of Spokane; four-grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; three great-great- grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews. The funeral will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Dahl’s Ditlevsen-Moore Funeral Home with the Rev. John Steppert officiating. Interment will be at Cowlitz View Memorial Gardens. Friends may pay respects from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday at the funeral home. Those wishing to express sympathy may contribute t the American Cancer Society, P. O. Box 1, Longview, Wash., 98632; or Community Hospice, 1035 11th Ave., Longview.