Jeremiah "Jerry" Combs, of Springfield, Missouri, passed away suddenly of a heart attack on September 28, 2020, at the age of 69.  Jerry was born in Hazard, Kentucky on December 7, 1950 to McKinley Combs Jr. and Betty Louise Botkin Combs. His family moved to Long Beach, California when he was young for a brief time, and then later to Eldon, Missouri in June of 1960. Jerry graduated from Eldon High School in 1968 and attended college at Southwest Missouri State University for two years, studying Spanish. Soon after, he was drafted into the Army and was honorably discharged. When he returned home, he worked at H&S Truck Line.

On June 10, 1977, Jerry married Jamie Sue Hayter Combs. They lived in Eldon for the first 13 years of their marriage and had three children during that time: Lindsay born in 1981, Megan born in 1983, and Jerry II born in 1986. In 1985, Jerry got a job in Springfield, Missouri at Yellow Freight Truck Line. He commuted back and forth from Eldon to Springfield every week for five years. Finally, he moved his family to Springfield in 1990. Reunited at last, the family was able to enjoy having games nights regularly and would play all sorts of sports together in the backyard. During the game nights, there was always some sort of sweet dessert and soda. Jerry loved his junk food! Jerry was able to retire in 2004 at the age of 53, which allowed him to spend even more time with his family, including his mom and sisters.

Jerry and Jamie became grandparents in 2009 and again in 2012.  However, later in 2012, after nearly 35 years of marriage, Jerry and Jamie decided to go their separate ways, but still continued their same love and support for their kids and grandkids. Two additional granddaughters were born over the next few years: one in 2014 and another in 2017.  Jerry loved to spoil them with lots of toys and lots of candy and sweets. He always had a heart for giving to his family. Jerry's favorite holiday was Christmas. When his kids were younger, he would have so many gifts for them, it would take them hours to open them all on Christmas Day with the children sometimes having to nap before finishing.

Jerry enjoyed many things growing up, but his favorite was always baseball. He not only enjoyed watching it but was also very good at playing it. He was a well-known pitcher in Eldon and would later go on to pitch for his son's coach-pitch baseball team. The team loved it when he pitched because he memorized where each kid would swing and could throw the ball to that exact spot! Another life-long hobby he had was music. He loved listening to music and could name almost any song and its artist that was published between the years of 1950 and 1990, as Jerry had an amazing memory. He also collected music; mostly CDs and records. In his retirement years, he recently started collecting records again and had accumulated over 60,000, with the intent of listening to every one of them.

In 2016, Jerry met Elesa Willis. They were never married, but were together for a little over four years up until his passing. They enjoyed doing many things together, and she gave Jerry a love for yard work. He would spend hours every day planting, landscaping, watering, and gardening and loved every bit of it. His yard definitely reflected his hard work.

Jerry loved his family deeply and will be greatly missed. He is survived by: his three children, Lindsay (Doug) of Springfield, Missouri, Megan (Lindsey) of Logan, Utah, and Jerry II (Traci) of Melbourne, Florida; his two sisters, Patricia (Delbert) Hayes and Rebecca (Dean) Poertner; his grandchildren, Trenton (11) and Olivia (8) Fredrick and Kara (6) and Holly (3) Combs; and all of his nieces and nephews. He is preceded in death by both of his parents, McKinley Combs Jr. and Betty Combs and his brother-in-law, Vaughn Poertner.

A visitation will be held in Springfield from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM, Thursday, October 8, 2020 in Gorman-Scharpf Funeral Home, 1947 E. Seminole, Springfield, MO.

Visitation will be Friday, October 9, 2020 from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM in New Life Assembly of God Church, 22139 RT-52, Barnett, MO 65011.  Funeral service will follow at 2:00 PM in the church.  Burial will be in Greenmore Memorial Gardens, Barnett, MO.