Bill Coombs 1970s
FROM CLASSMATES
Lee Ayres: I met Bill when we joined the swim team as sophomores at East. Bill helped Wichita East win the state swimming championship for three straight years under the leadership of Coach Bob Timmons. 
I soon learned that I was better suited for football and track. Our senior year, we attended some fraternity rushing events at KU together. Bill drove his black Plymouth Fury with me, Diane Rusch Zinn, and Kay Irving, his future wife, as his guests.
(Left, Lee Ayres; right, Bill Coombs in 1960)
In 1999, a year after Bill died, Shelley and I visited Bill’s sister, Sarah Coombs Wencel, at her home in Caldwell, Kansas. We learned how his cancer was attributed to his exposure to Agent Orange in Viet Nam. We reminisced about how she and Luke Vickery liked to cruise around after school in Kent Vickery’s white T-Bird. Recently, in October, 2020, when l contacted Sarah to request some photos of Bill, I learned Sarah was dealing with cancer. She put me in touch with her daughter Caroline and Bill’s daughter Christi to obtain a timeline of his life, insights about Bill and the family photos included below. Sarah died on December 31, 2020, just 9 days after our second phone conversation.
.Thank you, Bill Coombs. You were a great friend and a remarkable man.
David Kroenlein: Character and personality traits that are evident in high
school can be strong predictors of an adult’s life. Bill Coombs’ daughter Suki has described her dad’s adult life in ways that are remarkably consistent with the Bill Coombs I remember from East High – clearly a Marine, a leader and a team member, an ethical professional and a loving father and grandfather in the making. As a swimmer under Coach Timmons’ guidance, Bill had a course prescribed by Coach and took to that course easily. He was a naturally hard working, disciplined person and a very dependable swimmer whether in individual or relay events. Bill’s sense of humor showed in his quick smile. He was a very decent person who was a reliable teammate, both in and out of the pool, and an individual who was welcoming to all classmates.
John Van Slyke: On the East High Swim Team, Bill Coombs was a sprinter. 
His event was the 100 freestyle. I don’t recall Bill swimming in the summers with the Wichita Swim Club, but that is possible. At East, Bob Timmons had Bill swim freestyle legs on relays. Bill was a hard worker in swimming during practice, and he was a great teammate. When he earned his letter in swimming, I was ecstatic. No one worked harder for his letter than Bill did.
Out of the water, Bill was a great friend and a wonderful and really funny guy. Some of my fondest memories are of Bill and Jerry Leisy and me cruising the streets of Wichita a la American 
Graffiti. Jerry was the one with the wheels. He had a Pontiac Grand Prix. One year, I think Jerry wore out couple of sets of rear tires. His dad, Waldo, eventually asked him what the hell was going on. After I went off to college, Bill and Jerry remained close right up until Bill passed. I was exceptionally proud of the fact that Bill stepped up and served as a Marine Corps Captain in Vietnam. Jerry told me that exposure to Agent Orange is what led to Bill’s cancer. (Above, John Van Slyke; Left, Jerry Leisy)
Larry Statham. Bill was disciplined and purposed. I met him at Robinson in 9th grade. We became members of East’s swim team. He swam free-style and we competed on the same medley relay team. On that relay, Tom Vosper swam backstroke, John Deardorff swam breast, I swam fly and Bill swam freestyle anchor. Senior year Coach Timmons was looking to set some records in our
meets near Kansas City, Shawnee Mission, if I remember correctly. The pool was one with the decks not raised above the scuppers, but at water level, so there was hardly any wave action. That meant times would be fast!. Tom gave us a nice lead, John kept it, and I was moving off line to avoid hitting a swimmer in the water when Coach motioned to get back on the line. Entering the water, SPLAT!, my hand hit John’s head and when Bill started over me, SPLAT! his foot hit my head. I’m sure both Tom and John can tell the story better, but Bill and John gave me tokens and a swimming injury that ended my high school swimming career. Larry Hyde’s father, a doctor, accompanied our team on the trip and assessed the damage as a broken hand and a great black eye. Neither of my team mates suffered any injuries of note and our team won the meet, and of course went on to win State. Bill went to KU, served his country as a Marine Corps officer, was an attorney, and served as a judge in southeast Kansas before his untimely death. Rest in peace, Bill.
Article from “The Messenger,” 1960
Bill was destined to become a lawyer and eventually a municipal court judge.
FROM FAMILY
Suki (Susan Kay) Coombs, Bill’s Daughter. The photo below shows my dad on his last day as a municipal judge. He had to retire quite suddenly. He was still healing from surgery in the photo, as you can see by the bandages around his neck. This is one of the few photos we have of him in his judge’s robes. He retired after he had surgery to remove what looked to doctors like a growth in the back of his 
mouth. As a result, he lost his whole voice box and was suddenly facing late stage cancer. The cancer had already spread from his throat to his lungs and was likely connected to his service in Vietnam and exposure to Agent Orange.
My dad lived a couple more years after this photo. He traveled to many places he had always wanted to see, including the Middle East and Egypt. He saved that trip until he had been declared terminal because of the threats to American travelers during that time, lol. I was so glad he did all that traveling and enjoyed himself. I still have several keepsakes I treasure that he brought back for me. If I remember correctly, he went on at least one of those trips (Germany) with his old buddy, Jerry Leisy.
My dad often talked about his swim team days at East. He encouraged all three of us to join the Chanute Country Club Swim Team as children. And in the summer, he would go every night after work to swim laps at the Country Club pool. I used to love to go with him and watch him do those beautiful underwater flip turns at each end. Nobody else’s dad could do those, lol. When his first grandson was born In 1997 (who is also named William, after Dad), my sister was marveling at how big her son William’s hands and feet were. Dad smiled and said, “He’s got big paddles.” Meaning my dad thought he’d make a good swimmer. Those swim team days were important to my dad until the day he died.
Christi Coombs, Bill’s Daughter
When Dad was at East, he drove a black Plymouth Fury. I
t was his mom’s car and she picked it for her birthday so Bill would have a cool car to drive. It even had red upholstery and fins. Grandmother played golf and shared with her foursome the story about how and why she chose the car. Just then, Dad drove by in it, drag-racing friends on 13th Street. She said to her friends, “There he goes.” (Right; Bill and Christi; below the Plymouth Fury)
My dad and mom (Kay Irving), met at Robinson Junior High and then at a Wichita Country Club dance. Dad asked Mom to dance, but another girl grabbed him and said, “You promised me this dance.” The next school day Dad was waiting for Mom at her homeroom door. He gave her a note that said, “I owe you a dance that I gypped you out of.” It started from there. Mom and Dad told the story that when Dad would ask to have time to spend with Mom (when he was in Marine training at Quantico, VA) his superior officer would answer, “If we wanted you to have a wife, we would have issued you one.” Dad also said because of Mom, the General knew who he was because, as a school teacher, she had befriended so many people on the base. Later, when Dad returned from Vietnam, Mom stayed at home to raise their daughters ( Suki, 
Christi, and Sally), then returned to teaching kindergarten for thirty years. (Above left, Bill in the 1960s; right, Bill with Sally, Suki, and Christi)
Sarah Coombs Wencel, Bill’s Sister shared a poignant story about Bill when he learned he had cancer, probably from exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam. “Bill had a friend at the American Legion who encouraged him to apply for Agent Orange benefits with Uncle Sam. Bill was reluctant, but his friend kept bugging him to apply. Bill told his friend that if he got the benefits, he would buy a drink for his friend every time they met at the Club. The benefits were approved and Bill kept his promise.
Charlene Hope Coombs, Bill’s second wife. We were only together for ten years. I was working at the Chanute Chamber of Commerce and applied to work at Bill’s law firm. He was good at talking to people. He could dial a wrong number and have a five-minute conversation. When he lost his voice box during the throat cancer surgery, he learned to use a speaking device. His friends told him they were able to understand what he was saying. The main difference was that he did not interrupt as often!. When he lost his voice, he had to retire. We traveled a lot. He died about five years after the surgery, which is what he was told to expect.
Editor’s Note: Many thanks to Lee Ayres, who researched details about Bill’s life, talked with his sister, wife, and daughters; requested the remembrances from David Kroenlein and John Van Slyke; and collected the family photos shared here. Thanks also to Fred Elder, who gathered memories and photo from Suki Coombs and to Larry Statham for his story about Bill. See also Bill Coombs, 1941-1998.
Editor’s Note: This remembrance of Bill Coombs originally appeared on this website in 2021.
