[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 113 (Thursday, June 18, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E546-E547]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  HONORING THE LIFE OF MARY H. MCCOMBS

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. NORMA J. TORRES

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 18, 2020

  Mrs. TORRES of California. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor World 
War II veteran and Rialto community leader Mary H. McCombs.
  A graduate of University of Redlands, Mary began her decades of 
community service as a social worker with the Riverside County Welfare 
Department. Shortly after President Roosevelt's signing of the Navy 
Women's Reserve Act into law in 1942, she answered the call to serve 
her country and enlisted in the U.S. Navy WAVES program.
  Mary's tenure in the WAVES program resulted in travel to New York, 
Norco, California, and the San Francisco Bay where she trained to serve 
the Navy in a medical capacity. Until the end of World War II, she was 
stationed at the Naval Hospital on Treasure Island where her primary 
duties involved tracking all the admissions and discharges for the 
hospital.
  Upon discharge from the Navy, Mary married Ray McCombs and moved to 
Rialto, California, where she served as First Lady of Rialto from 1952 
to 1954. A loving mother of five children, she always sought 
opportunities to improve the lives of others. In 1962 she returned to 
work for the San Bernardino County Adoption Service, where she placed 
hundreds of children into loving homes throughout the county. Mary's 
beloved husband sadly passed in 1983.
  Mary continued to remain active in the community and with her local 
church. She was a member of the American Association of University 
Women, the Rialto Symphony Guild and other civic organizations. In June 
1995, she served on the task force to build the Rialto Senior Center 
and subsequently served on their board. Within education, Mary 
contributed to the establishment of the Morrow-McCombs Memorial Lecture 
Series at Cal State University, San Bernardino, which had a focus on 
fostering better understanding among Christian, Jewish, and Muslim 
people.
  An avid traveler, Mary visited sites around the world and 
accomplished many feats in her travels, such as climbing the Great 
Pyramid of

[[Page E547]]

Giza in her late seventies. She enjoyed exercise, as demonstrated by 
her frequent 3-mile walks to Trapp Elementary School. Mary remained 
active throughout her retired life, until she peacefully passed away on 
June 6, 2020.
  For her decades of commitment to our community and country in so many 
ways, we honor Mary H. McCombs on this day and thank her for the legacy 
she left in the City of Rialto and the greater Inland Empire. May she 
rest in peace.

                          ____________________