Dennis Verni "Denny" Combs

Dennis Verni Combs went to be in the arms of his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, on Friday, October 17, 2025. He passed away peacefully after a long struggle with Parkinson's disease that kept him from doing the things he truly loved with his family and friends over the last 6 years. His family spent multiple days at his bedside sharing their love, memories, & prayerful goodbyes and were truly blessed to have had the opportunity to walk through this last season of his life with him.

Dennis was born on July 14, 1939, in Red Oak, Iowa, to Thelma and Verni Combs. Denny, as some called him, was full of life and loved to be onery and joke around with people to make them laugh and smile.

As a child, Dennis enjoyed time in and with nature and loved being outside, whether he was playing baseball, spending time with his outdoor pets, learning to shoot rifles and hunt, or learning how to fish! He even found a young Racoon in the woods, which he turned into his family pet until it got so big that they couldn't keep it any longer!

His mother was really the one who got him into shooting as she was the first woman in Iowa to get her hunting license to shoot squirrels and he followed in her footsteps. She continued to encourage and support him as he continued to really grow into the sport of shooting when he was 6-10 years old.

Throughout the years he continued to grow and became very well-known as a legend in the sport of Colorado Trap Shooting winning multiple Championships over the many years of shooting from 1950 when he set historical records at the time becoming the youngest shooter to win a state championship at the early age of 11!

He would continue to win many youth shooting events during his teen years, and then as an adult, his shooting career really heated up between 1973-2016! During those years, he won multiple Colorado State Championships in Singles, Doubles, and Handicapped - all at the furthest and most difficult category of the AA27 yard shoots. Dennis became the President of the Colorado State Trap Shooting Association in 1978 and was voted into leadership multiple times throughout this career. He also had the opportunity to represent Colorado and shoot with the world's best trap shooters at the Grand National Event in 2002.

Dennis was very well-known within the elite shooting community and in 2011, the Colorado State Trap Shooting Association recognized him for the many decades of top marksmanship results and Championship wins, top-level leadership throughout multiple years, commitment in impacting and moving the sport forward, and his support for the growth of the youth trap shooting community. He was inducted into the prestigious Colorado State Hall of Fame of Trap Shooters to commemorate his lifetime of achievements in the sport that spanned well over 50 years! This recognition was one of his most proud moments and his family and friends were very proud of him too!

Another thing that was significant in Dennis' younger years was that he always seemed to gravitate to people older than him because he was respectful and he enjoyed learning things about life. In his teens, he met a very nice gentleman in Loveland, by the name of Walt Clark. Walt was an upstanding man and was very well-known in the community as someone who cared about teaching youth to find their passion in life. He spent a great amount of time taking Dennis under his wing, mentoring, and showing him what it meant to be a man and how to respect wildlife and nature. He taught him and went with him on many hunting trips for Elk and Deer and encouraged him to follow his passions of competitive trap shooting, flyfishing, hunting, bowling, and playing cribbage. He talked very fondly of Walt as he said he wouldn't have become the man he was without Walt's mentorship.

No matter what Dennis tried, he became a master of the art, whether it was flyfishing and being known as someone who could always catch fish even when no one else could, beating his opponents in his many years of bowling in Men's leagues in Loveland, or winning at the cribbage table in many tournaments here in Colorado and around the United States. No matter who his competition was across the table, he was a fierce competitor, even if he was playing against his kids! We learned early on when he was teaching us to play cribbage to never leave extra points on the table when we were counting the 15's in our hands, because he would steal them from you if you missed them! No matter what it was, he made us laugh and smile and he made it easy to respect him and to look up to him as a wonderful role model in life!

While those things in life that he accomplished were part of who he was, the best part of Dennis' life was when he was in high school and met the love of his life, Janice Combs. He graduated from Loveland High School in 1956 and after high school he spent much of his time running a small gas/service station here in town. After Jan graduated high school and while she was attending college at CSU, he asked her to marry him, and she was excited to say yes! From that point forward, Dennis and Jan were each other's best friends and partners in life. They spent the next 7 years just enjoying life with each other before having kids.

Eventually, they did have two children, Jackie (1967) and Tom (1972) and they remained married for 63 years before Jan passed! This last week Nov 19th would have been their 65th wedding anniversary! They were the last couple to get married at the old First Christian Church building downtown and they renewed their vowes on their 55th wedding anniversary here at the church! We have gained so much because they were committed to encouraging us to attend church here and following their faith of taking Jesus as their Lord and Savior. It was also because of Dennis that the kids learned to love the beautiful state of Colorado that God created! When the kids were young there were so many camping and fishing trips to be had, and they loved learning to do all the things that Dad did! Through his many years of being in the sporting goods industry, he was also inspired to learn how to tie his own flies and throughout the years he became a master with a fly-fishing pole where he had a life-time of special talent to catch fish!

Dennis also had the opportunity to work for many different companies throughout his life! He started out many career opportunities as a driver for Wonder Bread in Denver, then transferred to Empire Savings in Loveland and became a loan officer as he was very good with numbers and finances. He also spent years traveling/selling sporting goods to the many sporting goods stores throughout the Western Slope of Colorado. He also worked for a small sporting goods store in Fort Collins, eventually ran his own gun shop with a partner in Greeley for many years, and worked for Burris Gun Scopes in North Denver. He also temporarily worked for the Diamond Shamrock Gas Station on Lincoln Avenue, which was nice because he was close to home. Then, as he neared his retirement years, he worked for Sunrise Medical Equipment and finally retired at the age of 67.

Once the kids grew up and were out of the house, Denny and Jan also got the opportunity again to spend time traveling with each other where they had wonderful trips whether it was to go camping with their fun-loving camping groups (Sam's Club Campers or another camping group called the RV Rascals. Denny and Jan also got the opportunity to spend a great deal of time during their retirement years, fishing, golfing, and bowling together where they even went to the Reno Bowling Championships a couple of times and once with their daughter! He and Jan also took some wonderful excursions to Alaska, Scotland, Mexico, and Hawaii, as well as many other small trips around the United States where he would play cribbage into his retirement years and the last visit was one to go back to his hometown, Red Oak, Iowa so that he could show Jan where he grew up.

Dennis shared recently that while he had multiple pets throughout his life, none was as special as his dear Molly (his special pug) who was with him through many of the most difficult times of the last 10 years when he was also being the caregiver for Jan as she succumbed to the awful disease of Fontal Temporal Dementia. He loved Jan very much, and… Molly was the one who really helped him get through those difficult times. Once Molly passed away from Cancer, it was very, very hard on Dennis. So, we are praying that he has now gotten his beloved Molly back in his arms!

He also shared in the weeks leading up to his passing that he was very proud of watching both Jackie and Tom as they grew up and had their own families! He was proud that Tom and Jackie took many of the values and traits he taught them to be respectful of others, always having integrity, and doing the right thing! He said that some of his favorites memories were about becoming a grandfather! His grandchildren were the apple of his eye, and he really loved spending time with them. He had so much fun taking them fishing, camping, and watching Cassie play golf and Shane play baseball as well as hanging out with Aiden and Ava at the lake while he was helping his Son, Tom Combs, run the financial & administrative side of Tom's business (Dryland Stucco). Additionally, toward the end of his life, he shared with Jackie his many stories about his hunting and shooting memories and he thanked God for the life he had because he realized he was truly happy!

Dennis is survived by his Daughter, Jackie Jackson (Shane), his Nephew, Bart Shedron (Christine), his Brother-in-Law, Dennis Steiner (Jan Avery), his Daughter-in-Law, Kelly Combs (Tom-deceased), Grand-Daughters Cassandra Palmer (Jada) & Ava Combs, Grandsons Shane Palmer (Mikayla) & Aiden Combs, Step-Granddaughter Alexis Jackson (Dallas), Step-Grandsons Ryan Jackson (Cindy) & Jordan Jackson, and Great-Grandsons Ivan Bauer & Evan Kaufman, & Great-Granddaughter Krea Kaufman. Dennis is also preceded in death by his Parents Thelma and Verni Combs, his Son Thomas Combs, and many other Aunts, Uncles, & Cousins.

A Celebration of Life Service and Reception will be held on Saturday, November 22, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. at the First Christian Church, 2000 N. Lincoln Avenue, Loveland, Colorado 80538. Cookies & beverages will be provided during the reception. Donations, in lieu of flowers, can be made to the Colorado Trap Shooting Association. Thank you to all who loved Dennis! Please leave your memories of him on the Viegut obituary website.