Bert T. Combs

Bertram Bert Thomas Combs was a jurist and politician from the U.S. state of Kentucky. After serving on the Kentucky Court of Appeals, he was elected the 50th Governor of Kentucky in 1959 on his second run for the office. Following his gubernatorial term, he was appointed to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals by President Lyndon B. Johnson, serving from 1967 to 1970.

Bert Combs was born in the Town Branch section of Manchester, Kentucky, on August 13, 1911 he was one of seven children of Stephen Gibson and Martha Combs. Combs father Stephen, a parttime logger and farmer, was active in local politics, despite being a Democrat in a county where a large majority of residents were Republicans. His mother was a teacher, and she impressed upon her children the importance of a good education. Berts first school was the tworoom Beech Creek grade school. When he reached the seventh grade, his parents sent him and his sister to Oneida Baptist Institute in nearby Oneida, Kentucky because its school term wastomonths long, as opposed to theto 6month terms at Beech Creek. Later, Combs and his sister began riding a donkey every day to Clay County High School. Combs excelled academically and skipped some grades, graduating as valedictorian of his class in 1927 at age 15.

Source: Wikipedia