Dear Cousins, Recently, a member of the group suggested that I share some data with you about our cousin Bert Thomas Combs (8/13/1911 - 12/4/1991), a gr gr grandson of Henry Sasser, who was Governor of Kentucky from 1959-1963, and sat on the US Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit from 1967-1970. Bert was my 1st cousin once removed. His mother Martha Jones Combs (3/9/1887 - 3/1/1955) and my grandmother Sallie Jones were sisters. My father Omers Jones (10/22/1905 - 5/12/1988) was Sallie's son. Martha & Sallie were the daughters of Virginia Hounchell (2/15/1852 - 5/8/1890), the 4th wife of Thomas Jefferson Jones (3/5/1836 - 3/27/1916), whose mother was Malinda "Lindy" (Saucer) Sasser (5/5/1815 - after 1880). Lindy was the 3rd child of Henry & Nancy Sasser. Jeff Jones was born to Malinda before she married Milton B. Jones. His father was Anderson Jones. There is a lot to know about Bert. His achievements were impressive; especially, when you consider his humble beginnings. I won't try to go through them all. If you are interested in more detail than I give, feel free to ask & I will answer if I know. Bert was born on Beech Creek in Clay County. He started school in a 2-room schoolhouse on Beech Creek, attended Oneida Baptist Institute, & graduated from Clay County High School at the age of 15. It then took him 10 years to work his way through the University of Kentucky, graduating 2nd in his class & earning a law degree. He joined the army as a private in 1942 & rose to the rank of captain. Near the end of WWII, he was assigned to General Douglas MacArthur's staff in the Philippines, where he investigated & prosecuted Japanese war criminals. He was awarded the Bronze Star for his work. Bert lost his first race for governor of Kentucky to "Happy" Chandler in 1955, but won on his second attempt in 1959. While governor, he ended racial discrimination in jobs & businesses licensed by the state by executive order, because he thought the legislature would not pass a law outlawing it. He also radically increased funding for schools. Education, especially education for the poor youngsters of eastern Kentucky, was one of Bert's passions. He often said that his mother came from a family of "hillbilly eggheads." (I guess that, in a way that's true. One of her brothers was an MD & another earned a Ph.D. from Harvard). She pushed him to get an education, and had always admonished him to do something about education in Kentucky, if he ever got the chance. He often talked about "the bright children up in the hills who don't have a chance." While governor, he proposed & passed a 3% sales tax (Kentucky's first) which was intended to pay a war veterans' bonus & to increase support for schools, with the following slogan: "One cent for Soldier Boy, Two for Sonny Boy." After Bert left the federal bench, he filed a class action suit against the State of Kentucky on behalf of 66 property-poor school districts, saying that Kentucky's method for funding schools was unfair. In 1990 the Supreme Court handed down a landmark decision that declared the whole Kentucky school system unconstitutional, and it was overhauled so that funding is now equitable across the state. Poor school districts in several other states have used his model to successfully challenge funding methods in their states. I do not think is an overstatement to say that our Cousin Bert influenced & improved schools for poor children all over the United States. It is also worth noting that Bert personally established a program to educate the mentally retarded in Floyd County, KY, because his own son Tommy was retarded. In some ways, Bert's family life was sometimes painful. In 1969, he divorced his first wife Mabel Hall after a 32-year marriage & 2 children (Lois & Thomas). He married Helen Clark Rechtin that same year & they divorced in 1980. In 1988, he married Sara Walter, a former law clerk. I have many memories of Bert. He was a quiet, straightforward, unpretensious, no-nonsense man who loved his "people." Some of my strongest memories are of the times during his governorship when he attended the family memorial service at the Beech Creek cemetery where our ancestors are buried. He always came to the service, before, during, & after his governorship. He said it was worth the trip to hear us all sing "Amazing Grace." In the years before he was well known & again after his celebrity had faded a bit, he mingled with the family & sat on the ground with his siblings & children on a quilt during the songs & sermon, as everyone else did. But the first year he was governor, "outsiders" who knew he would be there mobbed him, wanting to talk & shake his hand, thus, disturbing the service. The next year & every year thereafter, he waited until the service had started, then quietly walked up to a tree at the edge of the service & sat with the tree between him & the people until the service ended. I was never quite sure how he managed to sneak up without anyone seeing him, but he did. Bert's death was tragic & unworthy of such a great man. He was driving to his home on Cane Creek one evening while the river was in flood. There is a short section of road near a bridge that the water had covered. He had driven through it many times before, but that night the water was higher than it had ever been, & it floated his car downstream. He attempted to swim out of the water, & died of hypothermia. We buried him on Beech Creek at the head of his mother's grave. And we sang "Amazing Grace." Vietta Jones Keith