Melanie "Mya" Combest's Obituary
Heaven gained a beautiful angel October 24, 2023 when Melanie “Mya” Annette Combest went home to be with the Lord. To honor Melanie’s memory, visitation and funeral services were held at the Trails End Cowboy Church in Hallsville, Texas, October 26 & 27, 2023. Melanie was laid to rest at the Bogata Cemetery in Bogata, TX next to her loving parents the afternoon of October 27, 2023.
Melanie was born March 20, 1961, in Longview, Texas. Her parents Preston and Toni Combest preceded her in death. Those left to cherish their memories of Melanie include her wife of 43 years, Rebecca (Becky) Baxley; their four children Caitlyn, Chase, Calli, and Connor; her siblings Clint Combest and wife Julie, Stacey Stansbury and husband Tim, and Amber Ramsey and husband Rusty; her nieces Angel Hickman and husband Jody, Shaina Jackson and husband Ryan, Ashley Shaw and husband Michael, Ashley Caraway, Lauren Guajardo and husband Jube, Brooke Ramsey, Chellyn Wilson, Cayli Moore and husband Brandon; her nephews Cody Brian and wife Kayla, Kerry Hendricks and wife Stephanie, Kyle Ramsey, and Cheston Wilson and wife Kristyn; step father in law David Caswell; as well as many great nieces, great nephews and numerous other relatives.
Those who served as Pall Bearers were Chase Baxley, Connor Baxley, Cody Brian, Jody Hickman, Ryan Jackson, Cheston Wilson, Taylor Bayne and Braxton Mull. Brother Shawn Rhodes officiated the service.
Upon Melanie’s graduation from Pittsburgh High School in 1979, Melanie was employed at Lone Star Steel as a Production Clerk until she became employed at Texas Eastman Chemical Company in late 1981. While at Texas Eastman, she served in the roles of Maintenance Mechanic, Daily Job Planner and Shutdown Job Planner. During her employment at Texas Eastman, she also worked on a special project team where she traveled and temporarily relocated to some of the company’s then newly acquired sites in California, Georgia and South Carolina. Her role on the team was to assist with the Eastman Maintenance Integration at these sites. Melanie retired from Texas Eastman in 2009. She later worked at ABC Automotive Warehouse in Longview until 2016. Melanie was a Sunday School teacher for several years at Trails End Cowboy Church formerly Cowboy Church of Harrison County in Hallsville, Texas. Throughout Melanie’s career, she made lifetime friends whom she considered her second family.
Melanie treasured family time above everything else. She proudly supported her children in everything they did such as sports activities, school functions and was always excited to help with their school projects. She enjoyed taking the family on Saturday or Sunday afternoon fishing trips to Martin Creek. So many memories were made through the years on family vacations to Arkansas, Florida beaches, California beaches, Grand Canyon, Galveston Moody Gardens, Orlando, Blue Hole in New Mexico, Dominican Republic, and most recently a trip to Alaska. Aside from travel, Melanie enjoyed spending time at home watching movie series and working on projects around the house.
During the visitation, just outside of the church doors, a beautiful rainbow was seen by many extending from the north side of the arena to an area close to our home. Melanie loved rainbows so when her family saw this, we felt a sense of closeness with her. Her children said they could imagine her asking “God, can I ask one big favor….will you send my family a message that I am okay?” God is so good.
The outpour of love and support from everyone has been greatly felt and very much appreciated. On behalf of our family, we want to sincerely thank everyone who attended the visitation and services, came to visit us at home, called us, sent flowers, cards and texts, prepared and brought food, and most importantly for the continued prayers for our family. If you would like to make donations in honor of Melanie, East Texas Charter School in Longview, Texas, was very dear to Melanie’s heart.
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