Lakewood Lore

Native son recalls days of 350-pound ice blocks

The Lakewood of yesteryear suddenly unfurled for a native son, who now lives in Dallas. He recently saw his picture in a flyer promoting the new centennial book, “Lakewood: The First Hundred Years,” which is coming out in a few weeks.

Paul W. Combo, 84, was 19 when the photo of him was taken. His ice wagon was being loaded to start his route one early morning in June, 1924.

“Many Lakewood youths delivered ice in those days as a means of summer employment, and I was one of them,” said Combo.

“Every day I received twelve 350-pound blocks at the City Ice and Fuel Co. plant at Warren and Fischer Roads, where Winterhurst Rink is today. Later a supply wagon would meet me en route for a refill.”

It was not unusual for Combs to peddle 18 blocks a day on his Lakewood route. St. Augustine Academy was his favorite customer.

“After each trip to St. Augustine’s, the sisters gave me a sandwich and a glass of milk,” he recalled.

Combs remembers the heart of town along Detroit at Warren, with Hoffman’s Ice Cream Store on the southwest corner, and just west of it, Bauer’s Pool Hall, where high school blades gathered in the evenings.

Combs was born in 1905 on Winchester Avenue, but his family moved several times within the city. In 1925, he was graduated from Lakewood High School and not without mishap.

“Those of us who were to take part in Class Night exercises set for the day before graduation were asked to bring some noisemakers for a scene in the class play,” Combs recollected.

“Afterwards, a schoolmate, who had brought a small-caliber starter’s gun with live ammunition, had one bullet left, which he decided to shoot through an open window. Instead, by accident, he shot me through my hip pocket.

“A doctor removed the bullet, bandaged my wound, and the next day I limped into the commencement line and managed to get my diploma along with the other seniors.

“That incident took place 64 years ago, and I still have the dimple in my cheek to prove it happened,” he added.

Combs’ school days sweetheart, Dorothy King, survived polio contracted while she was a sophomore at Lakewood High in 1922. Years later, she sent some of her blood to Pittsburgh to be used to help develop the Salk vaccine.

She and Paul were married in 1927. The couple had one son, four grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Dorothy died in 1972, and Paul was re-wed two years later to a family friend who had been his secretary for eight years. She also is named Dorothy.

Combs worked for W.S. Tyler Co., maker of elevator doors and enclosures, for 44 years, retiring as Southwest regional manager in 1970. During his career, he was transferred numerous times, leaving Lakewood for good in 1947. He has lived in Dallas since 1952.

His ice wagon picture was made available to Jim and Susan Borchert, authors of “Lakewood: The First Hundred Years,” via the historian of Lakewood Christian Church, where Combs was baptized in 1917.

This article by Dan Chabek appeared in the Lakewood Sun Post June 15, 1989. Reprinted with permission.

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