John Combs
John Henry Louis Combs
2000 to 2024 · Rochelle, Illinois · IBEW Local 196
This is the one page here that is not a case file. Before any of it, John was a son, a brother, and a lineman who was good at the work and proud of it.
He liked the fact that when he flipped that switch on and all the power went on, knowing otherwise some of these people would be without power for quite a long time.
A son. A brother. A union brother.
John was 24, from Rochelle, Illinois. He was a Local 196 journeyman lineman and the owner and operator of Combs Complete Insulation. His family remembers an infectious kindness and a young man who was a joy to be around.
He spent years at the Diamond G Ranch, riding horses and competing in rodeos. He built and rode motorcycles, raised cattle, and loved music. He was the son of Christopher and Cheryl Combs, the brother of Patrick, and he had a dog named Toby.
The work he chose.
John traveled to Georgia after Hurricane Helene on a Red Rover Electric storm-restoration contract. It means crossing the country at short notice, sleeping in motels, and working long days outdoors to bring power back to people whose lights have gone dark.
The trade is small. Most of the people he worked alongside knew each other, or knew of each other. He was one of roughly twenty thousand linemen who answered that storm.
He went to turn the power back on for people he never met.
He did not come home. His death was ruled a suicide. His family does not accept that ruling, and the rest of this site is the record of why.