During an emotional presentation before the House Transportation committee, Combs' widow, Court of Appeals judge Sara Combs and a family friend, Joe Bowen, pitched lawmakers on the idea of finding a spot for a Combs statute near his last home. Bowen helped raise $70,000 for the statute, which is currently lodged in a studio in Louisville. He couldn't find property to put it on so he's gone to the legislature for help. Apparently, the state transportation cabinet has agreed to let Bowen put the statute up on a 40' x 60' piece of the property the state just bought on highway 213 just outside Stanton. Bowen says folks coming into Stanton or heading to Red River Gorge will see the statute and realize how much Combs meant to eastern kentuckians.
Several legislators praised the idea and talked about Combs' influence on their lives, one calling him the most progressive governor Kentucky has ever had.
Combs was governor from 1959-63. The Mountain Parkway is named after him. The city of Prestonsburg is erecting a Combs monument and another one may be on the way in the town where he was born, Manchester.