DAN MCCOMB

Walter Dan McComb passed away peacefully, in his home, on September 22, 2022. He was surrounded by his wife and daughter.

Dan was born on October 29, 1927,  in Brigham City, UT to Walter Dan McComb Sr. and Lottie Peterson McComb. Growing up during the Great Depression, his family frequently relocated across the Northwest as his father moved from job to job. This transitory upbringing resulted in Dan attending 12 different schools by the time he reached his senior year. He liked to boast “I was the smartest kid in the 6th grade,” conveniently leaving out that he was the only 6th grader in the one-room schoolhouse. 

After graduating from Ogden High School in 1945, Dan enlisted in the Navy for 2 years. After getting out he graduated from Utah State with a degree in forestry, which he affectionally referred to a his “girl chasing degree”. Dan then enlisted in the Air Force for another 18 years. During that time he was stationed in Idaho, Mississippi, South Carolina, Germany, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Illinois, Wisconsin and California. His work was mostly classified but included  nuclear weapons systems, the Titan 2 and 3 missiles, Apollo 11 and 13, and environmental technology. During this time Dan also earned a degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Oklahoma and his MBA from the University of Chicago.

After retirement from the Air Force the family moved to Idaho where he worked for 21 more years as the transportation engineer for the State of Idaho Highway Department designing highways and traffic lighting and earning his license in Civil Engineering.

Retirement offered Dan the opportunity to pursue his passions and finally put his forestry degree to good use. He loved maintaining his expansive fruit and vegetable garden. Nobody could leave the McComb house without a zucchini or two. He even cultivated his own variety of raspberries, Megasars, which he named for his granddaughters.

Dan is preceded in death by his sister Betty Johns, brother Charles (Bus) McComb and Grandson Anthony Scott (Tony) McComb. He is survived by his wife, Betty McComb, his son, Patrick McComb (Karen McComb), his daughter Kathleen Perez (Kevin Perez), his five grandchildren, Jerrod McComb (Kayla Hempfing), Michael McComb (Emily McComb), Jeremy Perez, Megan Nicholls (Brandon Nicholls), Sara Roybal (Michael Roybal) and seven great grandchildren, Jocelyn Perez, Jayson Perez,  Kyle McComb, Kenzie McComb, Scarlett McComb, Jack McComb, and Danny Roybal.