Dorothy Gombis

Longtime Southland educator dies. For more than three decades, Dorothy Gombis' nursery school and kindergarten educated Southland children and in turn, their children. In 1949, Mrs. Gombis and her husband, George, opened the Kiddie Club and Happy Time Nursery School and Kindergarten Inc.
The accredited kindergarten run from the couple's 2½-acre farm in Worth educated hundreds of Southland children for 32 years, her family said.
"Children would grow up and bring their children," said Mrs. Gombis' daughter Ruth Ozinga. The family lived on the upper floor of the main house, while the main floor was used for the kindergarten. The Gombises had converted an old chicken coop into a classroom area for the students. On Dec. 2, Mrs. Gombis died of a stroke in Palos Community Hospital in Palos Heights.
She was 93. At the school, Mrs. Gombis and her teachers educated dozens of children each year. During the summer, the school would become a day camp for older children. "They would go downtown, go on boat rides (and) horseback riding in Palos," Ozinga said. The Gombises would later open a second school on West 95th Street in Evergreen Park before both schools closed in 1981. After her death, Mrs. Gombis' family marveled over the long, adventurous life that began in Turkey in 1912. Mrs. Gombis, nee Ayanoglou, was born to Greek immigrants living in Turkey. While a child, her family fled religious persecution and unrest between Greeks and Turks to Egypt.
As a student at an English mission college in Egypt, Mrs. Gombis showed great academic prowess, graduating as a valedictorian and easily passing entrance exams to the University of Cambridge. But then the young woman met a native of the island of Crete who had settled in Chicago but had come to Egypt to find a wife. After a short courtship, Mr. and Mrs. Gombis were married and traveled to the United States. The couple always felt they were in sync with one another. Both were devout Christians from Greek backgrounds. After living with family members, the couple settled into the Worth farm that would be their home for their entire marriage. While George Gombis worked a number of mechanical and automotive jobs, Mrs. Gombis kept busy on the farm. In fact, while pregnant with her first child, she dug trenches to be used in creating indoor plumbing for the family's farm, Ruth Ozinga said. A major part of the couple's life was their faith, which helped through good and difficult times. "Some people talked about their faiths, but they lived it," Ozinga said. "They did not have everything, they lived day by day and they made it," Ozinga said. Mrs. Ozinga also is survived by her sons, Theodore and Leon; sisters Ann Chilton and Olga Bessis; 17 grandchildren; and 20 great-grandchildren. Dorothy Gombis (nee Ayanoglou)
Born: Aug. 17, 1912, Adana Turkey. Died: Dec. 2, 2005, Palos Heights.
Survivors: Sons Theodore and Leon; daughter Ruth Ozinga; sisters Ann Chilton and Olga Bessis; 17 grandchildren; and 20 great-grandchildren.
Funeral arrangements: 10 a.m. service Saturday at Grace Fellowship Church, Oak Forest. Burial will follow at Chapel Hill Gardens South, Oak Lawn.

Thursday, December 8, 2005
By William Lee
Staff writer Daily Southtown