Melda G. Coombs; Former Nursery School Owner
Melda G. Coombs, who ran Greenbrier Nursery School in Reseda until age 80, has died in Tustin. She was 90.
Mrs. Coombs died Sunday of natural causes, said her daughter, Carol Mueller.
Born Melda Spratt Givan on Oct. 7, 1900, in Somerville, Mass., she came to California in 1939. In the early 1940s, she opened Greenbrier Nursery School. She ran the school out of her Hollywood home until 1958, when she moved to Reseda and relocated the school in her new home. A distant cousin of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Mrs. Coombs continued to teach preschool-aged children until 1980, Mueller said.
She is survived by her companion, Nathan Candy of Reseda; son Murray Coombs of Chatsworth; daughter Carol Mueller of Tustin; sister Emma Ford of Weymouth, Mass.; eight grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.
A funeral was held Thursday with burial at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills. Forest Lawn Mortuary, Hollywood Hills handled the arrangements.
Donations can be made in Mrs. Coombs’ name to the First Baptist Church of Reseda, of which she was a member.
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