Longtime Troy, Kansas resident Norma Jean Holcomb, who was known as Jean by her family and friends, passed away on April 15, 2026 in Highland, Kansas. She was 99 years old at the time of her death, just 17 days shy of her 100th birthday.
Jean was born on May 2, 1926 to Archibald George Austen and Hilda Annie (Tanner) Bigg in London, England. She was an only child.
World War II affected Jean’s life in many ways. During the war, her parents sent her away from their home in London to live with her grandmother in a stone house with thick walls in the village of Swallowcliffe, in Wiltshire England. Jean’s parents thought she would be safer there, since London was being bombed.
Jean would tell the story of one day walking with a friend on a hill and seeing a plane fly down low. The sky was always filled with planes, so they thought nothing of it and waved. As the plane approached, they realized it had a swastika on it and a German soldier on the plane began firing at the girls. Jean remembers feeling the bullets as they whizzed by her face, but they were not injured.
Another war memory Jean had was being fitted for a gas mask as a child. She and her classmates were required to wear the masks every day at school for 30 minutes. As she grew up, Jean enjoyed dancing at clubs sponsored by the USO and Red Cross.
Jean was a war bride. She met Elmer Holcomb, a soldier in the U.S. Army from Troy, Kansas, in Tisbury, England and they were married on July 25, 1945.
In 1946, Jean made the very long trip from England to Troy, where Elmer’s parents, Leotus and Bertha Holcomb, and the entire extended family welcomed her. These people loved Jean as a precious member of their family, and they continued to do so throughout her life. She spent most of her life in Troy, but she lived at Two Timbers in Highland for the past few years.
Jean and Elmer became the parents of a son, Jerald, in 1947. In later years, Jean and Elmer would divorce.
Through the years, Jean worked at many different jobs in Troy. She held a position at the Register of Deeds office, worked with Judge Virgil Begesse, served as a receptionist for five different doctors in Troy, and worked with children at the library and with the Head Start program in Troy.
A longtime member of the First Baptist Church in Troy, Jean’s greatest passions included her faith and the children she came to know, according to Jerald. To many children around town, she was known as “Grandma Jean.” She also loved spending time with family and friends, tending flowers, being with pets, reading, walking, and keeping her house neat and tidy.
Jean was able to make several trips back to England to visit her family there. The first time she went back to England in the early 1950’s, she traveled there on the RSS Queen Elizabeth ocean liner with Jerald, who was a young boy at the time. They returned to the U.S. on the SS Liberte.
Preceding Jean in death were her parents.
Survivors include: son, Jerald of St. Joseph, Mo.; grandchildren Tim Prothero, Tina and Steve Wattenbarger, Tiffani and Jeremy Carson, and Terry Holcomb; great-grandchildren Trenton, Christopher, Jeffrey and Monica, Lucas, Brandon and Scarlett, Dakota, and Ella and Tristen; great-great granddaughter Willow; and numerous nieces, nephews, other relatives, and dear friends.
There will be a celebration of life service for Jean on May 2, 2026 at noon at the First Baptist Church in Troy with Pastor David Mason officiating. A visitation will precede the service from 11 a.m. to noon that same day, which would have been Jean’s 100th birthday.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Doniphan County Pet Rescue. The mailing address is 887 Friendship Rd. Bendena, Kansas 66008.
Harman-Rohde Funeral Home is handling the arrangements.
