Catherine Combs grew up in Hickory, North Carolina, and majored in criminal justice at Appalachian State University. She moved to Salisbury and worked as an intake officer in the probation office with the department of corrections. That’s where Catherine met her husband, Dean. “One thing led to another,” she says with a soft chuckle. They were married for 30 years.

“When I moved from Hickory to Salisbury, I was moving from my hometown to a place I had never been to in my life,” she explains. It was hard to get acclimated. After a promotion, she began working in Concord, and she discovered Moose Pharmacy. The friendly atmosphere and staff helped Catherine feel welcome. “It’s a real good sense of community,” she says. Years later, the pharmacy family would become even more important to Catherine. 

She and Dean had three children, Holly, Sarah, and Chase. They were a blended family, Catherine says, but one that worked well. 

The couple enjoyed travel. “We didn’t have a lot of money to go to too many places when we were young, but we’d drive to the mountains or the beach.” Later they vacationed in Aruba and St Martins, Biloxi, New Orleans, and a family trip to Lake Taho. Catherine’s favorite trip was driving across the country to Coronado, San Diego, to visit Chase, who was in Navy Seal Training. 

“I’ll never forget that. That was way beyond anything that a chain pharmacy would do.”

When Dean became ill and required a heart transplant, Catherine took care of him. She depended on Moose Pharmacy for help. She explains, “The medicines he had to take are very complicated and complex, and I never once was afraid that he would get any wrong medication from them.

After stopping by the pharmacy after work on one occasion, Catherine found that they were out of one of Dean’s transplant medications. “The pharmacist said, ‘I’ll call around and see if I can find this medicine, and we’ll transfer the prescription, and you’ll have it.’ And she did.” The pharmacist also gave Catherine her home number. “She said if they don’t have the medicine for me to call her. I’ll never forget that. That was way beyond anything that a chain pharmacy would do.”

Catherine was even more touched when the pharmacy staff sent cards to Dean when he was in the hospital. He died in July.

“I can’t even describe to you how wonderful it is to have a group of people like that. They mourned too when he died,” Catherine said with emotion. “I just love them. They’re like my family. They are truly interested in you.”