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BORN
1924
DIED
2010
William Armstrong Obituary
CORPORAL WILLIAM ROBERT ARMSTRONG, SR. Passed away peacefully on November 15, 2010 in Riverside, California. Bill was born in Leavittsburg, Ohio on July 31, 1924 to William Harry and Lorna Mae Haynie Armstrong. Bill was a veteran of World War II and the Korean War. He served in France, Belgium, and Germany, and was a member of the first group to cross the Rhine River into Germany. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge and the Colmar Pocket. Bill received the following medals: Good Conduct; American Campaign; European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign with two stars; World War II Victory; National Defense Service. Bill leaves behind a loving family, including his devoted wife of 43 years, Marian D. Schweitzer Armstrong; his children Patsy and husband Boyd LaCurelle; Debra Sanwald; Susan and husband Bob McDonald; William, Jr. and wife Noriko Armstrong; Thomas Armstrong; and Dan Armstrong. He is also survived by his stepchildren, Eileen and husband Mark Schwing; Cynthia and husband Frank Munley; and Bernadette and husband Jack Blandford, as well as 18 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his son, William Terry Armstrong. Arrangements are being handled by Miller-Jones Mortuary of Moreno Valley and burial services will be held at Riverside National Cemetery on Wednesday, November 24, 2010 at 10:45am. A celebration of Bill\'s life will be held at Hope Lutheran Church in Riverside, California immediately following the service. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to the American Diabetes Association.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Memories and Condolences
for William Armstrong
Daughter Patsy
November 15, 2022
Missing you more every day, I miss your advice on things! Love, Daughter Patsy
Daughter Patsy
December 16, 2021
It's Christmas Dad and you now have 4 Great Great-Grandchildren on my side. I keep your memory alive sharing you with them. Miss you more with each passing year! Love Forever
Dad, Mom Vera and Patsy abt 1952
Patsy Kramer
December 8, 2021
Dad and Patsy
Patsy
December 10, 2015
Thinking of you Dad this Christmas Season!
Miss you so much, but my memories will never fade.
Love you DAD!!
July 23, 2015
Hello. Although I never knew William Armstrong, we do have something in common. I was raised and lived with my grandparents and then my husband and sons at 64 Bridge St, Newton Falls, OH 44444 from 1951 to 2005. I always called the Covered Bridge "my bridge". Small world. Rosemary
Patsy
December 2, 2014
Remembering our last Thanksgiving together..Love and miss you so much Daddy!
December 1, 2014
THINKING OF YOU, NOT JUST TODAY, BUT EVERYDAY.....LOVE YOU. TOM
December 1, 2014
THINKING OF YOU,NOT JUST TODAY BUT EVERYDAY....I MISS YOU DAD. LOVE YOU. TOM
Patsy
August 1, 2013
Dad we sure do miss you! Wish you were here to see your newest GGrandaughter Veda Rose Kronenberg. I love you Dad!
Dan Armstrong
July 31, 2013
Happy Birthday Dad!
TOM ARMSTRONG
July 31, 2013
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!
July 31, 2013
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! I SURE MISS YOU. I THINK OF YOU EVERYDAY. I'M TRYING TO DO THING'S RIGHT LIKE YOU WANT ME TO DO. I HAVE'NT GIVEN UP YET. I KNOW YOU ARE WATCHING OVER ME EVERYDAY. I LOVE YOU DAD! THOMAS DALE ARMSTRONG
Daughter Patsy
November 23, 2012
Dad with each passing year I miss you more but I have the wonderful memories you gave me as I was growing up...I love you Dad!
November 22, 2012
Hi,
Please excuse me, but please read on! -
I have arrived her from using a link when I googled the 569th AAA.
I live on a housing estate in Reading, England.
The land used to house the Ranikhet Army Camp, where I know that American Servicemen stayed while preparing for D Day.
My internet seaches reveal that the 569th AAA stated at Ranikhet.
Here is an article I found online, where, under "Crossing the Atlantic", a veteran gives an account of his stay at Ranikhet.
http://www.justinmuseum.com/oralbio/corneliusjdbio.html
I am trying to find out if any of the men who spent time in Ranikhet are still alive.
I hope to gather a few more memories, and possibly the odd saved photograph before these are lost forever!
Can anyone help?
Best wishes,
Dennis Godding
Daughter Patsy
December 5, 2011
Well DAD it's been a year since you left us and I feel so lost without you. You were always there with a helping hand or advise. Miss you so much, Love you more.
Sharon Hites
February 9, 2011
Patsy, although I never met your dad, you and I grew up to be the best of friends and my heart goes out to you and your brothers and sisters. You know my dad was at MAFB during the same time. I know you and your dad were as close as my dad and I are. My thoughts and prayers are with you always. Sharon
Justin & Tavia
Justin Kronenberg
December 30, 2010
As is often the case with the Thanksgiving holiday, we look around us and take stock of all the things for which we are grateful and blessed. It is also a time of year where many lull into longing for those things with which we were once blessed but now miss.
I did not know Grandpa Bill well enough to speak of him biographically, but met him several times and was inspired. He shared with me proud stories of a time in his life where he faced, alongside thousands of brothers, great evil in the world's largest-scale war. He also spoke of decades of humble civil service following the war, and the joy he got raising so many children, and meeting their children, and theirs.
I know he was loved by a lot of people, and not just because he made, well, so many people. Folks liked Bill for the same reasons my friends enjoyed visiting him with Tavia while I was deployed. They liked him because, at least during the brief time I had the chance to know him, he was easy with a smile and a story. And that's what we all need to enjoy about members of his "greatest generation" while we can. They have lived through so much history, and Bill was certainly no exception.
I'm thankful Grandpa Bill lived so long, so fully, and touched so many people's lives. I'm thankful Tavia knew him her entire life, and I'm thankful he got to meet our son Drake.
Rest in peace, Bill. You're an inspiration for which we'll always be thankful, and tomorrow, you'll be missed.
-Justin
Daughter Patsy
December 24, 2010
If tears were stairs, I'd climb them and bring you home Daddy.
Bill and Marian having lunch with Cynthia at the Riverside Mission Inn, 2009
Cynthia Munley
December 15, 2010
Bill was my stepfather for forty-three years. I want to call upon my many fond memories of him in this tribute to paint a picture of Bill that will revive memories and resonate with his family and friends and especially with my mother, Marian, who loved Bill so dearly and was the only one able to deliver her high standard of personal care he received in the last year of his life.
Although I went away to college soon after Bill and Marian married, he became my own beloved family member, touching my life in countless ways. In this memoir, I want to share some of my remembrances of Bill that epitomized his great spirit of hospitality, geniality, talent, competence and generosity.
I was enrolled at the University of California in Santa Barbara (U.C.S.B.) in the late 1960’s when our two families merged. Bill often celebrated my homecoming from college by taking Marian and me out for a steak and a couple of White Russians in a little cocktail lounge along Highway 395—a real special treat for me as a recently-become twenty-one-year-old.
When my American Motors Corporation (AMC) Rambler (that Bill had chosen for me as a reasonable car for my college years) threw a rod because I had forgotten to change the oil for one year, I called him—my ever-ready car advisor. (Ramblers were compact and inexpensive automobile sedans with the special feature that the front seats reclined for sleeping and were useful to homeless college students—that I, luckily, was not.) Bill promptly took a day off of work, drove up to Isla Vista near Santa Barbara and towed my car back to Edgemont, where, using an auto repair manual, he completely rebuilt the engine for me. It worked great until completion of my junior year, when I sold it to go study in France.
At home at the time, Bill had a full load of demanding duties like fathering not just a pair of young twins—Susan and Danny, but also two grade-schoolers—Billy and Tommy (who were always begging to take them fishing or camping) and guiding the upbringing of two heavy-make-up-wielding, glamorous, spirited and adventurous teenage daughters—Debbie and Bernadette. (I mean the make-up was heavy—not the girls. They were skinny. Make-up was just an important part of their fashion statement and almost a dare to invade their individualities.) Bill didn’t crimp their style too much. He had his hands pretty full and was a master juggler—always appearing “cool” while multitasking with incredible ease as if he were a magician. I think I can safely say that each one of us children is well-aware of how we presented Bill and Marian with a unique set of child-rearing challenges that all combined, could have challenged the greatest of child-rearers. While balancing a full slate and full family at home, Marian’s professional livelihood was earned by the demanding job of supervising the March Air Force Base Children’s Nursery along with six lunches to pack every day in assembly-line precision. During all of this, Bill took “spare time” to rebuild my car engine for me. Pretty incredible! That immense favor to me was such a perfect example of Bill’s good and generous nature and master manager. He willingly went way beyond the call of duty.
Following the years of child-rearing that lasted quite some time, Bill, a full-fledged member of the “Greatest Generation,” gained more time to connect with his former military buddies and flew off with Marian to the various WWII Army veterans’ reunions all over the country. The one time he traversed the country solo (because Marian was undergoing chemo) to a 2004 veterans’ reunion in Maine, he managed to get caught right in the middle of the 24-hour grounding of all air traffic. He was in fragile health at the time but was determined to be there with his diminishing group of Army buddies. Now he is also sadly part of the lost ones, but was thankfully able to reconnect with his buddies during his life after his child-rearing was behind him (in a way, that never came to a full conclusion.)
Bill survived that air travel ordeal and lived on to be awarded his high school diploma in his eighth decade with all his children watching—a well-deserved milestone for a man who had achieved such success without his high school diploma in his vocation of supervising the Arnold Heights military housing. Bill retired at age fifty-five and pursued many post-career avocations like one hobby he took up enthusiastically and prolifically--wood-worker par excellence, populating all our homes with wooden Christmas decorations, doll rocking cribs, book and hook shelves, frames and framed mirrors (I have one in which I saw my daughter, Shelly, being born), key holders, book ends, napkin holders, and let’s not forget many mementos for his military veteran buddies at their reunions. Aside from that creative talent, Bill could fix or build almost anything for the home—a skill highly-valued by every woman on earth.
Bill constructed, refinished, gardened, landscaped, painted and did everything else needed to make his home one of the best-kept on the block in Edgemont. He even showed his skill as a negotiator with the City of Riverside, when the city took an easement in the front of his property for a sidewalk on Eucalyptus Street. In the negotiations, Bill managed to extract a nice upgrade of his circular drive and wangle a beautiful, large red crepe myrtle that he loved and showed off to all. And he kept up the tradition of home maintenance at his picture-perfect and delightfully safe condo in Maybrook Circle, Riverside, where he supervised many improvements including a professional renovation of his kitchen, which Marian enjoys every day.
In addition, Bill knew how to live well. He was always the gracious host, making you feel immediately welcome and that you had indeed arrived at the address where you ought to be. He conversed fluently and eagerly with everyone. Bill was always ready to offer you a beer or other refreshment. I’m sure he would have fulfilled the mythical role of “having a beer with the President,” without hesitation. He would have found some way to make the President feel comfortable. Bill was a patio barbecue master (everyone who knew Bill, knew the fun times we all spent partying in the beloved screened patio celebrating milestones like graduations, birthdays and Bill and Marian’s large gathering of friends and family for their 25th wedding anniversary.
Bill was a popular leader of the “Eucalyptus Gang,” including Thelma and Jack Robinson, Andy and Jackie, the Butlers and others. They kept up with events on front porches and over backyard fences during the many decades that this part of the Eucalyptus block stood together in stable solidarity in the face of unending transformations of the street and neighborhood. They even hung together through the extinguishing of the town of Edgemont as the Eucalyptus became an offramp street for Highway 395 and was consumed by the City of Riverside. If you ever thought Bill was a character, try keeping up with some of the other personas and goings-on that could be glimpsed with a healthy amount of neighborhood curiosity on Eucalyptus Street. It offered a fair amount of entertainment and fodder for conversation for the legendary “Eucalyptus Gang.”
Bill had a wonderful Meyer lemon tree with the sweetest lemon juice possible that only he could successfully nurture in that arid part of the yard that he deemed “the back 40.” That tree was always a cause of wonder. It was like Jesus’ multiplying bread and wine for the masses as it supplied his household and that of his entire extended brood and neighbors with almost year-long harvests for all our far-flung lemon needs. This tree must have also fulfilled Marian’s lifelong fantasy. The whole time I was growing up, I heard her repeating refrain: “If we only had a lemon tree...!” She used to love Peter, Paul and Mary’s song: “Lemon Tree.” To hear the song, either double click or hit “control” plus “click”: http://bit.ly/eBkIvY So Bill not only fulfilled her fantasy, but happened to cultivate the most amazing tasting lemons of all, as it turned out. We later heard that the tree died of neglect after the house was sold.
Bill’s idea of adventure was “the long drive”—not a cattle drive, but a long car drive in the comfort of one of his many well-kept automobiles. One of his retired careers was being a “road-trotter.” What a driver he was! I could always relax, knowing that Bill was at the wheel. He was such a smooth driver and loved those long hauls across the country to Ohio to visit family with six kids in tow bouncing around in the rear pickup camper (somehow getting along with each other cooped up together for hours at a time—maybe that’s where they developed their own negotiating skills) or later in life driving north to see my sister, Bernadette and her family on their mountain estate overlooking Ukiah Valley for the annual Thanksgiving family reunion in Ukiah or just a summer visit.
Bill loved to be in charge of the wheel so dearly, that he repeatedly tried to regain his driver’s license in recent years, but found this was one area where, after methodically pursuing every avenue to attain his goal, he reasonably concluded that it was not to be. He had to relinquish all the driving to Marian and others. I empathized with him on this note and sent him a Route 66 book and film. It was Bill’s long-held dream to drive that route just one more time.
The one thing he did not want to do again was another two-week-long cruise involving 12-hour flights to and from Earth’s last continent in the Down Under, where he and Marian (both in fragile health) had completed a two-week cruise to Australia and New Zealand, sticking to an “energetic” daily itinerary. Their cruising career began with a delightful, adventuresome gift of the Armstrong side of the family to Alaska. That was followed by cruises Marian and Bill organized with Marian’s sister, Barbara and brother-in-law, Roy Santspree to the Hawaiian Islands. They had such a delightful time on those cruises, (which proved to be a wonderful outlet for Bill to “make a friend out of every stranger,” as Marian puts it,) that they wanted to repeat the experience with a bargain AAA cruise to the Down Under countries. On top of the grueling flights and a demanding schedule, the vessel’s power supply failed on the last night aboard his cruise ship, causing unwanted suffering. In spite of all that, Marian seemed ready to sign up for another cruise. Between the two of them, they had the energy to keep each other going, always nursing each other back to health and venturing on exciting trips to exotic places.
There were eleven of us in the combined family and our various households spanned the continent. In their retirement, Bill and Marian used to work as a team doing so much for all of us. They would carry out favors for us that often required a fair amount of packing and various forms of physical work. There was so much moving of our things here and there, that they printed calling cards featuring a drawing of an eighteen-wheeler rig in the upper left corner with this sign--"Armstrong Movers." And before he left this earth, Bill got with the modern age: the bottom of the calling card had this catchy motto printed: "WE ARE NOW INTERNET CONNECTED: THE WORLD IS OUR OYSTER” and then he and Marian (mostly Marian) began corresponding using e-mail to the delight of all of us who use the net. I never lose an opportunity to brag to reluctant computer debutants of my own generation that—“my 86-year-old mother does e-mail and if she can do it, then you can too!”
The world was always Bill's oyster. He was ever-comfortable in it and never lost his joy for and participation in life. Even when he lost some ability to recall names, he handled that with grace. Many family dinners were held in his and Marian’s honor during the last years before Bill passed. The last one that I attended at the Spaghetti Factory in Riverside in April, 2010, Bill stood up and greeted his extended family gathered before him with this friendly welcome and self-acknowledgement: "I don't know your names, but I'm sure glad you came!"
Despite his memory handicap, Bill knew a good routine when he saw it. My sister, Eileen, made it a weekly date to drop by every Sunday morning to take him out to breakfast while Marian was in church. He proved to be completely cognizant of this routine, when one Sunday, his daughter, Eileen, couldn’t make it. The very next time Bill saw her, he greeted her with: “Where were you on Sunday morning?” Bill recognized a good thing when he saw it, even with memory problems. He never suffered from wanting to avoid a fun, socializing opportunity—especially when it involved going out to eat.
It must be partly a tribute to Kaiser health care and to his doctors that Bill kept rebounding from pneumonia and other mysterious ailments. He always came back to a degree of functioning health with his sense of humor which even reappeared at his funeral, when his daughter Patty, after saying a few words about him, unveiled Bill’s last laugh. Bill punctuated the end of his own funeral with a surprise can of SPAM to commemorate what he vividly remembered to be the substance which had sustained his body during his memorable young years in his European military tours during WWII. We couldn’t help but inwardly snicker at this amusing gesture and we felt his unseen presence among us—all his children and many friends saying goodbye to Bill at the National Cemetery near Riverside.
Bill was many things to different people--giving his full attention to each role-- the faithful husband, the dutiful and loving father, the competent maintenance supervisor, the merry, joke-cracking grandfather, the popular, fun-loving friend and neighbor. He was ever the helper, the jokester, and the perfect role model—“a man’s man” as my husband, Frank, has said. We will miss him, but are so thankful that he could live a productive and joy-giving life while he fulfilled an essential task--to be an authentic person and to fully live what he wanted it to mean to be Bill Armstrong.
Victor Fedrizzi
November 30, 2010
Victor J. Fedrizzi
Hi Pattie
Thank you for info on you Dad*s life and the funeral. Hope all went well and you have my symphathy. Slncerely, Victor
Bill
November 29, 2010
July 2010
Bill
November 29, 2010
November 26, 2010
1945 France
Bill
November 26, 2010
Dee, Rick, Jimmy & Daniel Prescott
November 24, 2010
I'm sorry to hear of the passing of Bill. He was a great man and it was an honor to know him. We lived down the street from him on Lancaster for several years before he moved. May he rest in peace and find comfort in Gods arms..
Rita Balderas
November 22, 2010
Marian, I am sorry to hear that Bill passed away...I enjoyed visiting with you both back when we were at Edgemont Elementary. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.
Bill Brethauer
November 22, 2010
Bill, we honor you and know that you are in the loving hands of the Lord that protected you in your service to our nation and in your life. Rest in God's Peace, Sir. Bill Brethauer, Hope Lutheran Church
Patsy LaCurelle
November 21, 2010
Rest in Peace DAD!
My Dad & I July 2010
Patsy LaCurelle
November 21, 2010
My Dad and I --July 2010
Patsy LaCurelle
November 21, 2010
Father to 10 children, Grandfather to 18 grandchildren & 20 Great Grandchildren.
May God Bless Everyone,
Love you Daddy!
Patsy LaCurelle
November 21, 2010
I love you DADDY..!!
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