Dr. William Bennett Armstrong

Obituary

Dr. William Bennett ArmstrongLong-time North Dakota physician Dr. William Bennett Armstrong died Saturday January 8th at the Unity Medical Center in Grafton, North Dakota at the age of 87. He was born December 20, 1917 in Clemons, Iowa, the son of the late Theron ""Ted' and Besse (Ross) Armstrong. He moved with his family to North Dakota in 1920. The family lived on a farm in Cass County for three years before moving to Fargo. Dr. Armstrong graduated from Fargo High School and studied at North Dakota State University from 1935-1938 while working at his father's bakery. He attended medical school at the University of North Dakota for two years and completed his M.D. degree at McGill University in Montreal, Canada in 1943. On September 3, 1942, he married Dorothy Beatrice Arnold, a nurse at St. John's Hospital in Fargo. Dr. Armstrong served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps in the Philippines and Japan from 1944 to 1946 and was honorably discharged from the Army in 1953. He completed his residency in pediatrics at the Children's Memorial Hospital in Montreal in 1949, and was one of the founding physicians of the Dakota Clinic in Fargo. In 1981, he joined the medical staff at the Grafton State School (now the State Developmental Center). He served there as Preceptor and Supervisor of Nurse Practitioners and Physicians Assistants, and later assumed the role of Director of Medical Services. He retired from the State Developmental Center at the age of 79 and lived at home in Grafton with Dorothy until his death. Along with his wife, Dr. Armstrong is survived by two daughters, Bonnie Lyn Wilkins (married to Gerry Wilkins) of Roseville, Minnesota, and Jane Karen Gibb (married to David Gibb Jr.) of Moorhead, Minnesota; a son, Thomas Leigh Armstrong (married to Barbara Turner) of Cloverdale, California; five grandchildren, Cassie Wilkins of Madison, Wisconsin, Susan Wilkins of Maiden Rock, Wisconsin, David Gibb III of Fargo, North Dakota, Elizabeth Gibb of Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Joseph Gibb of Boston, Massachusetts; and three great-grandchildren. A visitation will be held at St. John's Catholic Church at 1515 Western Ave. in Grafton, on Monday January 10th from 5-7 p.m with a 7:00 p.m prayer service. Friends may also call at the church on Tuesday for one hour prior to the service. The funeral will be at St. John's on Tuesday, January 11th at 10:30 a.m. Interment will be at Sunset Memorial Gardens in Fargo, ND. An online guestbook is available at www.tollefsonfuneralhome.com The Tollefson Funeral Home of Grafton is in charge of arrangements.