Armstrong, Helen Elizabeth (Wise)

Helen Elizabeth Armstrong passed away April 13, 2005, in Nashville. Survived by mother Augusta Adams Wise; son, Charlie Armstrong (Ramona); daughters, Martha Burnett (David) and Nancy Kirksey (Ronald); grandchildren Jim Armstrong, Jennifer Forrest (Ben), Julie Dunn (Kyle), Rachael Kirksey, Blake Burnett, Katie Burnett and Laura Kirksey. Funeral services will be conducted 10 a.m. Friday at Otter Creek Church of Christ, with Dr. Jim Thomas and Dr. Tim Woodroof officiating. Jim Armstrong, Ben Forrest, Kyle Dunn, Blake Burnett, Ronald Kirksey and Greg Hardeman will serve as Active Pallbearers. Glenn Huff, Randall Harley and the current and former Elders of Otter Creek Church of Christ will serve as Honorary Pallbearers. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Alive Hospice. Woodlawn Funeral Home, 660 Thompson Lane, Nashville, 383-4754.

From the Nashville Tennessean, May 1988… Mobile Meals Volunteer Named for Strobel Award

“Helen Armstrong is deserving of the Mary Catherine Strobel Award because of her nineteen years’ dedication to the homebound, elderly persons she has served through the Mobile Meal Program. She has been caring and concerned, not only about their nutritional needs but their personal needs as well. She has been reliable and dependable throughout the years, never failing to make her appointed rounds. She is truly an unsung hero.”

Mary Elizabeth Field, director of Mobile Meals for Senior Citizens, Inc., wrote the description of Helen Armstrong’s volunteerism in her nomination of Armstrong for the award to be given to the “Volunteer of the Year” by the Volunteer Center of United Way, Metropolitan Council Directors of Volunteers and the Junior League of Nashville. Corporate sponsor is First American National Bank.

Volunteer of the Year was to be chosen from among ten finalists and announced at a luncheon at First American National Bank to which all nominees were invited. Strobel, who gave her time, talents and energy helping those less fortunate, is characterized as having been an unsung hero.

Armstrong was the first volunteer of the Mobile Meals program of Senior Citizens when it began nineteen years ago. She has helped to fill trays, type statements, deliver meals, solicit funds and fill in wherever needed. For the past ten years she has delivered the same route every Wednesday, developing the interpersonal skills necessary to work well with elderly homebound persons.

Also nominated for the Mary Catherine Strobel Award was Betty Barker, active Senior Citizens member and tired Senior Volunteer Program volunteer. Barker was nominated by the local chapter of the American Red Cross.

Comments by Pam

White

I loved to hear Helen Armstrong reminisce about dating Charlie and their early married years. She was as proud of him the last day as the first and portrayed their different styles as a strength.

Comments by Sandra Collins

Helen had all the letters written from Charlie during WWII, all in chronological order-- a real treasure some historian would enjoy having. Helen and her buddies (Louise Parker, Margaret Kendrick, and Margaret Roper) would carefully mark the Friday paper’s listings of garage sales, map them out, and drive to sales from early morning till at least noon. Helen would buy things she thought others might use: work shoes for low- income workers, football cards for little boys, odds and ends that poorer folk she knew might be able to use. She was a regular volunteer for the Senior Citizens Center’s Meals on Wheels and a volunteer for Baptist Hospital. I remember being surprised the first time I saw her at the information desk at the hospital and then thought, “Of course she is volunteering here. That’s what she does.”