DELRAY BEACH — Elizabeth Lacewell Armstrong, a native Texan who loved to golf, loved to read, and could trace her heritage back to the Alamo, died March 10.
She was 86.
A self-proclaimed Southern girl who attended Louisiana State University, Mrs. Armstrong moved to Evansville, Ind., where she kept her home for 38 years. After raising three children there and getting them off on their own, Mrs. Armstrong began a midlife banking career and rose to be named the first woman in Evansville to be a branch manager of a bank. She eventually became a senior vice president at Old National Bank, before retiring in 1982 and moving to Highland Beach.
It was then that Mrs. Armstrong threw herself into her next project, volunteering with the Friends of the Library in Boynton Beach. A past president and board member, she gave countless hours.
Longtime library director Virginia Farace, who is now retired, said Mrs.Armstrong was someone you could always count on. From raising money for children’s computers to coming up with the idea that the volunteers should wear cute aprons to set them apart from patrons, her savvy business mind also made her great at fundraising.
“You’d say you needed something, and she’d run with it,” Farace said.
Besides books, there was another love in her life: Golf. And it was at Pine Tree Golf Club where Mrs. Armstrong met Jack Armstrong.
Mr. Armstrong said they’d both been widowed when they began socializing, mostly going out to dinner or golfing. “I had a home on the fifth green and hers was on the 18th tee,” he said.
The couple would have been married 18 years on March 27.
Mrs. Armstrong was also a member of The Little Club, and was active in the women’s golf association of Pine Tree Golf Club.
But it was the library that commanded most of her retirement time. “Just about every program they have there, she had a hand in,” said Jack Armstrong.
She was also a member of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Besides her husband, Jack, she is survived by a daughter, Barbara Trow, of Ocala; and twin sons, Robert and Richard, of Evansville. She is also survived by eight grandchildren and eight-grandchildren.
In her memory, the family asks that any contributions may be made to the Friends of the Boynton Beach Library, 208 Seacrest Blvd., Boynton Beach, FL 33435, or the First Presbyterian Church, 33 Gleason St., Delray Beach, FL 33483.
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