Maureen Mahoney Armour

Maureen Mahoney Armour was full of life and love, was determined and fierce, yet beautiful and elegant, while always full of grace.

       Maureen was born in 1931 in Paris Island, South Carolina into an Irish-Catholic, Marine Corps family. Her parents were John James Mahoney and Lillian Schutte Mahoney. She was the last of 6 children and a first generation Irish-American. She had 3 older brothers, Ronald, Richard (Dick), and John Jr, and 2 older sisters, Muriel (Gurt) and Patricia (Pat).Her family moved to Shore Acres in St. Petersburg, Florida when she was a young girl and she spent the remainder of her childhood there. Maureen was a tom-boy always running around with her older brother Dick, swimming in the canals of Shore Acres and climbing trees like tom-boys do. She grew into a beautiful and intelligent young woman.

      After finishing High School at St. Petersburg High with the Class of 1948 she enrolled in the Vogue School of Modeling and graduated in June 1949 just before her 18th birthday. She also attended classes after high school to learn office administration skills like typing and stenography. She dabbled in the modeling world and was in many newspaper and magazine advertisements.

  On November 22, 1951 Maureen married Bill Armour. Bill was a military man and Maureen spent the next 30 years of her life traveling the world from one military post to another. They were married for 50 wonderful years before Bill's passing in December 2001.

Maureen was blessed with 4 sons, David, Jon, Michael and Paul. She was also blessed with 7 grandchildren, Michael, Brianna, Jonathon, Austin, Kyle, Josh and Bryn.

      In her professional career, Maureen held jobs at the multiple bases she was stationed at around the world. Her most prestigious role in Civil Service was while living in Germany. She worked for multiple Generals within the Western European Command Headquarters, one in particular was 5-star General Alexander Haig, who was the Commander of the Western European Forces. General Haig went on to be Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan shortly after this role. Maureen was responsible for an alarming amount of responsibility as General Haig’s Chief of Protocol including arranging multiple meetings and social events with dignitaries and royalty from other countries, and senators and past Presidents from the US. Maureen received multiple Letters of Recognition and awards for exemplary performance. She retired after 21 years of service with federal government and the praise and appreciation of many of the fine military leaders in our armed forces.

      Maureen and her husband Bill spent their retired years traveling North America in their 32’ Bounder motor home. They would leave Florida and stop in Seattle to see their two sons, David and Paul, and their children for several weeks before venturing up to Alaska or other very northern parts of Canada. After her husband's passing in 2001, she remained in Redmond, Washington. She spent the next 20 years enjoying her grandchildren that lived locally and traveled the world. She visited South Africa, Japan, Thailand, Virgin Islands, Italy, southern France, Spain, Morocco, Norway, Sweden, England, Ireland, Egypt and China. During that time she was also an active member of the catholic church and volunteered at Evergreen Hospital.

      Maureen recognized that her faith was important to her throughout her life. She satisfied all her responsibilities as a catholic mother by insuring all 4 of her boys were baptized, attended catechism, received first communion, and received our catholic confirmation. Family and faith were a large part of what drove Maureen and led many parts of her life. Locally, she was a member of St. Jude's Catholic Church. During that time, she was a volunteer in preparing for Mass.

            The final couple of years was difficult for Maureen while her dementia worsened. In the end, Maureen passed away peacefully at 10:45 am on August 4, 2020 in Kirkland, Washington with her family by her side, holding her hand. She is survived by 3 of her 4 children, David, Michael and Paul, and 6 of her 7 grandchildren Brianna, Jonathon, Austin, Kyle, Josh and Bryn. Services were held at Sunset Hills Funeral Home in Bellevue, Washington. Maureen will be laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery in Washington DC with her beloved husband, Bill.

      Maureen brought joy to all of those around her. She never had a mean bone in her body. She loved to have a good time and was an eternal optimist, always looking on the bright side of things. She loved to share her energy, wit, and her zest for all of her activities with her friends and family. Maureen Mahoney Armour lived life to its fullest and made everyone around her happier just for knowing her. She will be remembered with a smile.