Dorothy M. Armstrong

Dorothy was born in Wellington, Texas to Harvey and Jewel Bean. At the age of one her parents and her older brother and sister moved to Amarillo, Texas where they made their home and where Dorothy attended school.

Dorothy married Willie Gamblin in 1938 and their daughter Charlotte was born a year later. She worked in a commercial laundry that handled industrial and private laundry as well as laundry for the Army Air Base in Amarillo. When World War II began she went to work for the Post Office and worked there until the war ended.

In 1945 she married Wallace Armstrong who just returned from the war and he had a son James. The family moved to Portland where Wallace went to work for the S.P.&S. Railroad. In August 1946, their son Donald was born and Dorothy stayed home raising the three children until Donnie graduated from high school. She went to work in the Accounting Department of Fred Meyer’s corporate office and worked there 11 years until her retirement in 1975.

A few years after retiring from Fred Meyer, she missed the women she worked with many of whom she played golf with and attended family activities together. She inquired to see if the women would be interested in having a luncheon twice a year for the retirees. These women were very excited and Dorothy started the “Fred Meyer Retired Ladies Luncheon”. It was a tremendous joy for these women to be together again, and they thanked Dorothy many many times for her thoughtfulness in organizing this. This group of women still meet today.

Dorothy had a tremendous love for children. She was in charge of the church nursery for ten years, and from this came the idea to care for children in her home. She became a caregiver for the neighborhood kids, relatives, doctors, nurses, and many others who were recommended to her through word-of-mouth. Most of the children came to her as newborns and she cared for them until they started school.

Her many interests included gardening, crocheting, sewing, and oil painting, which her sister-in-law taught her when she was in her late 50’s. She was very creative when it came to designing clothes and decorating her home.

Dorothy was kind, gentle, hardworking, full of fun, and especially generous with her love and affection. She will be greatly missed by all her family and many friends.

She is survived by her daughter, Charlotte Parks (Frank); daughter-in-law, Janice Armstrong; eleven grandchildren; 15 great-grandchildren; one great-great-grandson; her sister, Inez Hunt, Portland; and nieces and nephews. Her sons James Armstrong and Donald Armstrong preceded her in death as well as her brothers Morris Bean and Burl Bean.