Jack Leo Armstrong

Jack Leo Armstrong was born July 28, 1938 in Clinton IL. He graduated from Clinton High School in 1956 and attended Springfield College in Springfield IL from 1960 to 1965. He began his career as a fireman on the Illinois Central Railroad following in the tradition of his father and both grandfathers, all three of whom were locomotive engineers for the same railroad. In 1958 he married Rose Marie Linton and began working for the Illinois Department of Transportation in the Bridge Design Office. During these years he coached Little League baseball, was active in the Christian Church, and became a 32nd Degree Mason. In 1979 he and his wife and two sons relocated to Tallahassee FL where he continued working in bridge engineering, first for a private firm, Figg & Mueller, and later as a partner in his own company, LeBono & Armstrong. He and his wife built a beach house and enjoyed deep sea fishing and shrimping whenever they could. After Rose passed away in 1993, he retired from his engineering firm and bought and managed a coin laundry as a retirement business. In 1998, he married Bonnie Keller, and together they enjoyed ballroom dancing, traveling throughout the United States as well as the world, hanging out at their beach getaway on St. George Island, and having get-togethers with family and friends. Since both were avid college-basketball fans, they often went to FSU home games. He remained a life-long railroad enthusiast and enjoyed several special train trips, including one across Canada and another on historic railways in Colorado. Jack was proceeded in death by his first wife, Rose; father, Harold Armstrong, and mother, Nellie Owen Armstrong. He is survived by his wife, Bonnie Armstrong; sons Gary Armstrong (Robyn); Gregory Armstrong (Bobbie Jean); brother, Joe Armstrong, and sister, Judy Armstrong Cruthis (Bill); five grandsons; five great-grand children; step-sons David Keller (Angela), Brandon Keller (Jill), and step-daughter Kristina Vogler (Chad), and three step-grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the American Lung Association, Big Bend Hospice, or the American Cancer Society.