Ed Armstrong (1929-2021)

ARMSTRONG, THOMPSON, SMOCK

Posted By: Ken Wright (email)
Date: 3/6/2021 at 10:12:18

Ed Armstrong went home to be with his Lord and Savior on Thursday, March 4, 2021. A Memorial service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Friday, April 30, at Murdoch-Linwood Funeral Home & Cremation Service in Cedar Rapids, with a visitation one hour prior. Burial will follow at Linwood Cemetery in Cedar Rapids. All guests are respectfully requested to wear a mask and practice social distancing.
Ed was born on April 6, 1929, in a small farmhouse near Greeley, Iowa, to Joy and Laura (Thompson) Armstrong. Though Ed was a carpenter by trade, he wore many hats in his long life. He started at an early age helping around the family farm and soon was working as a hired hand at numerous farms around the Greeley area. In 1949, he married Lois Smock and they farmed together for four years before moving to Elkport and he began hauling milk and also driving trucks for Meuser Lumber in Guttenberg. After divorcing Lois in 1960, he moved to Cedar Rapids where he hauled milk for Sanitary Dairies and then worked for Pay and Take It Lumberyard until 1965, when he went to work for Rockwell Goss in the shipping and receiving area, the job he held for 30 years until retirement. He married Mary Ann Rahn in 1972; Ed and Mary Ann enjoyed traveling and square dancing. After retirement, Ed enjoyed his true passion of building and repairing wood furniture for people and his church, and tried to fit in a little fishing. He was an active member of Gloria Dei Lutheran Church and made several pieces of furniture for the church which he was very proud of.
He is survived by one son, Terry (Wendy) Armstrong; stepchildren, Mike (Selita) Rahn and Lynette Macie; eight grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; siblings, Joyce Wolfgram, Charlotte Mihm and Barbara (Jim) Hamilton; and special friend, Margie Gorsuch.
Ed is preceded in death by his parents, Joy and Laura Armstrong; his wife of 43 years, Mary Ann; granddaughter, Kellie; and brothers-in-law, Lloyd Wolfgram and Donnie Mihm.
Memorials may be directed to Gloria Dei Lutheran Church.
The family would like to extend a special thank-you to Alisha Armstrong, UnityPoint Hospice, and Gloria Dei members for all of their help.
Please share a memory of Ed at www.murdochfuneralhome.com under obituaries.