Arlene Emma Armstrong went to be with the Lord on June 23, 2021, after a short battle with cancer. Arlene was born on July 19, 1943, in Long Lake, South Dakota, to Daniel D. and Emma (Schock) Ruff. She was the youngest of seven children.

After Arlene’s mother died when Arlene was 5, she and her brother Don went to live with their aunt and uncle, Viola and Harold Fischer. The family moved from North Dakota to Olympia, Washington in 1952, first living on the farm at St. Martin’s College, then moving to Friendly Grove Road.

Arlene attended North Thurston Jr./Sr. High School where she met Ron Armstrong. Ron went home that day and told his parents he’d met the girl he was going to marry. Arlene graduated in 1961 and went to work as a secretary and filer for the State License Department On Jan. 4, 1963. Arlene married Ron Armstrong, just as he’d predicted.

Arlene also worked for the phone company as an operator, the Forest Service as an intern drawing maps, as a teacher’s aide and cook at the Christian school her girls attended, and as a teacher when she home-schooled them. The couple lived in a number of places including Olympia, Seattle, Longview, Lake Quinault, Aberdeen and Axford Prairie.

Arlene enjoyed the simple things in life: her faith, her family, her pets, cooking, reading, mowing her large yard, traveling, playing pinochle and playing Scrabble—which she rarely lost.

Arlene was predeceased by her husband of 50 years, Ron, her sister LaVerne; brothers Don, Larry and Howard Ruff; half-brother Wesley Ruff; her parents; and her aunt and uncle who raised her.

Arlene is survived by her daughters Stacy (Ron) Christopherson and Cindy (Orrin) Converse, both of Hoquiam; and Amber (JD) Brandt of Elma, Washington; eight grandchildren: Chloe Converse and Jeb, Zack, Jake, Ben, Katie, Josh and Beth Brandt; her brother Ralph Ruff, Amarillo, Texas; sisters-in-law Bonnie Hawkins, Olympia, Washington, and Sharon Ruff, Edmonds, Washington; brother-in-law Michael Armstrong; and numerous cousins, nieces and nephews.

There will be a memorial service for Arlene at the Wishkah Valley Community Church, 4281 Wishkah Road., Aberdeen, on July 10, 2021, at 1 p.m.