Jesse Armstrong, Father of Special Board Chairman, Dies in Chicago Area

Jesse J. Armstrong, 86, father of Cold Spring Comprehensive Plan Special Board Chairman Michael J. Armstrong, died on Aug. 1 in suburban Chicago. He had suffered poor health for several years, with his condition deteriorating in the last two months.
       Born Jan. 24, 1924, in Rome, N.Y., to Ray and Ida (Volk) Armstrong, he attended Notre Dame University and served in the U.S. Navy from 1944 to 1946 in the Pacific.  Resuming his college studies at the University of Illinois, he subsequently became a registered architect. After employment as a draftsman for J.C. Penney, Armstrong joined Levitt and Sons, where he helped build the Levittowns of the 1950s.  From 1971 to 1983, he worked for Epstein and Sons, in Chicago, and served as director of the Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Architects in 1971. 
       He is survived by his first wife, Katherine Felt, 10 children, and 16 grandchildren. The Armstrongs plan a simple interment at a later date in the family plot in Rome, N.Y.