Joan (Terry) Armstrong

Fredda Joan Terry Armstrong, age 82, resident of Somerville and wife of the late John Murray Armstrong, departed this life Tuesday afternoon, May 28, 2019 at the National HealthCare Center in Somerville.

Graveside Services for Mrs. Armstrong were held at 10 A.M. Saturday, June 1, 2019 at the Somerville City Cemetery with Bro. Mike Hollaway, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Rossville, officiating. Arrangements were provided by Peebles Fayette County Funeral Homes & Cremation Center – Main Chapel in Somerville.

Joan was born August 4, 1936 in Somerville, Tennessee, the daughter of the late Andrew Lee Terry and Clara Mae Pearl Yancey Terry. She was a graduate of Fayette County High School Class of 1954 and attended Union University in Jackson, Tennessee. She was married March 5, 1965 to Coach Murray Armstrong and she was of the Baptist faith. Joan spent most of her adulthood in Memphis but remained close to many in the Somerville area. A devoted wife, loving mother and grandmother, her enduring accomplishment and legacy are the thousands of lives she touched as the Co-Administrator of South Hall Athletic Dormitory at the University of Memphis, established in 1971. In her decades of service there, she acted as counselor, surrogate mother and occasional seamstress for the scholar-athletes under both her and Coach Armstrong's supervision and care.

Mrs. Armstrong is survived by two sons, Sterritt Lee Armstrong of Memphis, TN, Jack Brence Armstrong of Somerville, TN; her grandson, Jack Murray Armstrong of Stanton, TN; and her sister, Shirley Gail Vance of Paducah, KY. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her brother, Andrew Lee Terry, Jr.