Marie Armstrong Interview
Marie Armstrong was a longtime leader of recreation activities, including square dance, contra, and folk dance, as well as leading singing. She was married to caller Don Armstrong for many decades. Marie died April 21, 2021, at age 100. Her obituary can be found here.
(Under the Item Relations heading, you'll find a link to a transcription of Marie's comments for those who would prefer to read her comments. You could also open that file in a separate window and read along while you watch and listen to the video recording.)
Bill Litchman, president of the Lloyd Shaw Foundation, commented when the interview was being planned, "Marie and Don spent time at Peaceful Valley Guest Ranch in Colorado for many years, Marie more than Don. With her singing and guitar playing, she entertained the guests during lunch, on the mountain, and in many other venues there. She also ran the evening dances and children's dance and singing hours each week. I'm not sure how many weeks she was resident there each year but she was a major part of the entertainment. She was not the only entertainer on the program, particularly during the years of major square dance influence there but she was a headliner. Most of the callers who worked there had to be adept at leading and teaching dances beyond just the more popular style of square dancing of the time. She is a first-rate entertainer and should be viewed as an individual and not only as half of Don Armstrong. Don stands on his own and so does Marie."
In correspondence leading up to this 2014 interview, Marie wrote:
===
I was first "introduced" to Lloyd Shaw and square dancing in 1944. I was with the Cold Weather Test Detachment of the Air Corps at Ladd Field, Fairbanks, Alaska. In my office was a Sergeant who had been a Cheyenne Mountain Dancer; in fact he gave me his copy of Dr. Shaw's Cowboy Dances, which I treasured for many years and finally donated to the Archives.
Ten years later, after a little bit of square dancing and calling in Greensboro, I met Don at Fred and Mary Collette's Folk and Square Dance Institute at Emory University, Atlanta. Ralph Page was there also and meeting him was a special Privilege.
Not particularly pertinent to square dancing, but meaningful to many of us, was the gift from him of the Latin round PAUPER SUM EGO, which became the trademark of the Lloyd Shaw Foundation.
I married Don that same year of course and we conducted classes and dances of squares and rounds for the Tampa Recreation Department, as well as traveling all over the states and Canada for one night stands and later for camps and institutes, those of the LSF always included. I did some calling under Don's tutelage, and became fairly adequate I think as a round dance partner. At our camps and later I did a lot of children's dances. My mentors were Mary Ann Herman, Jane Farwell and Kris Litchman and Mary Lea Bailey, among many others.
We had a real quality happenstance as a result of my square dancing in Greensboro. One of the club members was a Methodist minister and he provided the introit for Don and me with the Methodist Publishing House in Nashville. We went there on behalf of the LSF Foundation and contracted with them, for what I realize now was a niggard royalty for dozens of folk dance tunes that we could not possibly afford to produce, most of them recorded by Michael Herman.
I realize that these notes are not in chronological order and some of them not even pertinent, but you can choose any that you may want to add to what you have. I am not sure that it is of any value, but after Don's death I made three trips to Europe and added contras to their programs. There is a lot that can be added to the square dance years, but again just chatter - the long trips between calling dates, ironing shirts on motel dressers, and trying to keep a business going at home, for it was a long time before square dancing became a sustaining hobby. Of course the world wide trips were the lagniappe for our success in the dance field.
Tags: Don Armstrong, Marie Armstrong
Item Relations
| This Item | is related to | Item: Mountain Dew (clip) - Marie Armstrong |
| This Item | is related to | Item: Marie Armstrong - patter |
| This Item | is related to | Item: Trail of the Lonesome Pine - Don & Marie Armstrong |
| This Item | is related to | Item: In My Adobe Hacienda - Don and Marie Armstrong |
| This Item | is related to | Item: Marie Armstrong interview - notes |
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Marie Armstrong was a longtime leader of recreation activities, including square dance, contra, and folk dance, as well as leading singing. She was married to caller Don Armstrong for many decades. Marie died April 21, 2021, at age 100. Her obituary can be found here.
(Under the Item Relations heading, you'll find a link to a transcription of Marie's comments for those who would prefer to read her comments. You could also open that file in a separate window and read along while you watch and listen to the video recording.)
Bill Litchman, president of the Lloyd Shaw Foundation, commented when the interview was being planned, "Marie and Don spent time at Peaceful Valley Guest Ranch in Colorado for many years, Marie more than Don. With her singing and guitar playing, she entertained the guests during lunch, on the mountain, and in many other venues there. She also ran the evening dances and children's dance and singing hours each week. I'm not sure how many weeks she was resident there each year but she was a major part of the entertainment. She was not the only entertainer on the program, particularly during the years of major square dance influence there but she was a headliner. Most of the callers who worked there had to be adept at leading and teaching dances beyond just the more popular style of square dancing of the time. She is a first-rate entertainer and should be viewed as an individual and not only as half of Don Armstrong. Don stands on his own and so does Marie."
In correspondence leading up to this 2014 interview, Marie wrote:
===
I was first "introduced" to Lloyd Shaw and square dancing in 1944. I was with the Cold Weather Test Detachment of the Air Corps at Ladd Field, Fairbanks, Alaska. In my office was a Sergeant who had been a Cheyenne Mountain Dancer; in fact he gave me his copy of Dr. Shaw's Cowboy Dances, which I treasured for many years and finally donated to the Archives.
Ten years later, after a little bit of square dancing and calling in Greensboro, I met Don at Fred and Mary Collette's Folk and Square Dance Institute at Emory University, Atlanta. Ralph Page was there also and meeting him was a special Privilege.
Not particularly pertinent to square dancing, but meaningful to many of us, was the gift from him of the Latin round PAUPER SUM EGO, which became the trademark of the Lloyd Shaw Foundation.
I married Don that same year of course and we conducted classes and dances of squares and rounds for the Tampa Recreation Department, as well as traveling all over the states and Canada for one night stands and later for camps and institutes, those of the LSF always included. I did some calling under Don's tutelage, and became fairly adequate I think as a round dance partner. At our camps and later I did a lot of children's dances. My mentors were Mary Ann Herman, Jane Farwell and Kris Litchman and Mary Lea Bailey, among many others.
We had a real quality happenstance as a result of my square dancing in Greensboro. One of the club members was a Methodist minister and he provided the introit for Don and me with the Methodist Publishing House in Nashville. We went there on behalf of the LSF Foundation and contracted with them, for what I realize now was a niggard royalty for dozens of folk dance tunes that we could not possibly afford to produce, most of them recorded by Michael Herman.
I realize that these notes are not in chronological order and some of them not even pertinent, but you can choose any that you may want to add to what you have. I am not sure that it is of any value, but after Don's death I made three trips to Europe and added contras to their programs. There is a lot that can be added to the square dance years, but again just chatter - the long trips between calling dates, ironing shirts on motel dressers, and trying to keep a business going at home, for it was a long time before square dancing became a sustaining hobby. Of course the world wide trips were the lagniappe for our success in the dance field.