Thelma Armstrong’s family, friends, coworkers and church community gathered over the weekend to remember the faithful and kind woman they said lit up their lives.
Armstrong, 54, was one of four victims killed in the Sunday, Sept. 28 shooting and fire at the Grand Blanc Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township.
Armstrong always had a strong faith, and joined the Church of Latter-day Saints in 2011 after two missionaries with “Jesus Christ” on their name tags knocked on her door, Armstrong’s daughter Charne Lichtenberg recalled during the memorial service on Saturday, Oct. 11.
Armstrong lived most of her life in South Africa, and moved to the U.S. in 2019 to live with her daughter, son-in-law and her grandchildren, who currently live in Grand Blanc.
Armstrong took pride in her work and the people she worked with, according to her children and coworkers. She started her career in retail and eventually became a manager at Food Zone local grocery store in Klerksdorp, South Africa, where she was born, according to her obituary.
Some of the people she worked for in South Africa were Greek. Though Armstrong’s family was not Greek, Armstrong embraced Greek culture, Lichtenberg said. Armstrong was known to her grandchildren and many others — including children in the class she taught at the church in Grand Blanc Township — as “Yia Yia,” which means grandmother in Greek.
After receiving her green card and moving to the U.S., Armstrong was excited to find a job, her family said. She most recently worked as a quality technician at American Axle.
During her memorial service, coworkers shared stories of her asking about the small details of their lives and remembering them. One coworker said Armstrong would greet him with a smile when she got to work every day, and then make him give her a smile before she left.
Another coworker remembered the way she’d cheer up the office with her colorful desk decorations for every holiday. Armstrong also had all kinds of pink office supplies, the coworker said. Her favorite colors were pink and red.
Litchenberg said her mother loved to decorate. Armstrong had already decorated for Halloween, as her son, Litchenberg’s brother Damon Du Bruyn, was visiting from South Africa and she wanted him to experience the holiday.
Litchenberg, Du Bruyn and some of Armstrong’s friends who spoke at the service said she also loved to give gifts.
“My mother loved giving gifts,” Litchenberg said. “I never expected anything in return. Trust me, I gave her gifts, and it was never as impactful as when she gave gifts. Sometimes it was silly, but as time goes by, those silly little gifts now mean so, so much.”
Du Bruyn said she gifted him a red suitcase when he started considering taking a job in China, saying he was going to travel the world with a red suitcase. Though he had to retire the original, when he arrived in the U.S. to visit his mom about two weeks before her tragic death, his belongings were in a red suitcase.
Almost every person who spoke during Armstrong’s memorial said they could tell how much she loved her family because she would always talk about them.
Du Bruyn said though he lived across the world from his mom, he’d call her every day. He said hadn’t met most of the people at her memorial service, but had heard about many of them and the joy they brought to his mom’s life in frequent phone calls.
“The thing that will stay with me forever is my mom’s kindness,” he said. “She never knew how to hold a grudge, and she loved everybody in this room and everybody back home.”
Along with her children, Armstrong is survived by her brother Jaco Du Bruyn and her sisters, Charmaine and Belinda, according to her obituary.
Jaco Du Bruyn couldn’t make it to the memorial from South Africa, but Damon Du Bruyn read a statement from him. The statement said Armstrong “never sought attention, yet her presence filled the room with peace.”
“She lived with grace, gave with an open heart, and believed in the power of compassion,” according to the statement. “Even in the face of tragedy, we choose to remember not the way she was taken from us, but the way she lived with faith, love and gentleness. Though our hearts are broken, her spirit will forever remain in every act of kindness we do, every smile we share and in every prayer we whisper.”
Armstong was known to be kind to missionaries. Shane Lichtenberg, Armstrong’s son-in-law, met Charne after coming to Armstrong’s door as a missionary. He said he helped paint one of the walls in her house red, and that every missionary there left a white handprint on the wall, which became so full of handprints the wall expanded to the ceiling.
“It was a testament of how she cared and how much she loved … The love she gives so freely is a reflection of God’s own eternal love,” Shane Lichtenberg said.
The memorial service took place at Sharp Funeral Homes Fenton Chapel in Fenton and was livestreamed.
The other three congregants killed in the Sept. 28 attack were John Bond, 77, of Linden; Pat Howard, 77, of Holly; and Craig Hayden, 72, of Fenton. Eight others were injured in the attack, which began when a man rammed a pickup truck into the church and then opened fire with a gun. The gunman was fatally shot by police, who arrived within minutes.
Armstrong’s family is accepting donations on a verified GoFundMe page, which has more than $73,000 as of Sunday, Oct. 12.
“Things won’t be the same,” Damon Du Bruyen said. “I feel like the world has lost a little bit of joy, a little bit of fire. But I hope that if you guys ever see something red, that you will think of my mom.”
Contact Natalie Davies at ndavies@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Thelma Armstrong, victim of Grand Blanc church attack, remembered as faithful, kind woman
Reporting by Natalie Davies, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
