Ann Patricia Longmuir Buchar Armstrong

Poughkeepsie

Posted

Ann Patricia Longmuir Buchar Armstrong, 83, of Poughkeepsie,  succumbed to her final resting place on Monday, May 4, 2020, with the love and prayers of her family and friends supporting and embracing her. 

         With a big smile, she was a woman who endured the many changes and challenges life threw at her, with an exhaustive strength, courage and patience, never complaining, accepting all, with a subtle, witty, English sense of humor. She loved going for car rides and spending time by the ocean. Chocolate milkshakes, coke, and bold coffee, bacon and French Toast for breakfast, Chinese food, KFC, chicken tenders or chicken nuggets with honey mustard sauce, rare steak, shrimp, avocado, cheese and crackers and chocolate truffles were her favored sustenance. 

      She tremendously missed her husband, Jack, who passed away December 2018, and looked forward to seeing her daughter everyday after work, during these past few years back in New York, where she was also able to have visits from her other children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.Ann Armstrong was born in Formby, England, in June 1936, to the late Kathleen Ward Longmuir and Harry Norman Longmuir. 

     As a child, Ann traveled across the Atlantic Ocean many times with her parents, even during WWII, back and forth from England to the United States, sailing on Cunard Steamship Lines where her father worked as Port Engineer. They spent a short period of time on Long Island, New York, before moving permanently to New Orleans, United States, where her dad worked for the US Navy with the Cunard Steamship Lines until the end of the war. After a year in Quebec, Canada, the family of five finally landed on Long Island, New York when Ann was twelve years old with a younger brother and sister. 

      In 1954, Ann took every course the high school offered on triple sessions, was the Host-DJ of her high school, Sewanhaka Radio Station, and was involved with many extracurricular organizations. She was a 4-H member, Camp Counselor and Life Guard. Ann was crowned Queen of the Nassau County Annual Summer Harvest Fair, determined by her hours of volunteer service. One of the few girls in the college level Engineering classes at Sewanhaka High School, Floral Park, NY, Ann graduated at the age of 17 years old with Honors and scholarships. Not yet an American Citizen, she would not be able to accept any of the scholarships; the application for citizenship couldn’t be submitted prior to one’s 18th birthday. She became an American citizen three years later. 

     Not able to afford college, she worked prior to her marriage in July 1955 to Robert Frank Buchar, a high school student-radio engineer at the same Sewanhaka High School. They were married for twenty years, had four children, and lived in Poughkeepsie, NY after a few years on Long Island. Ann and Bob built a cabin in the Berkshires where they spent their summers. When the four children were older, they bought a 31 foot cabin cruiser that Ann navigated with her charted courses from Poughkeepsie to Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket Island, Cape Cod and other places, living on the boat for a month each summer. She was a 4-H Leader for three clubs and orchestrated 4-H exhibits at the County Fairs. She was an excellent seamstress, sewing clothes for her family and creating household furnishings. 

      Ann married Jack C. Armstrong, Sr. in September 1977, living and working in Wappingers Falls, NY. They adopted Spuffy, a Shih Tzu, who became their “baby,” and went with them everywhere. She worked with Jack in his Carrier mechanical contracting business for 35 years, until they sold the business and retired in North Carolina. They renovated many houses in New York and North Carolina, which she would enjoy designing. Ann and Jack went to NASCAR races. They traveled the world, where they would enjoy the golf courses and restaurants at each destination; she loved to research and plan their traveling escapades. Ann played golf and was a member of golf leagues in NY and NC. She spent a few years volunteering at the Coalition Boutique in Southern Pines, NC. Ann enjoyed her next Shih Tzu, Taffy, who filled the void with her energy and sweet personality, performing “happy dances” to show how much she loved you. Taffy would take Ann on walks energetically and enthusiastically, with her desire to explore like Ann. Ann loved her flower gardens, where she spent a lot of her time, when she wasn’t working. In North Carolina, she took courses and became a Master Gardener, sharing her love of flowers as a volunteer, working with children and adults, and creating beautiful gardens for the Whispering Pines community as well as for her own yard. 

Ann is predeceased by her husband of forty-three years, Jack Carlisle Armstrong, Sr., her parents Kathleen (Ward) and Harry Norman Longmuir, her brother, Charles Andrew Longmuir, and her grandson, Sean Buchar. She leaves to cherish her memories: her sister, Sally (Don) Richardson; her daughter, Pamela Jeanne Krizek, and grandson, Stephen Krizek (Janelle) with great-grandsons: Preston, James, Mason, and Bennett; grandson, Nicholas Krizek (Sarah) with great-grandson, Callen, and great-granddaughter, Jana; and grandson, Phillip Krizek (fiancé, Arianna); her son, Wayne Alan Buchar (Christine) and grandsons: 

Christopher, Nathan and Benjamin Buchar; her daughter, Lois Ann Snyder (Carl); and her son, Douglas Robert Buchar (Judy) and grandchildren, Justin and Megan Buchar; her stepson, Jack Carlisle Armstrong, Jr. (Lisa), and grandson, Morgan (Allison) with great-granddaughter, Adelaide, and great-grandson, Austin; and her stepson, Jeffrey Pratt Armstrong (Karin) and granddaughters, Leandra and Madison Armstrong; and her prayer bear, Noah, which she clung to and which brought her through many serious health issues. 

    The family is extremely grateful to all of the doctors, nurses, CNA’s, caregivers, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, and staff who lovingly cared for Ann in North Carolina Moore Regional Hospital; and New York Hospitals: Orange Regional Hospital, Vassar Hospital, Mid-Hudson Regional Hospital and Putnam Hospital; Elizabeth Sammons LLC Caregivers in North Carolina; and in New York: Glen Arden Assisted Living in Goshen, The Landing Assisted Living in Poughkeepsie, and Wingate Rehabilitation: Orange Unit, in Beacon; as well as all of her Caremount Doctors. It takes a village to raise a child; it takes SO MUCH MORE to care for the elderly, dedicated, gentle, strong (mentally and physically), extremely loving, medically trained people, VERY special human beings who have the most vulnerable adult lives in their daily care. THANK YOU to EACH ONE of YOU, who took such great “patient” care of her, “such a sweet lady,” which you called her. WE APPRECIATE YOU! Thank you! 

     Due to NYS Covid regulations, a private burial ceremony occurred in front of the Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery mausoleum with family members and close friends in cars; a larger memorial gathering will occur next year. To help speed a cure for Parkinson’s Disease, donations in Ann Armstrong’s memory can be made to https://michaeljfox.org/donate, click on “donate in tribute.” With Ann’s love of flowers, the family is asking for you to plant a flower or bush in Ann’s name, take a photo of it, and upload it with its location to: “Make the World Beautiful with a Flower Garden in Memory of Ann P Armstrong” on FaceBook. If you don’t have a Facebook account, you can send your photo to AnnArmstrongMemorialGarden@gmail.com, and we will upload it into our remote collaborative memorial garden. Online condolences may be made at http://delehantyfuneral.com . Thank you. God Bless ALL of you and your families. 

     Ann P. Armstrong loved flowers and became a Master Gardener to share her knowledge and expertise with those around her. Her gardens were a beautiful oasis and attraction to those who would visit or drive by. She also created and maintained community gardens. To memorialize her and her love of beauty created by flowers, we have created this opportunity for you to plant a flower or bush in her name, post it, and share this Garden of Beauty together remotely in her memory and name.