Julianne Armstrong

Julianne “Julie” Christine Armstrong née Joviak passed away peacefully on October 10, 2023 of complications of Parkinson’s Disease. She was born December 15, 1948 to Wayne S. and Jessie Joviak, the first of their three children and only daughter. She enjoyed her childhood and teen years surrounded by extended family and friends in her hometown of Elyria, Ohio and spending many a summer at her grandparent’s Lake Erie cottage at Gem Beach. 

Known lovingly as “Guppie” by her family for her big brown eyes, Julie graduated from Elyria High School in 1967 and began her studies in literature the following fall at Kent State University. She married her high school sweetheart, Dan Gallo, in January of 1970. They briefly settled in Biloxi, Mississippi where he was already stationed with the US Air Force. In June of 1971, they made the move to Texas upon his transfer to Ellington Air Force Base. They had one child, Lisa, in 1973, while living in Galveston. After parting ways, Julie began working for the Texas City Sun newspaper.

In the following year, she was introduced to the man who would become her husband of 30 years, Sam H. Armstrong, Jr., by her close friend and his sister, Marian. By 1980, Julianne and Sam settled in Deer Park, Texas and had two children, Bert (Sam H. Armstrong III) and Mary. She also transitioned to full time motherhood and became a kind of “mom away from mom” for many of her kids’ classmates, fellow scouts, and friends in the neighborhood. 

She was a devoted and active member of Christ Redeemer Lutheran Church in the neighboring town of La Porte, working in the front office, helping with Vacation Bible School each summer, and the Lutheran Women’s Missionary Society. As the kids entered college and high school respectively, Julie reentered the workforce at JCPenney catalog in Pasadena until she and Sam retired to Texas City in 1998. She soon began a weekly volunteer rotation at the local hospital. 

Julie is preceded in death by her parents Wayne and Jessie Joviak and her brother, John Joviak. She is survived by her brother, James “Jim” Joviak, and sister-in-law Mary Susan Joviak, her children Lisa Gallo Roth, Sam “Bert” Armstrong III, Mary Taylor and husband Paul Taylor, granddaughters Elyshia Roth and Juliana Armstrong, and grandson Reef Armstrong as well as her extended family and friends. 

Following her cremation in Texas, her children are planning a life celebration at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, her family asks that donations be made to one of her favorite charities: Meals on Wheels, Doctors Without Borders, and the Houston Food Bank.