Chloris Cary Armbruster

Chloris Armbruster was born in Ogilvie, MN on October 14, 1920, and passed away on Sunday, January 27, 2013, at the Iowa Veterans Home in Marshalltown.

Chloris moved to Des Moines at the age of two. She was raised at 2416 E. Douglas, living through the Depression, and graduating from East High School in 1938. After graduation, World War II began. She worked in a munitions plant in Des Moines until President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked women to enlist in order to free more men to fight overseas. Chloris answered the call, serving in WWII in the Marine Reserves at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina for two years. When she came home from the war, she worked at Preferred Risk in the clerical department for eight years, and later at Younkers Department Store as a sales clerk for sixteen years. Chloris’ interests were bowling, art, travel, and love of family and friends. She was a member of the Senior Citizens, Century Club, Des Moines Pioneer Club, East High School Alumni Association, Union Park United Methodist Church, and the Women in Military Service Memorial in Washington, D.C.

A few years after her father died, she moved in with her mother at 1408 Thompson Avenue in Des Moines. Her mother died in 1967, and she lived there until January 2008, when she moved to assisted living at Courtyard Estates in Bondurant. She was a woman deeply rooted in citizenship. A large part of her memorabilia consisted of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, the American Flag, and pictures and posters of American Presidents. She was also a woman of faith, a quiet person with a profoundly moral center, who suggested helpful guidance but wasn’t insistent. She was a good listener with a light-hearted wit that kept others from taking themselves too seriously. An avid collector of all kinds of things, yet not materialistic, she was frugal, yet generous when it came to giving her collections and a lifetime of possessions away in the process of her moving. She was a marine to the core, putting others first as needed.

Chloris is survived by her sister, Beulah Findley, and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, Frank and Stella Armbruster, and sister, Pauline Brady.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m., Saturday, February 2, 2013, at Union Park United Methodist Church, 2305 E. 12th Street. Visitation will be held one hour prior to the service at the church. A private family burial will take place at Highland Memory Gardens Cemetery at a later date.

The family wishes to express their gratitude to Courtyard Estates, the Community Living Center in Des Moines, the Iowa Veterans Home, and also to her close friend and neighbor, Joanne Devin.

Condolences may be expressed at:
www.HamiltonsFuneralHome.com

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