Rodney Larue Armstrong, Jr.

Rod was born in Covington, Virginia the same county as his parents and one county over from where his great, great, great grandfather lived.  Growing up he spent summers on his grandparents’ farm on a river in the Alleghany Mountains of Virginia leaving an imprint on his soul.  He graduated from Covington High School in 1961, going on to the University of Virginia where he earned a Masters in Chemistry.  After graduating university, Rod returned to his hometown of Covington where he taught math and served as the head wrestling coach, as well as an assistant football coach for 8 years. He then earned an MBA from William & Mary after which he worked at a bank in Richmond before moving to Texas in the late 70s to work for EDS.  Once in Texas he met the love of his life, Kathy, and her daughter Selena.

Rod & Kathy were married in October of 1980.  Among his roles at EDS, Rod spent time as a lobbyist in DC before working in a division selling-off subsidiary’s, which led Rod to his final career as CEO of his own company after deciding to buy one of the divisions he was tasked to sell.  In 1989, he incorporated the new business as Peerless Systems Inc. naming it after his grandfather’s creamery in Virginia where Rod had his first job loading crates of milk and cases of Coke from the next-door Coca Cola bottling plant onto their respective delivery trucks. Over the next ten years Rod expanded the company taking it public in 1996 and eventually selling it to Jack Henry & Associates in 1998 upon which he was able to take an early retirement.

Upon retirement, Rod poured himself even more fully into his life’s passion, which was growing, showing, and judging Daffodils; the middle of a three-generation family to do so.  Rod maintained an extensive Daffodil garden in his beautifully landscaped creek-bordered yard in Plano, Texas as well as an even more exhaustive daffodil garden at his family farm in the mountains of Virginia.  His garden in Plano was known throughout the neighborhood.  He was, perhaps, never more at peace or at home than he was amidst his daffodil field in Virginia.  As an over 30 year member of the American Daffodil Society he was a fixture on its board, often alongside lifelong friends of his parents, serving in many capacities including two-terms as treasurer, one term as president, judging school instructor, and in many more ways.  For his years of service to the society he was awarded the ADS Silver medal for lifetime achievement in 2015.  Rod absolutely cherished his daffodil friends, whom he often called family.

Rod was also a 27+-year member of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Plano, Texas, where he served as an usher and on the parish finance committee.  In 2003, he converted to Catholicism after devotedly attending weekly mass alongside his family for 20+ years.

Rod is survived by his wife Kathy, children Selena Kelley Brooks and her husband Mike, Andrew Perry Armstrong and his wife Celeste DesOrmeaux, grandchildren Kelley Marie Guerrero and her husband Andrew and Brendan Michael Brooks, great-granddaughter Scarlett Marie Guerrero and one more on the way, sister Sally Bingley and her husband Chuck and brother-in-law Mac McLaughlin. Rod is preceded in death by his sister Beverly McLaughlin and his parents.

A Mass of the Resurrection will be celebrated, Saturday, August 26, 2017 at 10:30 A.M. at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church, 2700 W Spring Creek Pkwy, Plano, Texas, 75023. A reception will immediately follow.

In lieu of flowers, his family asks for donations to be made to the Boys Home of Virginia, donate here .