William Eugene Armour, age 63, died at home with his family at his side on Thursday, March 19, 2020 after battling lung cancer for 10 months.
Bill was born to Edward and Cecelia Gatts Armour in Washington, D.C. on May 4,, 1956. Bill grew up in Oxon Hill, MD and is a 1974 graduate of Oxon Hill High School. Bill graduated from The University of Maryland (Fear the Turtle) in 1983 (on the 9 year plan) with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering.
After graduation, he began his engineering career with Essex Corporation supporting the Trident Submarine Preventive Maintenance Program. Bill moved through a few other engineering jobs in the next few years and was certified as a Professional Engineer in that time. Before retiring in 2017, Bill was a contractor for the Department of Labor’s Job Core Program for 17 years. He was part of a team that provided facilities management for all the Job Core sites across the U.S.
On January 2, 1982 Bill met his future wife, Rosann Halama while skiing at Blue Knob Ski Resort. It took a few years of convincing her they were destined to be together, but persistence paid off and on April 30, 1988 they were married. They welcomed their son Nicholas Edward Armour into the world on June 16, 1997.
Skiing was the family sport and the center of family vacations starting with their honeymoon in Zermatt Switzerland. Annual family ski trips out west were never missed and began including Nicholas at age 4 and our extended Melquist/Jost/Falls Church family as well. Bill was also a part of the “Boyz of Winter” group that have been skiing together over 30 years.
Boating and fishing were Bill’s other hobbies. There were many fishing trips on the Chesapeake Bay, Ocracoke, NC and Costa Rica with his brother Rob and best buddies Vic, Andy and Tom. He has passed on his captain duties to Nicholas.
Bill’s true passion was tinkering with motorcycles and his Mustangs. He spent countless hours and dollars restoring and rebuilding his Norton Commando motorcycle (multiple times) as well as customizing his 2012 Mustang GT. His latest project is worthy of being featured on one of the many, many, many car shows he watched; A custom bike that started as a Kawasaki still has a bit of work left on it.
Bill was a loyal Redskins fan, enjoying the great years as well as enduring the bad ones and attended most home games for over 20 years. He enjoyed the recent Capitals Stanly Cup Season and the Nat’s Series Championship especially since relocating to the “City of Champions”! There was a lot of tension in the Armour household during the Pen’s – Cap’s series that year!
Until 2017, Bill spent his entire life living and working inside the Beltway in Maryland growing up and attending The University of Maryland. He moved across the Potomac to Virginia after graduation and landed in Falls Church, VA with Rosann when they married. In 2017 they retired to Rosann’s hometown of Monaca, PA where they built their dream house on the Ohio River.
Bill was preceded in death by his father in 2007 and mother in 2017. Also proceeding him were his niece Robyn Armour in 2008, his father-in-law Nikolaj Halama in 2015 and his brother-in-law Michael Halama in 2017.
He is survived by his wife Rosann, son Nicholas Edward; his mother-in-law, Mary Halama, all of Monaca, PA; brother and sister-in-law, Rob and Barb Armour of Avenue, MD; brother-in-law David (Bea) Halama of Monaca; nephew John (Sierra) Armour, great nephew and niece Braxton and Brynlee Armour all of Mechanicsville, MD.
A Celebration of Life will be held at a later date when all of our family and friends can gather together.