Norma Jean Arment was born on March 21, 1931 on a farm in Smith County, Kansas. She was the daughter of Art and Bessie Strong, the eldest of three, having a brother, Buck, and a sister, Jacque.
Jean attended all eight grades at Uhl, a one room rural school. She graduated from Smith Center High School in 1948, spent the summer at Fort Hays State College, and at the age of 17 began teaching in a one room rural school. This began her life-long career of teaching, working with and for children.
She started the pre-school at Hudson United Methodist Church in Ohio, taught at North Park Presbyterian, and was the Director of the preschool at University Park United Methodist Church for many years.
In 1950, she married Duane Arment, the love of her life. To this union were born five children, Terry Wayne, Debra Jean, Carol Ann, David Lee and Keith Robert. During their married life of 63 years, they lived in ten States and Canada, finally settling in Dallas, Texas. They travelled the world, visiting all seven Continents and 48 of the 50 States.
Throughout her career, starting in that one room schoolhouse in Kansas, Jean spent her life not only raising her children, but also touching the lives of countless children and families through her teaching and administrative work with many schools. Her children call her the Martha Stewart before Martha Stewart. At Christmas, Santa always left a piece of his coat in the front door.
In the Arment house, every holiday had a theme, including cherry pie for Washington's birthday, a Lincoln Log cake for Lincoln's birthday, and a bunny cake every Easter. Each child was given the cake they wanted for their birthday. Terry had a purple psychedelic cake one year, and David usually had a sherbet ice cream and toasted coconut cake for his summer party. Jean was an extraordinary baker of all pies, from Lemon Meringue to Mincemeat.
Jean loved and is survived by her son, Terry and his partner, Manuel Canto; daughters, Debra and Carol; her son, David and his husband, Jim Rimelspach; and her son, Keith and his wife, Nadine Arment. She is also survived by three grandchildren, Ryan and his wife, Jessica Arment, Preston and Jackson. She would also like to recognize her unofficially "adopted" daughter, Tamara Segal. Jean was preceded in death by her brother, Buck. She is survived by his wife Joyce; sister, Jacque; and a host of nieces and nephews.
A celebration of life service will be held at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 30, at Preston Hollow United Methodist Church, with a private burial at the Dallas/Fort Worth National Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the American Cancer Society.
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