Alfred Willis "Will" Armstrong Jr.

Will was born January 12, 1941, in Austin, TX, to Alfred Willis and Annie Betty Armstrong. In 1947, his parents bought Victoria Transit, and the family moved to Victoria. He met Linda Kay Gaut on a blind date at The Corral in 1960. They married on August 30, 1963, and shared nearly 56 years of marriage until Linda’s passing in 2019. Together they raised a family, ran the family businesses, and served their community.

Will always knew he would end up in the family business; he just did not know when. After high school, he followed Linda to Victoria College and around the state as her family moved for construction management. Will took classes wherever she was; he once hitchhiked to Abilene with a suitcase covered with Abilene Christian College stickers, reasoning it improved his odds of getting a ride. He returned home in the early 1960s to run the moving company, and his college career officially ended.

He was an entrepreneur. He took pride in his work, running Armstrong Mayflower from the 1960s until 2011. He credited their survival to a resilient and strong team, repeat customers, and the ability to adapt to prevailing economic conditions. Together, he and Linda started and ran True Green/ChemLawn yard service. When the oil bust left the family with excess warehouse space, they traveled to England and started English Imports. Later, they converted those same warehouses to handle document storage, retrieval, and shredding as The Back Office. The business has since passed to the third generation under the leadership of his daughter, Susan Cain, a transition he called one of his proudest moments.

Will served Victoria with that same commitment; he fiercely fought for the greater good of Victoria. In the 1960s, he was a member of the Victoria Jaycees and Western Week Chairman, helping the annual fat stock show grow from a livestock event into a week of community-wide festivities. He served on the City Council from 1973 to 1979, and later served three terms as mayor between 2004 and 2013. He defined political strength as the ability to find common ground and the willingness to work together, deflecting credit to the team every time. However, he could be quite stubborn on topics he believed in!

During his tenure as mayor, that council’s record included the expansion of UH Victoria from a two-year upper-level campus to a four-year university; partnering with the County and the Victoria Economic Development Corporation to land Caterpillar’s manufacturing plant; major capital improvements to traffic flow and stormwater drainage along the Ben Wilson Street Corridor; and a nearly 7 percent cut in the city property tax rate between 2009 and 2013.

Although Will never finished college, he read constantly and never stopped learning. Some called him a renaissance man. He explained that when something caught his interest, he fixated on it until one day he did not. The pattern repeated about every seven years. His interests included:

● Hot rods: He belonged to the Victoria Gear Grinders, a vintage car club, and raced at the Foster Field airstrip. With permission, of course.

● Photography: Long before iPhones and Snapchat, he kept a darkroom at home and sold prints at art shows around the state, often with his patient wife and less patient kids in tow.

● Astronomy: He installed a large reflector telescope on an equatorial mount in the driveway, capturing remarkable long-exposure photographs of galaxies and nebulae.

● Archaeology: arrowheads and excavation.Loved his work with the Blue Bayou Project.

● Short stories: He wrote witty, heartfelt, and mostly fictionalized stories about his experiences, friends, and family. It was always fun, and a little scary, to realize a story was about you.

● Wood carving: This was his final fixation. Over seven years, he crafted furniture, boxes, and countless creatures, often with oddly human-looking teeth. Receiving one of his creatures or wooden boxes from Will meant he loved and admired you.

Fishing, however, never followed the seven-year cycle. If you knew one thing about Will, you knew he was a fisherman and engaged in and shared saltwater therapy as much as time would allow. He knew the Port O’Connor bays like the back of his hand and took friends, business associates, and first-timers out on the water. He rarely came back to the dock without a red fish, and often with a limit. And if you didn’t catch any fish, he would make you hold his fish while he took your picture!

Will passed away in his sleep on the evening of October 12, 2026, after almost a year with Alzheimer’s. Our gratitude for his care extends to a village. The compassionate and caring team loved him and supported him through his time at Vitality Court. The care we received from Hospice of South Texas was intuitive and compassionate. Both groups were born with a specific genetic makeup that not all people possess.

He is survived by his daughter and son and their families: Susan and Clay Cain and their sons, Clayton Armstrong Cain and his wife, Mak Cochran, and Robert Armstrong Cain and his fiancée, Amelia Mouw; A.W. and Lesley Armstrong; A.W.’s children, Sadie Louise Armstrong and Jeb Willis Armstrong, and their mother, Tracy Armstrong. He is also survived by his brother and sister-in-law, Fred and Cinda Armstrong; his brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Tommy and Jan Gaut; his sister-in-law, Rosita Gaut; numerous cousins, nieces, and nephews and their families; and beloved friends.

Honoring Will and Linda’s wishes, the family has established the Will and Linda Armstrong Endowed Scholarship at Victoria College to support first-generation college students. In lieu of flowers, the family asks for memorial contributions to the scholarship. Checks may be made payable to the Victoria College Foundation and mailed to 2201 E. Red River Street, Victoria, TX 77901. Online gifts can be made at victoriacollegefoundation.org/give-now

A celebration of life will be held Monday, October 19, 2026, at 2 pm at Power Avenue Warehouse, 402 E. Power Street, Victoria, TX.