Dr. Johnny Armstrong Abbey

A memorial service for Dr. Johnny Armstrong Abbey, 85, of Tyler, will be held on Tuesday, January 7, 2014 at 12:00 PM at Marvin Methodist Church with Rev. Gerry Giles officiating. A private family burial will be at Rose Hill Cemetery in Tyler under the direction of Stewart Family Funeral Home. Dr. Abbey passed away Thursday, January 2, 2014 at Hospice of East Texas. She was born February 16, 1928 in Godley, Texas to Roy and Opal Armstrong. Johnny graduated from Cleburne High School. She went on to graduate from North Texas Agricultural College as Outstanding Business Student before transferring to The University of Texas at Austin where she received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees of Business Administration. Later, she attended Texas A&M University at Commerce where she received her Doctorate in Education. Dr. Abbey had a distinguished career in teaching including the Business Dept. of Clifton Junior College, Cannon’s School of Business in Honolulu, Hawaii, the American School of Business in Fort Worth and Tyler Junior College. Johnny joined the Office Technology faculty of Tyler Junior College in 1949 and retired after 44 years of successful and joyful teaching. During numerous summers, she worked diligently to remain current with the expectations for secretaries and other office employees. With such timely knowledge, she was able to devise a special intern program for graduating secretarial sophomores. Being an honorary member of the Professional Secretaries International, she was able to assign these special graduates to members of the association at various Tyler business offices. After retiring, Dr. Abbey became a “professional volunteer”. Her church opportunities involved Sunday school teaching as well as office duties. Other memberships included United Methodist Women, Tyler Council of Church Women, Tyler Woman’s Forum, Tyler Woman’s Building Board, The Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary, Smith County Retired Teachers and School Personnel Assoc., The Delta Kappa Gamma Society International, Smith County Historical Society, Camp Ford Historical Assoc., Alpha Delta Pi Sorority Alumnae, Women’s Symphony League of Tyler, the Alzheimer’s Alliance of Smith County, and the Volunteer Organization of Trinity Mother Frances Hospital. Johnny was preceded in death by her husband, William A. Abbey, Jr., and her parents, Roy Sr. and Opal Armstrong. She is survived by her loving family including her daughters; Kristin George and her husband Ranji of Frisco and Donna Gonzalez of Tyler; granddaughter, Abbey Gonzalez; brother, Roy Armstrong Jr., and his wife Amy of Wilmington, Delaware and nieces, Megan Armstrong and Katie Gulick and her husband Greg. If desired, memorials may be made to Hospice of East Texas, 4111 University Blvd, Tyler, TX 75701 or Marvin United Methodist Church, 300 W Erwin St, Tyler, TX 75702.

Dr. Johnny Armstrong Abbey

February 16, 1928 - January 2, 2014