Port Rowan: One of the most outstanding personalities
in this part of
Canada passed away on Saturday evening,
July 28th when Miss I. A.
Templeton-Armstrong died at her residence in Port Rowan, after a
lingering illness.
Miss Armstrong was the daughter
of the late Thomas Templeton-Armstrong and Mary Todd, and was born
in
Carlyle, England, on April 16th, 1848.
Well-known in England and
Scotland, where she became prominent as an evangelist and preacher and
almost equally so as a social worker, reformer, and writer upon a
variety of subjects.
Coming to Canada, almost half a
century ago, she settled in Port Rowan and gradually became a leader
in everything making for the uplift and social and spiritual
improvement of the community, notably religious, temperance and
intellectual activities which she initiated.
No one could have been better
fitted than she to instill into our young Canadians high ideals of
British citizenship and she may be truly said to have given the latter
half of her life to the betterment of her fellowmen in the community.
Perhaps her most worthwhile
contribution has been the Port Rowan Public Library, which under her
guidance, in co-operation with the late Miss Elizabeth Wood, developed
from the early Mechanics Institute, and to-day stands as perhaps the
outstanding influence for good in the village. She has been for many
years the president of the Port Rowan Library Board and continued as
such up to the end.
She gave valuable service to
the Ontario and Dominion Government upon several occasions as a public
lecturer and speaker.
She also took a keen interest
in everything which had to do with young people. For years, she was
the beloved leader of a bible-class of boys, now scattered over the
face of the earth. She initiated the Boy Scout movement here.
During the Great War her
activities of [sic] the local chapter of the Daughters of the
Empire, were outstanding for the patriotic and social ends which meant
so much during those trying times.
For a number of years she was
also a member of the Board of Education.
Perhaps her greatest
contribution to our community has been the direct influence of a
great-hearted, high-minded personality during her long residence in
Port Rowan.
Her tender sympathy and loving
kindness to all men, rich or poor, old or young, were her outstanding
characteristics. Hundreds have been encouraged and benefited from her
counsel and advice in trouble and adversity.
She was truly a living example
of what a Good Samaritan should be, one whose memory will linger long
in the community as a lovely Christian gentlewoman who practiced what
she preached.
Preceded by a short service at
her residence on College Avenue, the funeral service will be held at
St. John's Anglican Church on Tuesday afternoon, July 31st at 2.30.
