Sybil Leonard Armes
Encyclopedia
Sybil Leonard Armes was a prominent Baptist
author
and musician
, who served as alternate poet laureate
for the U.S. state
of Texas
in 1969. Among her survivors is Paul Woodson Armes (born 1950), the president of Wayland Baptist University
in Plainview
in Hale County
in the South Plains
, who previously was the pastor of a Baptist church in Corpus Christi
.
Mrs. Armes wrote four books of religious poetry and hundreds of devotional poems for various church and denominational publications. She also penned two books of religious meditation
s.
She was born near Gatesville
in central Texas and attended rural
public schools in the area. She then enrolled in the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor
(then Baylor College for Women) in Belton
, the seat of Bell County
near Temple
in central Texas.
In 1938, she married Clinton Woodson Armes (May 24, 1912 - August 11, 1999), a student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
in Fort Worth
. The couple was wed for sixty-one years until his death.
Mrs. Armes was a teacher
for a time. One of her students was the future Dallas Cowboys
coach
, Tom Landry
, a native of Mission
in south Texas. Woodson Armes taught at Baylor University
in Waco
and pastored for twenty-six years congregations in Waco, Fort Worth, and El Paso
.
In 1961, Mrs. Armes was the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor convocation speaker. She was given an honorary doctor of letters degree. She also served as a UMHB trustee from 1972-1981. In 1976, she received the university's Outstanding Alumni Award. She was listed in Who's Who in American Women.
In 1987, Woodson and Sybil Armes were honored jointly at a ceremony in Independence
, Texas, with the Texas Baptist Elder Statesman Award.
Mrs. Armes died in a Dallas
-area nursing home
, where she had resided during her last years. She was survived by three children and their spouses: David and Shirley Armes of Long Beach, California
; Nancy and Jan LeCroy of Dallas; and Paul and Duanea Armes of Plainview, and by granddaughters Sarah Thompson and Ashley Armes. Ashley Armes is a history professor at Wayland Baptist University.
A musical scholarship has been established at Wayland University in Mrs. Armes' name.
Ten days after Armes' death, a second Christian writer in Texas, Jo Carr
, a Methodist woman, died at her home in Lubbock
.
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
and musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, who served as alternate poet laureate
Poet Laureate
A poet laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government and is often expected to compose poems for state occasions and other government events...
for the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
in 1969. Among her survivors is Paul Woodson Armes (born 1950), the president of Wayland Baptist University
Wayland Baptist University
Wayland Baptist University is private, coeducational Baptist university based in Plainview, Texas, U.S.A. Wayland Baptist has a total of fourteen campuses in four additional Texas cities, five other states, and the country of Kenya. On August 31, 1908, the university was chartered by the state of...
in Plainview
Plainview, Texas
Plainview is a city in and the county seat of Hale County, Texas, United States. The population was 22,336 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Plainview is located at ....
in Hale County
Hale County, Texas
Hale County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. In 2000, its population was 36,602. It was organized in 1888, and is named for Lt. John C. Hale, a hero of the Battle of San Jacinto. The seat of the county is Plainview. It is home of the noted former Hale County Judge, Judge Bill...
in the South Plains
South Plains
South Plains is a vernacular term that refers to a region in West Texas consisting of the portion of the Llano Estacado extending south of the Texas Panhandle, centered at Lubbock. While prominent in the area of petroleum production, the South Plains is mainly an agricultural region, producing a...
, who previously was the pastor of a Baptist church in Corpus Christi
Corpus Christi, Texas
Corpus Christi is a coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas. The county seat of Nueces County, it also extends into Aransas, Kleberg, and San Patricio counties. The MSA population in 2008 was 416,376. The population was 305,215 at the 2010 census making it the...
.
Mrs. Armes wrote four books of religious poetry and hundreds of devotional poems for various church and denominational publications. She also penned two books of religious meditation
Meditation
Meditation is any form of a family of practices in which practitioners train their minds or self-induce a mode of consciousness to realize some benefit....
s.
She was born near Gatesville
Gatesville, Texas
Gatesville is a city in and the county seat of Coryell County in Central Texas, United States of America. The population was 15,591 at the 2000 census...
in central Texas and attended rural
Rural
Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...
public schools in the area. She then enrolled in the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor
University of Mary Hardin-Baylor
The University of Mary Hardin–Baylor, generally referred to as UMHB, is a Christian co-educational liberal arts institution of higher learning located in Belton, Texas, United States. Founded by the Republic of Texas in 1845 as "Baylor Female College," it has grown to approximately 2,700 students...
(then Baylor College for Women) in Belton
Belton, Texas
Belton is a city in Bell County, Texas, United States. The population was 14,623 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Bell County.Belton is part of the Killeen – Temple – Fort Hood metropolitan area.-Geography:...
, the seat of Bell County
Bell County, Texas
Bell County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. Bell County was founded in 1850. It is part of the Killeen–Temple–Fort Hood Metropolitan Statistical Area. In 2000, the county's population was 237,974; in 2010 the U.S. Census Bureau reported that its population had reached...
near Temple
Temple, Texas
Temple is a city in Bell County, Texas, United States. Located near the county seat of Belton, Temple lies in the region referred to as Central Texas. Located off Interstate 35, Temple is 65 miles north of Austin and 34 miles south of Waco. In the 2010 Census, Temple's population was 66,102, an...
in central Texas.
In 1938, she married Clinton Woodson Armes (May 24, 1912 - August 11, 1999), a student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, is a private, non-profit institution of higher education, associated with the Southern Baptist Convention...
in Fort Worth
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...
. The couple was wed for sixty-one years until his death.
Mrs. Armes was a teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
for a time. One of her students was the future Dallas Cowboys
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football franchise which plays in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League . They are headquartered in Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas...
coach
Coach (sport)
In sports, a coach is an individual involved in the direction, instruction and training of the operations of a sports team or of individual sportspeople.-Staff:...
, Tom Landry
Tom Landry
Thomas Wade "Tom" Landry was an American football player and coach. He is ranked as one of the greatest and most innovative coaches in National Football League history, creating many new formations and methods...
, a native of Mission
Mission, Texas
Mission is a city in Hidalgo County, Texas, United States. The population was 77,058 at the 2010 census Mission is part of the McAllen–Edinburg–Mission and Reynosa–McAllen metropolitan areas.-Geography:Mission is located at ....
in south Texas. Woodson Armes taught at Baylor University
Baylor University
Baylor University is a private, Christian university located in Waco, Texas. Founded in 1845, Baylor is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.-History:...
in Waco
Waco, Texas
Waco is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas. Situated along the Brazos River and on the I-35 corridor, halfway between Dallas and Austin, it is the economic, cultural, and academic center of the 'Heart of Texas' region....
and pastored for twenty-six years congregations in Waco, Fort Worth, and El Paso
El Paso, Texas
El Paso, is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States, and lies in far West Texas. In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 649,121. It is the sixth largest city in Texas and the 19th largest city in the United States...
.
In 1961, Mrs. Armes was the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor convocation speaker. She was given an honorary doctor of letters degree. She also served as a UMHB trustee from 1972-1981. In 1976, she received the university's Outstanding Alumni Award. She was listed in Who's Who in American Women.
In 1987, Woodson and Sybil Armes were honored jointly at a ceremony in Independence
Independence, Texas
Independence is an unincorporated community in Washington County, Texas, United States. Located twelve miles northeast of Brenham, it was founded in 1835 in Austin's colony of Anglo Americans. It became a Baptist religious and educational center of the Republic of Texas...
, Texas, with the Texas Baptist Elder Statesman Award.
Mrs. Armes died in a Dallas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
-area nursing home
Nursing home
A nursing home, convalescent home, skilled nursing unit , care home, rest home, or old people's home provides a type of care of residents: it is a place of residence for people who require constant nursing care and have significant deficiencies with activities of daily living...
, where she had resided during her last years. She was survived by three children and their spouses: David and Shirley Armes of Long Beach, California
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
; Nancy and Jan LeCroy of Dallas; and Paul and Duanea Armes of Plainview, and by granddaughters Sarah Thompson and Ashley Armes. Ashley Armes is a history professor at Wayland Baptist University.
A musical scholarship has been established at Wayland University in Mrs. Armes' name.
Ten days after Armes' death, a second Christian writer in Texas, Jo Carr
Jo Carr
Bettye Jo Crisler Carr was a preacher, a teacher, an author, a missionary, a mother of five, and a leader of the Girl Scouts of America...
, a Methodist woman, died at her home in Lubbock
Lubbock, Texas
Lubbock is a city in and the county seat of Lubbock County, Texas, United States. The city is located in the northwestern part of the state, a region known historically as the Llano Estacado, and the home of Texas Tech University and Lubbock Christian University...
.
List of Sybil Armes books
- There's Courage in a Song
- Devotions from a Grateful Heart
- Devotions for Dynamic Living
- Serene in the Storm: Poems of Courage and Inspiration