Anne Armstrong, R.I.P.

Texas GOP stalwart Anne Armstrong dies in Houston

AUSTIN -- She was an adviser to two U.S. presidents, an ambassador to the United Kingdom and a major player in national Republican politics, but South Texas ranchers knew Anne Armstrong simply as one of them.

Armstrong died Wednesday. She had battled cancer and had been in a Houston-area hospice for about a week before her death, said her assistant, Kay Hicks. She was 80.

Armstrong served as a close counselor for presidents Nixon and Ford, co-chair of the Republican National Committee and, in 1972, became the first woman in either major political party to keynote a national convention.

Ford appointed her the first woman ambassador to the United Kingdom in 1976.

She also was instrumental in helping build the modern-day Republican Party in Texas.

But back home in Kenedy County, she simply was a rancher and a county commissioner, who was running unopposed in the November election.

"She was just an all-around lady and very helpful to the county," said County Judge J.A. Garcia Jr., who appointed Armstrong to the Commissioners' Court after her husband, Tobin Armstrong, died in 2005.

She completed her husband's unexpired term and was running unopposed for a full term. She was the only Republican member of the Commissioners' Court.

The lack of opposition provided a testimonial to the respect and admiration that she had in the county, Garcia said.