John Armor, author & Republican activist, passed away this morning
By
John Armor (aka: Congressman BillyBob) died this morning of colon cancer at St Joesph’s hospital in Asheville, NC. He was 67.
We disagreed on every possible political issue – but I liked him because he was a decent man, an attentive husband, and an excellent writer who loved his country.
John was a lawyer, a writer, and Republican activist. He wrote 8 books on a range of topics from fiction, to the Japanese American internment camp at Manzanar, to term limits, to his most recent work: These Are The Times That Try Men’s Souls – an annotated version of Tom Paine’s most famous writings. (He was particularly proud of this last book.)
I first met John Armor in 2006 during his run in the Republican primary against congressional incumbent Charles “Chainsaw” Taylor. For those of you who don’t know: Taylor was a corrupt local politician who wasn’t known for dealing kindly with opposition. It took a lot of guts for John to step up to the plate and challenge him.
At the time I was an active progressive blogger at Brainshrub.com. (Now defunct) John was the first Republican candidate in NC11 to agree to a sit-down interview with bloggers. You can read about the interview here. I was stuck my his sincerity, intelligence, and willingness to listen to viewpoints different from his own.
Armor ran for congress again in 2008, then settled into retirement. He remained active in the Republican party and occasionally played the character of Benjamin Franklin. You can enjoy one of his performances here. (Show starts at 3:33 seconds)
I visited John in the hospital less than 48 hours ago. He was in high-spirits after his latest surgery, and doctors had given him an optimistic prognosis. His wife Michelle by his bedside, he joked that regardless of the outcome the doctors work on his colon had made him “A Perfect Asshole.”
We talked about local politics, about the governments role in infrastructure, and about his life in general. John was a man who talked the talk and walked the walk. He cared deeply about his community, and left the world a better place than he left it.
RIP John. You were one of the few hard-core conservatives I could talk too without raising my blood-pressure.
- pvh
20 Comments
August 20th, 2010 at 2:58 pm
Thank you for the kind words, Paul. He will be missed.
Rest in Peace, John.
August 20th, 2010 at 4:05 pm
H trly ws gd mn nd nt ngh ppl n thr sd lstnd t hm. r lss.
RP, Jhn.
August 20th, 2010 at 6:55 pm
His kindness must have matched the kindness of your words. Thank you.
August 20th, 2010 at 8:09 pm
Thank you, Paul, for writing this about John. He was thoroughly honest and entirely genuine. John Armor will be missed. My thoughts tonight go out to his wife Michelle. Michelle and John had a sweet, loving relationship despite their broad political differences.
August 20th, 2010 at 9:04 pm
Oh, no.
I only met him once — at Gordon’s first Asheville Pizza event. I was impressed. Great guy.
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August 20th, 2010 at 9:14 pm
I was just thinking about John and Michelle the other day. I was going through my starred items on Google Reader, and I came across this old New York Times article that detailed their relationship, and their June 2008 wedding in Highlands. Their story melted my heart.
John Armor was always very kind to ScruHoo, cordial and often funny in his interactions with us, and wasn’t afraid to mix it up. He’ll be missed.
August 20th, 2010 at 9:28 pm
I appreciate the tribute to Mr. Armor and extend our deepest sympathy and prayers to his family at this time. This is the first I’ve heard of his passing. He will be missed.
I would take issue with your characterization of Congressman Taylor as a “corrupt local politician.” Just because he fought for continued multiple use of our national forests, thought more government regulations and taxes were a bad thing, and worked harder than anyone in history to bring economic development to WNC from his position on the House Appropriations Cmtee., he doesn’t deserve such ridicule. The other side spent tens of millions of dollars in multiple campaigns on character assassination but that doesn’t make it true. Just shows how in modern politics if you can’t win on the issues, turn your opponent into pure evil rules the day.
August 21st, 2010 at 6:36 am
John was a treasured member of FRee Republic, a stellar conservative political website/forum. He was intelligent, an activist and had a zeal for sharing with wit and a great sense of humor.
My sincere condolences to Michelle and other family members. May God give you comfort that he did his part to make this a better world for all.
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August 21st, 2010 at 11:36 am
Nathan, this isn’t about you, please don’t hi jack this loving tribute.
August 21st, 2010 at 1:49 pm
His passing has saddened many of us at Free Republic who have corresponded with him for many ears.
If known, could someone provide me with details, time location etc of a service.
If able, we might come over the mountain from Tennessee.
August 21st, 2010 at 11:35 pm
John’s family and I are so moved to read all of your loving tributes and kind words. I have been asked to go to DC to help with the launching of his last book, but when I get back, we’ll be having a memorial service at the end of September. It’s going to be a real celebration, with patriotic readings, Monty Python, and the Muppets. John would have loved it! You’re all invited, and I’ll be posting the date soon. Once again, thank you so much for your thoughtfulness. No one will miss him more than me. He really was the love of my life.
August 22nd, 2010 at 8:44 pm
Michelle, I was so glad to see your post & know you read these notes. You might appreciate seeing the love & warmth for your sweet husband at the FRee Republic Tribute Thread
CLICK!! – Here is the link
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August 23rd, 2010 at 8:18 am
It was a pleasure to have been able to take care of this gentleman. First day, post op, I walk into his room to take his vitals and do his morning assessment. Amazingly, he cracks a joke about attorneys! I had no idea who this cat was? I told him, “Mr. Armor today is the day to get up to the chair.” Lovingly, Mr. Armor said, “I’d like to wait for my wife, Michelle.” It was only 0730, so I told him we would wait for her
He told me how he and Michelle had originally met and told me to google their names. He was so proud of his “My Michelle”! As the day went on I was able to get a glimpse into this unique couples lives. All day it was back and forth, funny sarcasm, jokes and the wild stories throughout Johns’ life. I was not at all surprised when John told me that he was a writer and had me open his drawer and there lie a couple copies of his latest book! What a great day with John and Michelle!
What a shock to all of us the morning that John passed. All of us were deeply saddened that day, it was a hard one for all! As I sat with Michelle I got to see how much she loved this man and how devoted a couple they were! Over the past couple of days he had shown us how much he depended on Michelle! And in turn, Michelle, revealed how devoted she was to her “Baboo”! Thank you for allowing me to catch a glimpse into your lives!
Prayers for Michelle and his two daughters. Love you Michelle!
August 23rd, 2010 at 10:17 am
I agree that this thread shouldn’t be hijacked, so the next paragraph will be optional reading, through the magic of HTML (hopefully)
Nathan: Firstly, anyone who ever claimed to be a fiscal conservative and yet had a reputation for bringing lots of “pork” to his home district is a hypocrite, pure and simple. Especially after getting the state DOT a contract to improve the road leading to one of his real estate holdings. A master stroke. (Sure, Taylor threatened to sue the Wall Street Journal for defamation, but since the WSJ stood by their story and nothing ever came of the lawsuit. What is one to assume here?) Secondly, disingenuously insisting that someone whose name will be forever associated with Jack Abramoff isn’t corrupt is at the very least a perfect example of cognitive dissonance. Granted, the amount of Abramoff’s contributions amounted to ~ $3,000, and Taylor probably makes that much in a day from his various properties and business ventures. All he had to do is give that money back to get rid of any appearance of impropriety. You’ve been in the political game long enough to know that perception equals reality in politics.
Having said that, I do agree with you about the degradation of political discourse. John Armor’s passing unfortunately further contributed to that degradation. I admired the man – I’ve only talked with him a handful of times, and the last conversation we had was about beer. He was that kind of guy, able to find common ground with anyone regardless of their ideologies. He was a class act, and it’s clear from the wide spectrum of comments here that he touched a LOT of lives with his work. In a word, he was, and is, irreplaceable. My condolences to his family, online and off.
EDIT – it worked!
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August 23rd, 2010 at 10:27 pm
Michelle, thanks for sharing. This much love (in his thread) gives me great pause. I so often get caught up, shaking my head in disbelief at a comment from someone on the right, that I forget that they are husbands and wives and brothers and sisters and friends far and wide.
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August 23rd, 2010 at 10:41 pm
I was so moved and delighted to read Michelle Gillespie’s kind comments about John’s stay in the hospital. In spite of the seriousness of his condition, we had a lot of fun, joking with the wonderful nursing staff and doctors, and sharing stories. John loved to entertain, and at St. Joe’s, he had a captive audience. He wanted to eat solid food so much, and would get on his walker, going up to the nurses station, and clogging. “Strawberry ice cream, strawberry ice cream,” he would plead, while dancing in place. He wore his bathrobe, and a broad-brimmed hat – with his long hair (for the Ben Franklin role), it made him look positively Amish. Thanks for bringing back such bittersweet memories.
August 23rd, 2010 at 11:18 pm
In short, I am guilty of the prejudice I chide others for. For this I am sorry.
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August 26th, 2010 at 9:59 am
Since there have been so many requests for news of a memorial service, I wanted to include the details here. We will be having a service for John on Saturday, Sept. 25, 2:00pm, at the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation in Highlands. John wanted several patriotic readings and hymns, but also some wacky and wonderfully goofy things. I hope folks won’t be offended, but I’m sure it’s the kind of send-off he would love. I would also like to have it filmed, if possible, but I have to check with the church. This would be for the folks who would like to attend the service, but can’t make it. The obituary should be coming out soon in the Asheville Citizen-Times, the Baltimore Sun, and several DC papers. Any suggestions about where else I should put it? Also, I’ll be going to DC to do the book-signing tour that John had scheduled to do. Very difficult, but necessary. Grateful thanks to all who are keeping me sane (mostly).
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August 27th, 2010 at 8:17 am
http://www.highlandsinfo.com/PDFarchives/10aug26.pdf
John and I have been writing for The Highlands Newspaper for several years. This week was my turn to do a column, and it was a column I never thought I’d have to write. Ditto for the obituary. Thought some folks who like to read them, so here’s the link to this week’s paper.
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August 27th, 2010 at 8:50 am
Thanks for sharing that here, Michelle.
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