By Glenda Kleppin, May 1998

Dear Dennis, 

Sounds like you are one of, what I consider to be, the "real" Armstrongs, always looking for
something new and not being content to stay in one place or work a lifetime at a single job and bitten by the bug of insatiable curiosity and a quest for learning, both formal and informal. I have always blamed my "wayward" ways on the "gypsy princess" who was the wife of our ancestor, Edward. Based on information which I recently discovered, I believe her name was Margaret McGuire. 

If you'd met my mother (Leah E. (Armstrong) Kleppin), you would have a fervent belief in the gypsy. Although Mother's eyes were blue, they were her greatest asset and they certainly "snapped" at you. Although her hair  was brunette, it had a definite reddish tint to it. Throughout her entire life she "talked" to people through her eyes. During the final 16-hour vigil the family kept at her bedside, she never "spoke" verbally, but her eyes never closed and she "spoke" through them. In fact, one of my final remarks to her before she died was to comment to her on her eyes and on how she was still speaking to me through them. 

Mom had what she referred to as her "Irish" temper, and she was not someone to cross. She
was a person who hugged and kissed a lot. She was 5'6" and skinny. We teased her all of her life about the "fried eggs" on her chest and her total lack of hips [more stories on this later]. In spite of this outwardly "boyish" build, she was also, although she seemed totally unaware of it, someone who "oozed" sensuality. She, however, had eyes only for my father through 53 years of marriage. 

I, of course, blame all my own unconventional ways on the princess. Who can resist such a
convenient scapegoat? As you may have gathered already, my branch of the Armstrongs carried on the tradition of spinning "yarns" and I have many a tale to tell that I have not yet passed down to anyone, so I guess that it's time to get in gear and start writing down my "Gma Tales" before they are lost.