Olive Kathleen Armentrout Vance (98) went to be with The Lord on November 12, 2021, with her daughters at her bedside. Born in 1923 in Mouth of Seneca WV, the daughter of Bernie Smith Armentrout and Iva Miller Armentrout, Olive was the eldest of 9 children and grew up on the family farm in Mouth of Seneca, now part of the Seneca Rocks State Park. Upon graduating from Circleville High School, she went to college in Bridgewater, Virginia and also Davis and Elkins College in Elkins WV, where she attended until the college became a military training center during WWII. Olive later moved to Washington, DC where she worked as ticket agent in Union Station, which she spoke of often in life. Some of her favorite stories were of the service men passing through, whom she was able to help. When they didn’t have quite enough cash to get home, she would offer the rest from her own pocket. With pride, she would always point out she never had someone promise to repay her that didn’t come back and do just that. She went on to serve as the secretary for Grace Brethren Church in Temple Hills, MD for many years, later working in their school library before her retirement.

In 1944, she married her high school sweetheart Clyde Vance, with whom she enjoyed 57 long years until his passing in 2002. A doting wife, loving mother, cherished grandmother, and devoted friend, Olive spent her life caring for those around her. Very often that care came in the form of delightful meals and heavenly desserts, recipes curated over a lifetime from family and friends and perfected with her own unique flavor.

Olive’s passion for service and caring for those around her stemmed predominantly from her devout faith and belief in Christ. She earnestly read and studied her Bible daily and taught many Bible classes for adults and children over the more than 70 years of active membership she enjoyed with Grace Brethren Churches in Washington DC, Temple Hills, MD, and Winchester VA. Many of them scholarly books on scripture, Olive was also an avid reader, stating that she read, on average, about 180 books a year and collected more than 10 thousand in her personal library.

Olive and Clyde resided on the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, MD for 32 years where Clyde was employed. Later, they retired to Berryville, VA to be closer to family and for the last 5 years, she has been a bright and happy resident at Spring Arbor Senior Living Community in Winchester. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, Clyde, her three sisters, Norma Pendleton, Josie Toomey, and Retha Woeckener and two brothers, Dwite Armentrout and Blair Armentrout.

She is survived by her daughters and sons-in-law, Delores and James (Jim) Marrow and Carleen and Charles (Chuck) Puglisi, all of Winchester, 9 grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren, 2 sisters, Doris Armentrout of Forestville, MD, Karen Conlan of Rockville, MD, one brother, Max Armentrout of Elkins,   WV and 12 nieces and nephews.