Interview with William Davis Armstrong, May 9, 1985

Interview Summary

William Davis "Army" Armstrong was born at Louise, Texas (Wharton County) on June 28, 1905. He graduated from Wharton High School in 1924, attended Texas A & M for one semester in the Fall, 1924. He left in the spring of 1925, to take the Naval Academy exam and attended the Naval Academy until August, 1926. Armstrong returned to Texas A & M in the fall of 1926 and graduated with a B. S. in Horticulture in 1929. He went to the South Haven Experiment Station at Michigan State University in the summer of 1929 and attended graduate school there from 1929 to1931. He returned to Texas to be married and then went to the University of Kentucky's College of Agriculture to teach for one year. Thanks to Dr. H.B. Tukey, Chairman of the Horticultural Department at Michigan State University, he was allowed to complete course work in lieu of a thesis, and received his Master's degree in the spring of 1959.

Armstrong worked at the Georgia Experiment Station near Griffin, Georgia from 1932-1936. Through contacts at Texas A & M, he was appointed Assistant Horticulturist at Oklahoma Extension Services in February, 1936. Armstrong then became Associate Extension Horticulturist in July, 1937 at Oklahoma A & M and states that "horticulture there was somewhat stressful in nature" after the Dustbowl Era. Armstrong returned to the University of Kentucky's Special Horticultural Program and was Horticulturist at the Western Kentucky Substation in Princeton, Kentucky from 1938-1962. He describes his work there with mulching of strawberries and variety testing of various crops. He mentions the peach tree pruning project at the Kentucky Cardinal Orchards in Henderson, Kentucky. He remembers his work with the Kentucky State Fair.

From 1963-1965, Armstrong was Assistant Professor at the Western Kentucky Experiment Station at Princeton, Kentucky. He discusses several projects and his work with pesticides and fungicides during this period. From 1966-1974, he became the State Extension Specialist in Horticulture at the Western Kentucky Substation and say he was the first one allowed to supervise the entire state program from a location outside of Lexington, Kentucky. He talks about his wife, Emily Lipscomb, a direct descendant of Governor Isaac Shelby of Kentucky, his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
He is asked to name his many awards.

Interview Keyword

Army Armstrong Kentucky's Cooperative Extension Service

Interview LC Subject

Agriculture. Armstrong, William Davis, 1905- Armstrong, William Davis, 1905- --Interviews University of Kentucky University of Kentucky--History University of Kentucky. Cooperative Extension Service

Interview Rights

All rights to the interviews, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred to the University of Kentucky Libraries.

Interview Usage

Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.