Paul Thompson Armitstead

Paul Thompson Armitstead October 21, 1930 - October 13, 2015 Paul Thompson Armitstead, Baylor professor emeritus of history, died Tuesday, October 13, 2015, at Crestview Nursing Home. He was 84. His memorial service will be 4:00 p.m., Friday, October 16, at Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey Chapel with Baylor University Chaplain Burt Burleson officiating, preceded by a visitation with the family that begins at 3:00 p.m. Armitstead was born October 21, 1930, in Rochester, New Hampshire, to Johnson and Olive Armitstead. The youngest of three sons of a Methodist minister, he grew up in towns throughout New England. After serving for seven years in the United States Navy, through the assistance of the GI Bill, he obtained his degree in history from the University of Nebraska and PhD in history from University of Texas. The majority of his life was spent as a professor of history at Baylor University 1961-2002. His great joy was to teach, and he frequently expressed his gratitude that he was part of an institution which allowed him to do that. Early in his career, with his colleagues in the 1960s, he was instrumental in encouraging Baylor to take the progressive step of admitting students of all racial and ethnic backgrounds a year before the US Congress passed the Civil Rights Act. In a letter sent on the occasion of Dr. Armitstead's retirement, a former student, Ben Ramsey, sums up his style, "your calm demeanor, flavored with a droll sense of humor, your analytical approach, your quiet intellect, your common sense and your dedication to your life's work have proved to be a model for me, and those qualities I have observed in you, I have tried to emulate." He was preceded in death by his parents; and his brother, Austin Armitstead. He is survived by daughters, Brooke Fernandez and husband, Horacio, of Houston, and Dana Armitstead of Hunt, Texas; and his brother, Donald M. Armitstead of Seattle. Memorials may be made to the national or local Alzheimer's Association or the Baylor University History Department's Charles Edmondson Historical Lecture Series. The family invites you to leave a message or memory in our "Memorial Guestbook" at www.WHBfamily.com.