2010 Profiles in Courage - Delegate Ward Armstrong Virginia's 10th House of Delegates
Ward Armstrong’s roots run deep here. His great-great-grandfather settled in Hillsville in the 1850s. His dad worked at Stanley Furniture for 30 years, and his mom played the organ at their church for 42 years. Ward married the former Pam Akers in 1982, and today they live with their daughters in Collinsville.
Ward’s been an attorney and small businessman in Martinsville since 1981. As our Delegate, Ward is always available to help solve problems. He cares, because this is home.
Ward has been a member of the Virginia House of Delegates since 1992. He serves on the Courts of Justice, Finance, and Rules committees. He was elected Minority Leader of the Virginia House of Delegates on February 25, 2007 by his colleagues.
Ward is a 1980 graduate of The T.C. Williams School of Law, University of Richmond, and a 1977 graduate of Duke University, where he earned a degree in business. During law school, he studied for a summer at Cambridge University in England. After law school, he worked as a law clerk to Justice W. Carrington Thompson of the Supreme Court of Virginia for one year. He has practiced law in Martinsville since 1981.
Ward is a recipient of the A.L. Philpott Award for Leadership. He is past president of the Martinsville-Henry County Bar Association; a member of the Virginia Museum of Transportation Board of Directors; and a member of the Norfolk and Western Historical Society.
He was raised in Bassett, graduating from John D. Bassett High School in 1974.
Ward and his wife, Pam, live with their two daughters, Courtney, 23 and Whitney, 19 in Collinsville. The Armstrongs are members of Pocahontas Bassett Baptist Church. A model and toy train collector since his childhood, Delegate Armstrong enjoys working on his trains in his free time.