Dolores Jean (Thurmond) Armont

Dolores Jean (Thurmond) Armont, 80, passed away Thursday, April 17, 2025, after a courageous battle against a yearlong illness. Prior to that time, she had never been in a hospital except for her birth. She was in excellent health.

Jean was born November 1, 1944, in Refugio, Texas to James “Jack” Haskins Thurmond and Betty Jean (Steele) Thurmond. She was the oldest of five siblings, three of whom became angels in heaven at birth or shortly thereafter. She attended elementary schools in Robstown and Beeville and graduated from Refugio High School in 1963. She married Eddie Armont in October 1965, was mom to two sons, Anthony and James, and was grandmother to Sevannha, Michael, Anthony, Marissa and Alexa.

Jean worked as a bookkeeper for a lumber yard in Refugio while she was a student in high school. After graduation, she continued in that position until moving to Eddie’s home of Miami, Florida; however, you can’t keep a Texas girl away from Texas very long, so they moved back to Refugio in 1967 where she resumed her position at the lumber yard. When they moved to Taft to be closer to Eddie’s job, she became a caretaker for children or as she liked to say, “for the little bitty guys and gals.” She was also a proud housewife and stay-at-home mom.

She loved Jesus and read the Bible daily in the early hours of the morning. She was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Portland where she was a Sunday school teacher for 25 years. She enjoyed family activities. When the boys were young, she would prepare a picnic supper and when Eddie came home from work, the family would drive to Corpus Christi North Beach where the boys played in the bay and then ate supper together.

Her sons, Anthony and James, were always struck by her stories about her time caring for three- and four-year-old children. While she talked a bit about the children, her focus was mostly on the parents, whom she called "my mothers." She was an expert child-rearing resource to an entire generation of Portland women. They would come to her in tears about their child's behavior and Jean would walk them through why the child was acting that way and how to address it, using common sense wisdom that couldn't be found in books or on the internet. The mothers felt so much relief being guided by a loving and experienced woman who cared deeply about all of the children in her care.

She was quick to laugh and smile, teasing Eddie and her children constantly, bringing up recent behavior or memories from many years before. Her laugh was unique, coming from deep in her belly and making her listeners giggle along with her.

She loved animals, particularly small dog breeds, enjoying the company and bustle of chihuahuas, yorkies and toy poodles with sassy feminine names like Roxie and Gidget. Maybe this made up for a house full of men. She and Eddie had a soft spot for unhoused cats, traveling back to their former home daily for many years so they could feed the cats who came to depend on them.

One of her little brother’s classmates at Refugio High School remembered Jean as one of the most pleasant individuals who always treated the “lowly” underclassmen with kind acknowledgement and a smiling acceptance. He described her as a genuinely good person all through her life. One of her cousins remembered that Jean never exhibited any prejudice after entering integrated Refugio High School. “It was just the way she was, and we were some of the first ones to have awesome new friends and some of those friendships still exist.”

Dolores Jean Armont is preceded in death by her parents, Jack and Betty Jean Steele Thurmond.

She is survived by her husband of almost 60 years, Eddie Armont of Portland; sons and daughters-in-law, Anthony and Darby Armont of Austin, and James and Rachael Armont of McKinney, Texas; grandkids Sevannha, Michael, Anthony, Marissa and Alexa; and her “little” brother, James “Bo” Howard Thurmond of Missouri City, Texas. His family nickname of “Bo” was given to him because Jean could not say brother and instead called him Bo.

A graveside service will be held at 1 p.m. Wednesday, April 23 at Beeville Memorial Park, Hwy. 59 East, Beeville, Texas.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations to be made in Dolores Jean Armont’s memory at the First United Methodist Church of Portland. Click the link https://www.fumcportlandtx.org/ and go to “Give Online.”