Public Notices - DBA Info •   CONTACT US: News Department • Display Advertising • Classified Advertising

Search for Current and Archived Articles:

---

In Memoriam: Carl Armbrust

     Canyon Lake lost one of its most influential citizens last Tuesday with the death of Carl Armbrust. Carl and his wife Dorothy had been property owners in the private community for 32 years and had moved to Air Force Village West in Riverside in October, though they maintained their home here and visited the Country Club for lunch just last week.
     Carl died February 9 after battling a number of health issues. He was 89.
     A memorial service will be held tomorrow, February 13, at the Canyon Lake Community Church at 11 a.m.
     Carl spent 26 years as Supervising Prosecutor in the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, during which time he and his wife were weekenders here. As head of an 11-lawyer drug prosecuting team, Carl regularly made headlines fighting a high-profile medical marijuana case.
     Carl began his distinguished and varied career at 20, when he joined the United States Air Force, then known as the United States Army Air Corp. He retired in 1970 as a Colonel after 30 years of service. He was a graduate of both the National War College as well as the Air Force Institute of Technology, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Engineering.
     He attended night school at the Oklahoma City University of Law and completed his law school training at Loyola University School of Law where he earned his final degree, a Doctor of Jurisprudence. It was at that point that he joined the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.
     After retiring from law in 1998, Carl and Dorothy moved to Canyon Lake full-time and he continued his life in public service, serving on the Canyon Lake Property Owners Association Board of Directors, including one year as President of the Board. He also served on the City Council as Mayor. He was active in the Canyon Lake Community Church, where he was a member of the choir.
     Last fall he and Dorothy took up residency at Air Force Village West, the unique community for retired or honorably discharged military officers from all branches of the Armed Services.
     “Carl was an extremely fine man – a man of good character and religious faith,” says Mayor Nancy Horton on learning of his death. “He was extremely kind to me when I first got on City Council and I offer my condolences to his wife Dorothy and the family.”
     Besides his wife of 68 years, whom he met in junior high school, Carl is survived by daughter and son-in-law, Andrea and Bob Lavoie and their children, Bobby Lavoie, Chris Lavoie and Michelle Letham; daughter and son-in-law, DeAnn and Jerry Wood and their children Karen Young and David McFarland; daughter and son-in-law, Carolyn and Roger Mathes; and 12 great-grandchildren.
     

---