Carol Armstrong | Board Member

Carol grew up on the High Valley cattle ranch in Ellensburg, Washington, and there attended Central Washington College. She married John Bluher, and together they raised three children. 

Later, while living in Sun Valley, Idaho, she married her second husband, Jackson Armstrong. In 1990, together Carol and Jack piloted a single-engine 1950 Beechcraft Bonanza in an around-the-world flight. 

Carol’s interest and entry into politics started in Bozeman, Montana, in the early 1990s. Accompanying her patriotic husband, a WWII pilot who flew in the China-Burma Theatre, she started participating in Montana GOP meetings, events, and ran successfully as precinct person for her district. 

Becoming involved in the Pachyderm Organization, she later became chairman, coordinated speakers and planned programs for the members’ meetings. The Pachyderm Organization sponsored and coordinated debates and forums, presenting both sides of political issues, as they continue to do today.

In 2005, upon the death of her husband, and to be close to her daughter and family, she moved to Cody, Wyoming, and became Chairman of the Park County Republican Women, implementing the Leadership Tea honoring graduating high school senior girls. This tradition continues today, taking place in the Buffalo Bill Center of the West every spring. 

Every July 3, the Park County Republican Party presents a patriotic event, The Freedom Celebration. For six years, under Carol’s direction, it has been held at the Wyoming Veterans Memorial Park in Cody, Wyoming. Two T-34’s open the program with a spectacular, low flying tribute to our nation’s freedom.   

Carol conceived the idea and organized the support team for a life-sized bronze memorial to be added to Wyoming Veterans’ Memorial Park honoring war-dogs and their handlers. The life-sized bronze statue of a soldier and his war-dog was placed amongst the other monuments in the fall of 2018.

Carol’s most challenging and memorable contribution to preserving public rights was her initiation of the Shut Out of Yellowstone campaign. Her leadership in collecting petition signatures, rousing media interest, and organizing panel discussions led to national attention and rallied sufficient public support for the National Park Service to reverse their decision to close Yellowstone’s East Entrance for winter use.

She is a member of Daughters of the American Revolution; as one of her ancestors fought at the first battle at Concord and Lexington, the Park County Republican Women, and Big Horn Basin Scottish Society. 

Carol served as a trustee for Veritas Academy, a Christian school offering a God-honoring classical curriculum in Cody, Wyoming, is a member of Park County Right to Life which defends the vulnerable unborn and a member of Christ the King Lutheran Church.