Garner Ted Armstrong - Death and Legacy

Death and Legacy

Garner Ted Armstrong died on September 15, 2003 due to complications from pneumonia. Upon Armstrong's death, country music artist Merle Haggard related that "after Johnny died, I lost a real close friend in Garner Ted Armstrong. He was like a professor to me. What education I have, I owe to him. There was a period where I didn't even want to watch the news to see who else was gone."

Following his death in September 2003, Garner Ted was buried in Gladewater Memorial Park, approximately two miles east of the former Big Sandy, Texas campus of Ambassador University. He is buried with his wife's family: his father in law Roy Hammer, his mother in law Pearl Hammer, and several other members of the Hammer family. His parents, paternal grandmother, and brother are buried in Altadena, California. The Hammers were the donors of the original property on which the Ambassador campus was located. His widow Shirley continues to serve as the Vice-President of the Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association, and continues to reside in the private, gated community of Emerald Bay, Bullard, a small community outside Tyler, Texas on Lake Palestine.

Rather than selecting a new media spokesman, the evangelistic association continues to broadcast old programs made by Garner Ted Armstrong on approximately 30 television stations and cable outlets according to the Garner Ted Armstrong TV/Radio Page of the ministry's website. The Intercontinental Church of God (USA) and Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association are now led by Mark Armstrong, one of three sons of Garner Ted and Shirley Hammer Armstrong. Mark Armstrong functions as CEO of the organizations and producer of the television outreach program.

Armstrong is listed as a member of the eclectic (and fictional) "orchestra" in The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band's recording, The Intro and the Outro, where he is credited as a vocalist.