Charles Edward Armbruster, Jr, better known as Ed, died at Mayo Clinic, Eisenberg Building, Saturday, September 19, 2026 when a final battle with pneumonia ended his progression into Alzheimer’s Disease after 4 years at Cascade Creek Memory Care.

Ed was born August 2, 1949 in Roanoke, Virginia to Charles and Eleanor (Prater) Armbruster. After living in Radford, VA a number of years and a brief stint in Salt Lake City in 1958, the family moved to Titusville, FL in 1960, where Ed’s dad worked in support of the space program at Cape Canaveral. Watching launches from his back yard while growing up was a treasured memory, and it was no surprise when his ability in the sciences began to surface. One story surfaced of certain lab assistants being involved in a massive clean-up after a bit too much fun with silver nitrate!

Ed graduated valedictorian from Titusville High School in 1967, the only high school senior who loved the color red so much that his class ring had a red stone when his school colors were blue and gold.

He had met his future wife, Barbara Turnham from Miami, the summer before when they both ended up on a bus chartered by the Church of the Brethren to take teens to National Youth Conference at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. Because both wanted to continue reading while everyone else wanted to sleep, they were told to sit together to cut down on the light keeping people awake! In Ithaca she learned he was a real astronomy buff, whose focus on an otherwise romantic starry night was on the constellations.

Despite being wooed by Florida’s universities during a Star Tour for top seniors in the state, Ed applied to only one college: Bridgewater College in Virginia, affiliated with the Church of the Brethren. He fully intended to become a chemist and work in the pharmaceutical industry until he met and fell in love with an IBM 1130 computer and his major changed to math. His marriage proposal included the question “I know I will be working with computers. Will you marry me anyway?”

While at Bridgewater Ed was active in the drama department, sang with the Concert Choir and Glee Club, represented the college on the quiz team, made lovely popcorn dripping with butter, and wore colorful socks for which his friends’ teasing hurt him.

Ed and Barb got married between semesters of their senior year on January 23, 1971, figuring their college friends wouldn’t be able to afford a trip to a Florida wedding and their families were “obligated” to come to a wedding in Virginia. After graduation and a summer with Barb’s parents in Miami, they headed to Ohio State for graduate school with Ed’s draft number hanging heavily over them. All those times Ed lost his glasses at Cascade Creek reminded Barb of how thankful they were when his extremely poor vision caused him to flunk the army physical. Now they could get on with graduate school instead of serving in Brethren Volunteer Service as a registered Conscientious Objector.

Although Ed had a full 4-year fellowship at Ohio State to get his PhD, Ed and Barb decided they were tired of school and stopped after completing Master’s degrees. Since IBM came to OSU recruiting, Ed ended up heading to Endicott, NY, where he spent the next 16 years as a computer programmer. While there they had their daughter Rachel Lynn and son Mark Edward.

With no Brethren Churches in Endicott, Ed and Barb settled on a nearby Church of the Nazarene, where they found warm fellowship and authentic faith. They joined the church on a Sunday morning and were elected to the church board that evening. Over the years Ed served as a board member, youth and adult Sunday school teacher, local and district Bible quiz team coach, and choir and praise team member. How can anyone not feel blessed to have been married 55 years to a man committed to growing more like Christ?

The family came to Rochester, MN in 1989 on a temporary assignment with IBM. After the assignment was cancelled, they decided to stay, having found the people to truly be “Minnesota nice.” Ed ended up leaving IBM after 28 years when recruited by QAD, a California company whose project he had been supporting. That led to 2 years of working from home until the project was cancelled. While working from home is the dream of many, it was a difficult time for a confirmed extrovert! A series of contract jobs both in Rochester and the Twin Cities followed, until the beginning of memory issues and anxiety finally brought about a reluctant retirement.

Besides the church choir and praise team, Ed’s love of singing continued in Rochester with the Rochester Male Chorus, the Pops Orchestra and Chorale, and finally Resounding Voices.

Besides the reading that brought Ed and Barb together, he also enjoyed biking and rode his bike to work many years. He loved fireworks, awful puns, snorkeling, camping, canoeing, and traveling, as well as playing board games, recreational volleyball and disc golf.

While pulling his wife out of her shell, he learned to be more kind and sensitive to those around him and specifically that it wasn’t a good idea to criticize his new wife’s first attempt at making pancakes over a wood stove in the cabin so graciously borrowed for their honeymoon from the college doctor. From that date on he was the official family pancake maker!

Ed is survived by his wife Barb, his daughter Rachel (Todd) Ellerman and son Mark (Michelle) both of Rochester, his brother Robert (Beverly) Armbruster of Virginia Beach/Harrisonburg, his nephews Tom (Becki) and Stephen (Ashley) and Stephen and Ashley’s two sons Bryce and Blake.

A very special thank you to the staff at Cascade Creek and the other family members who have become such good supportive friends during this journey.

The Memorial Service for Ed will be held on Wednesday, September 30, 2026 at 2:00pm at LifeBridge: Church of the Nazarene (3343 East Circle Dr NE, Rochester, MN 55906). Visitation will begin one hour prior to the service at the church. A reception will follow.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Alzheimer’s Association, the Nazarene Well House or Resounding Voices.

Online condolences are welcome at www.mackenfuneralhome.com