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Looking for — and fi nding — community
Astoria couple Bill
and Deborah
Armington thrive
on giving back
By DWIGHT CASWELL
D
Dr. William Armington was a
neuroradiologist with one of the
oldest radiology fi rms in the coun-
try, reading scans for four hospitals
in the New Orleans area. “We
had been living in New Orleans
for a long time,” Armington says,
“and we were established. We
were doing things that we really
enjoyed, medicine and our cultural
pursuits.”
Hurricane Katrina put an end
to that. Hospitals closed, and New
Orleans was evacuated. “We were
forced to become more refl ective
about our lives,” Bill says.
“We looked for a place we
liked,” says his wife, Deborah, “a
community that was welcoming,
and small enough that we could
see that we were making a differ-
ence.”
The couple had lived in the
French Quarter, a close-knit
community. “We really treasured
the relationships we had there,” Bil
says.
They began looking all over the
country for the kind of communi-
ty they wanted. It had to be on a
coast, and it had to be a place with
a thriving art scene, both visual
and performing. That is what they
had experienced in the French
Quarter, which, despite being
surrounded by a large city, is like a
town of 4,000. Says Deborah, “I’m
not really a city girl; I’m a country
girl.”
Eventually, they narrowed the
possibilities down to two choices:
Key West, Florida, and — 3,056
miles away — Astoria, Oregon.
Key West was remote, at the end
of a long island chain, and they
judged that it might be diffi cult to
PHOTO BY DWIGHT CASWELL
Bill Armington is an accomplished pianist and is on the board of the As-
toria Music Festival.
PHOTO BY DWIGHT CASWELL
Deborah and Bill Armington moved to Astoria in 2007, looking for a new
community to call home after Hurricane Katrina left its mark on New Orleans.
become a part of the community.
Astoria was not quite so remote,
and the arts community was vi-
brant and growing. More impor-
tantly, Bill says, “People accepted
us.” Deborah echoes the sentiment,
“We were thrilled that people
wanted us to be a part of things.”
Upon arrival in 2007, the
couple immediately began
volunteering. Deborah became a
Court Appointed Special Advo-
cate volunteer to help ensure that
abused and neglected children
have a better start in life. She now
serves on the boards of Clatsop
CASA and Astoria Visual Arts,
and, although she is no longer on
the Columbia Memorial Hospital
Foundation Board, she is active in
fundraising for the hospital’s new
cancer center.
An accomplished pianist, Bill
had been on the advisory board of
the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage
Foundation. In Astoria, he joined
the Liberty Theater Board of Di-
and emergency medicine, and to
rectors and was president for two
the new cancer center, which will
years. He now serves on the board
break ground in August of this
of the Astoria Music Festival. The
year. “It’s really exciting for me
Armingtons often play host to
to be a part of this,” he says, “as
artists and musicians and, he says,
a doctor and as someone who has
“It’s fun to see what’s happening to had a part in bringing this about.”
music here. The music festival has
“We love it here in Astoria,”
some of the best classical music
says Bill, “and we love exploring
on the West Coast, and there is the the world.” When not working
growing indie scene with Blind
or volunteering, the Armingtons
Pilot.”
travel. Thanks to
Bill’s greatest
the internet, Bill
can read scans from
‘WE LOVE
contribution to
almost anywhere in
the community,
IT HERE IN
the world.
though, has been as
ASTORIA,
Deborah,
a doctor. “My goal
AND WE LOVE “We Says
love adventure
in coming here,” he
EXPLORING
travel, and we love
says, “was to make
THE WORLD.’ to hike.” That might
available in a rural
mean hiking in
setting all the medi-
the Alps, kayak-
cal care available in
ing in Patagonia, or traveling in
a large city.” He was immediately
South Africa with their two adult
aware of, he says, “how hard it
children. On his 60th birthday,
was for patients with serious con-
ditions like cancer to get care with- Bill went swimming in 28-degree
out major inconvenience.” Patients water at the North Pole.
Perhaps the greatest discovery
needing chemotherapy or radiation
the Armingtons have made has little
might have to make daily trips to
to do with travel. “When the bottom
Portland. “I was able to be a part
fell out and our world turned upside
of reaching out to OHSU (Oregon
down,” says Bill, “we could contin-
Health & Science University) to
ue with our lives.”
bring services to the coast.”
In a small town on the Oregon
Bill points to expanded options
Coast.
in general surgery, orthopedics