Armand Singer was born on November 30, 1914 and had lived an incredibly productive and well-traveled life by the time I first met him. He was then in his early 70's and had flown to Kona with his wife Mary, to visit their daughter Ann. Annie was about to marry the man known as the Director of Fun, within our gregarious circle of friends. Tomas Hill was soon to be wed and we were all afraid that our loud and obnoxious gatherings would be gone with just two words: "I do".
Armand had a firm handshake and Mary, a very soft and sweet smile. They were both retired college professors and I remember saying to myself as we were introduced, "Guess we won't be discussing the last Mork & Mindy episode!" We all loved Tomas enough to try to make a good impression.
Tomas and Annie got married, as did the rest of our merry-making friends. Life slowly disbanded us as we propagated our own family circles. The Hills eventually moved and settled in northern California and my only contact with Armand and Mary came through Annie. It soon became obvious that Armand was not your average retiree. Tales of his trip to Antarctica, his published book of limericks, mountain climbing and more, reached us even as Armand advanced in years.
By the time I opened the Kona Yoga studio, Armand was in his late eighties and productive as ever. I could not resist sharing his inspiring adventures in my classes and to those on my massage table who blamed their age for their loss of freedom; physical or mental. In fact, I spoke of Armand so often that I thought it was time to tell even more people about him. I asked Annie to get his permission and that, was the beginning of Where's Armand?
It was also the start of one of the most delightfully rich friendships I've ever had. Armand was a wealth of knowledge, experience and opinions, but you couldn't access it as quickly as with Google. In fact, I employed Google when Armand and I had phone conversations just to keep up with him. Conversations with Armand took a circuitous route and every side trip, was as amazing as the last. He rarely, if ever, repeated himself but the new tales corroborated the old ones. A feat not mastered by anyone else that I know.
In July of 2007, Armand had to have some repairs made to his colon and the two surgeries he had took their toll on other organs as well. After many heroic and painful weeks, he chose not to prolong the inevitable and died on July 12. Now that he is no longer physically with us, the answer to the question Where's Armand? is that he is here, on these pages.