Odella Renee Armstrong

DOB: 10/21/71 - 53 yrs. old

Odella is named after her father, Odell. Her mother added an “a” to the end of his name to make it feminine. She describes herself as an introvert, someone who is private, a good listener, dependable and a nice person.

She grew up in West Bottom/Bremo Bluff in Fluvanna, surrounded by family from both sides of her family. Her mother’s side of the family is mostly from Maryland and Washington DC. Odella has one sister who is almost ten years younger plus two older half-brothers from her father’s side.  As a child, she loved to help her Dad work on cars and hang out with him, being a “Daddy’s girl.”

Odella attended Fork Union Elementary School, Central Elementary School, and Fluvanna County High School. After high school, she attended Piedmont Virginia Community College and then Averett University, studying business administration at both colleges while working full-time.

Even though she was an honor roll student, Odella says she was a “passive learner.” Her initial career goal was to become a nurse, but she could not tolerate the sight of blood. For 26 years, she worked at a major insurance company and held various positions in Underwriting and Claims. During the pandemic (2020-2023), Odella revisited her career dream of working in the field of medicine. She accepted a position at the University of Virginia (UVA) within the Career Center and transitioned to the UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center as a Clinical Research Coordinator. She speaks with patients regarding clinical studies, enjoying her current work as a Coordinator. 

At the age of 25, Odella built a home at Lake Monticello in Fluvanna, where she now lives. She is not married and has no children. During her spare time, she likes to visit family and friends, relax, and travel—which she’d like to do more often.

When asked what she knows about her Fluvanna ancestry, Odella said she knows very little and until now has not been particularly interested in her family history. When asked if she had ever been to General Cocke’s Bremo Plantation, where some of her ancestors were enslaved, she said that she has visited there several times and felt very welcome and at peace on that land.  When asked if she knew much about General John Hartwell Cocke and his thinking about slavery (he taught many of his slaves how to read and write, built a chapel for them, and developed a pathway to freedom requiring moving to Liberia), she said she did not have any knowledge about that but was interested in learning more.

REFERENCES:

“The Slaves Have Names: Ancestors of My Home,” by Andi Cumbo-Floyd, 2013.

“Dear Master, Letters of a Slave Family,” edited by Randall M. Miller, 1990.

Odella