Family, friends mourn death of Halifax man who left law to start organic farm

Family and friends of a former Halifax lawyer who enjoyed quietly helping people are mourning his death. 

Ken Armour, 60, died in late January at his family home in Dominica, a small island country in the Caribbean. For some years he taught in Dominica as a high school teacher before moving to Nova Scotia in the late 1980s. 

Older brother Reginald Armour described Ken's personality as "very complex."

"He was a mixture of many things," Reginald said. "He was outwardly a very tough personality, but there was a very deep inner compassionate part of him. He was paradoxically a dreamer and the most practical among us." 

For almost three decades, Armour called Halifax home after arriving to study at Saint Mary's University and later Dalhousie University. 

'He was just fair'

Real estate lawyer lola doucet (who spells her name without capitalization) first met Armour when they studied together at Dalhousie's law school in the late 1990s. 

 Armour and doucet later struck out on their own and decided to rent a "broom closet" of an office together in Bedford.

"I would use the office during the day, and he would use it at night, because that's when he wanted to meet his clients," said doucet. 

"Most people want to meet lawyers at night, and I refuse. I have daytime hours and I have children, so I do other things at night, but he was always accommodating."

The two colleagues eventually moved to a larger office, but continued to share space. 

"His clients loved him," doucet said, explaining that Armour practised family and criminal law. "He did some hard stuff: custody and children's aid. Typically, the people that I know that he worked with, he was just fair. He wasn't somebody that was trying to gouge anybody. He didn't really care about the money." 

Armour also wanted to keep his lawyerly work to the off-hours because he worked part time in a small options group home for people with severe mental disabilities. He began that work during his time as a student at Saint Mary's University and continued all through law school and during his time as a practising lawyer. 

Reginald Armour said he isn't sure what motivated his brother to become a caregiver.

"When those of us who thought we knew Ken heard about it, we were very surprised," Reginald said. "It's part of what made him such a complex person — he had a need to give back." 

Armour didn't take that second job because he needed the cash, said another long-time friend, Dalhousie professor Isaac Saney. 

"Even when his practice was going well ... he enjoyed working with people so much he continued still to work in these group homes," Saney said. 

A love of nature

Reginald Armour said his brother loved the outdoors in all seasons, taking pleasure in exploring nature in Nova Scotia and using old farm equipment to clear his neighbours' driveways of snow. 

After a decade of practising law, Armour gave up his membership in the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society in 2013 and prepared to return to Dominica in 2017. 

His goal was to care for his father and start an organic farm. In his master's thesis completed at Saint Mary in 1992, Armour wrote about the "desperate need for economic diversification" in agriculture in his home country. 

"He wanted to be a model of sustainable farming, especially in a time when we have all these ecological challenges," said Saney.

Hurricane Maria hit Dominica months after Armour arrived and was such a severe blow to his plans for a farm they were never fully realized. 

Armour loved Land Rovers and Jeeps and was a member of a car enthusiast club, said doucet. She has been notifying friends of Armour's death, and marvels at how many different groups of people knew him. 

"He actually touched quite a few people's lives, for being kind of quiet and reserved," she said. 

Armour's death came as a shock to his family and friends, as he was found at his family home with a fatal head injury. Police were not able to determine what caused the injury. 

Reginald Armour said the pain is still "very raw" but he hopes people will remember his brother in a positive light. 

"He brought a lot of quality to everyone he impacted with," Reginald said. "I hope that all of us who knew Ken will celebrate the fact that we knew him and he formed part of our lives during the time that he was with us." 

Armour's funeral was held on Thursday in Dominica. 

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