High Profile: 'MAMA' ELIZABETH ARMSTRONG

She's just like you think she'd be.

Sweet. Polite. Feisty.

At 87, Elizabeth "Mama" Armstrong is the unquestionable queen of Lowcountry celebrities. For more than 20 years, she's been the face of Mama's Used Cars in television commercials, on billboards and there's even a giant inflatable Mama on Savannah Highway. And though most people would be surprised to learn she doesn't actually own the dealership, it probably doesn't come as much of a shock that she's every bit as approachable as advertised.

"I can't explain it, but people always want to come up and give me hugs," she says. "I love getting hugs."

But long before this mama ever became "Mama," she took care of a family of her own.

A different time

One of five children, Armstrong grew up in the throes of the Great Depression. Her father was a carpenter, her mother looked after the kids. Though they weren't well off, she says, she never really felt poor because everybody around her was in the same situation.

"There were no rich people then," she says. "And if there were, I sure didn't know them."

When she wasn't in school, she and her friends would hang out at one of the many local playgrounds. It was there that she met the love of her life, Mike.

After several years of flirting, the two finally got married when she was 21.

"It was a simple wedding," she says of the occasion. "There weren't any invitations. People just showed up. It wasn't like all those crazy weddings brides are having nowadays."

Mike was a sailor in the

Navy and was assigned to the Northeast Atlantic, a trip that separated the young couple for nearly three years. Finally, he got out of the service, and the two settled back in the Lowcountry, where they had four girls and a boy.

Things were good until their youngest child was tragically hit and killed by a truck at age 4. Then Mike, who was a police officer for the city of Charleston, went to the doctor to have a knot on his neck checked out. It was cancer. The doctors gave him six months to live.

"It was awful," she says, "but it gave me time to accept that he was going to be gone."

The two spent every waking moment together before he died in 1967.

At 46, Armstrong found herself looking for a job. A secretarial position paid the bills for nearly 13 years, but eventually she just couldn't bring herself to do it anymore. And that's when she started baby-sitting.

A chance encounter

Like any good mother, Armstrong gives off an air of calm, control and warmth. Which is exactly why families trusted her to look after their children when she began baby-sitting.

For years, she baby-sat while parents were at work or dinner. One such family was Manly and Jan Eubank, owners of Palmetto Ford. But even the Eubanks' little daughter, Elizabeth, couldn't keep Armstrong from deciding it was time to stop working and take a little time for herself.

For the next few months, she relaxed around the house, reading, crocheting, watching Braves games on TV. And then the phone rang. On the other end was Manly Eubank. He explained that his dealership was looking for a mother figure for a new commercial it was filming, and he thought Armstrong would be perfect.

She recalls: "I just laughed and said, 'You've got the wrong mother. I'm too fat for television.' "

But with a little bit of encouragement, she finally gave in.

"I thought it was just going to be one time," she says. Today, she's filmed more than 200 commercials for the Mama's Used Cars arm of Palmetto Ford.

The schtick is simple: frustrated mom deals with incompetent son. Over the years, Mama has asked "son" David Simmons for a screwdriver, only to have him bring her a mixed drink; to put new plates on a car, only to watch him place dinner plates on the hood; and to put gas in a truck that was having trouble starting, only to watch him toss a gas can in the back and then drive off.

"That's not the only thing running on empty," she said.

And that's her. Right there.

Funny. To the point. And one of the most content people you'll ever meet.

Armstrong would have never guessed some of the biggest thrills of her life would come after turning 70. Since becoming Mama, she's thrown out the first pitch at a RiverDogs game, ridden in the Christmas parade, even thrown the opening jump ball for a College of Charleston basketball game.

"This has given me something to look forward to in my old age. I have met wonderful people and traveled lots of wonderful places. And I would have never gotten to do all this if it wasn't for Mama."

Reach Bryce Donovan at 937-5938 or bdonovan@post andcourier.com.