John Eugene Armbrust was born on February 7th, 1920, in Sarpy County, Nebraska. His parents were Hans and Ceclia (Jezek) Armbrust. John was married to Betty Leah Armbrust, and they had two daughters: Donna Josoff and Sharon Zadina.
John attended grade school at Pleasant Hill Elementary and high school at Omaha South High School through the 9th grade.
At age 18, John’s mother purchased his first accordion for him. Then, while in the U.S. Army, when stationed in the Pacific, he played his accordion for the other soldiers on the ship.
John was a carpenter and started at Snell’s Sash and Door, and ending his career after 20 years at St. Joe Hospital. During the next several years after, he was a home builder and built many homes in South Omaha, doing all the finishing and cabinetry work himself.
In the early 60s, a new polka band was born: Johnny Armbrust and The Polka Kings. Johnny would play piano accordion, Cordovox, or button accordion along with Gary Berka, Johnny Julis and Bill Scott. Johnny didn’t read music but played by ear. He would record songs from the Big Joe Polka Show on the radio and practice them to play by ear. He also helped out playing on the Jim Hovorka Band and Frank Hazuka Band.
Our family always enjoyed when dad’s band played at Sokol Park because we could all be there to enjoy and dance to his music.
Johnny passed away on December 25th, 2009.