 Armer’s father worked as an engineer and worked for the Agricultural Engineering Department for the University in Davis, which prompted the family’s move.Her father was an acoustical engineer and used to set up speakers in the family’s living room, exposing Elinor to acoustics at a young age.Elinor first began sight-reading music and enjoying four-part harmony because of many hymnals found in the Armer home, due to her father’s Methodist Evangelist background.