Adrienne (Nesser) Armstrong had a lot of friends when she lived in Mankato and attended Minnesota State University. Many people who knew of her thought she was a sweet, beautiful, punk rock girl who everybody had a crush on.

Here are a few stories from people who knew her in the early 1990s when she was here.

We planned to go into business together

I knew Adrienne when she lived here: She and I and a few others had a big garage sale just before she moved out to California. In fact, she and I had plans to move to San Francisco together and were going to open up our own franchise of The Body Shop.

She headed West that May, and I stayed over the summer to finish up my time at MSU. Then, in true rock star fashion, I returned home from a Fourth of July vacation to a wedding invitation from Adrienne — to a wedding that had already happened.

— Amy Lennartson, Eagle Lake

I met her in ‘The Jungle’
I did know Adrienne back in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s. We worked together at a bar called “The Jungle” (formerly Sneaky Pete’s, currently Dutler’s Bowl). She’s a great person and a lot of fun!

I ran into her after the bar had closed down (she was working at Pier 1 Imports) and she told me she was moving out west soon. Months later, word got back that she had married Billie Joe, then the next thing I saw was an interview with him in Rolling Stone magazine talking about his pregnant wife!

I’m glad to see they’re doing well and would love to have them play in Mankato. More over, I’d love to see Adrienne again. Unfortunately, we did not keep in touch after she moved.

— Carrie Zempel Heise

Adrienne is my claim to fame
Green Day, well actually, Billie Joe Armstrong’s wife, Adrienne, is my claim to fame (and she doesn’t even know it)!!

I, like Adrienne, went to MSU in the early 1990s. I had a night class, Thursday if I am not mistaken, and it was a public speaking class. Our assignments were to give different types of speeches to the class.

My best friend Becky was also in that class with me, so it was a really fun time! Becky and I happen to sort of enjoy things like giving speeches.

However, there was this girl in our class who was literally terrified of speaking in front of the class. At first, we didn’t know what to think of her. When she came into the room, she stood out because of her “alternative” look. She had dread locks in her hair, wore green full-length Doc Marten boots (mind you, this was before everyone and their brother wore Doc Martens, so they made a statement), and her name was Adrienne.