Chapelle Armstead, a former official in Baltimore's Department of Social Services, died of Alzheimer's disease Saturday at Emerald Estates, a Northwest Baltimore assisted-living facility. She was 76 and formerly resided in Windsor Hills.

She was born Chapelle McMillan in Monroe County, Ala., and moved to Jersey City, N.J., as a child. She earned a bachelor's degree in music education in 1950 from what is now Morgan State University, and her master's degree in social work from Howard University in the 1960s.

She began her career with the old city Department of Public Welfare in 1955, and joined the state Department of Social Services in 1967 as a training specialist. She became assistant director of staff services with the city department in 1978 and retired in 1985.

She later was executive director for several years of the Delta Community Center in Northwest Baltimore.

Mrs. Armstead had been an active member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and was a former member of Augsburg Lutheran Church.

A soprano, she enjoyed singing in church choirs and playing the piano. She also collected wooden and porcelain elephants that she displayed in her home.

In 1949, she married Joseph Armstead. Her husband, a math teacher, died in 1985.

Mrs. Armstead was most recently a member of Heritage United Church of Christ, 3110 Liberty Heights Ave., where services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Survivors include a son, Joseph Armstead Jr. of Baltimore; three daughters, Marcia A. Ivy of Inglewood, Calif., and Helen E. Campbell and Dorothy Marie Armstead, both of Randallstown; two brothers, Roosevelt McMillan of Orange, N.J., and Takbir Yasin of Englewood, N.J.; two sisters, Mary Harper of Jersey City and Wilkie Jasey of Orange; 10 grandchildren; and a great-grandson.