Roy A. Latimer (Staff ~'39 - ~'43)

Joined: 06 Jun 2007 Posts: 256 Location: Longview, TX

Roy A. Latimer spent most of his life giving his time and talents to others, first as a teacher, then as a volunteer.

For 38 years he taught high school, with the last 26 years spent as a business education teacher at Lyons Township High School. And after he retired, he spent thousands of hours volunteering in his community at Adventist Hinsdale Hospital and at the Carousel Shop of the Community Nurse Health Association in La Grange.

"From 1980 through 2007, he put in 5,558 [volunteer] hours," said Sher Fox, director of volunteer services at Adventist Hinsdale Hospital. "But he did lots and lots of things that he never recorded. His job was to deliver the hospital business mail, and that is a 21/2-mile walk and he did it twice a week. He knew everyone and everyone knew him."

Mr. Latimer, 92, of La Grange, died of pneumonia Wednesday, April 22, in Adventist Hinsdale Hospital.

Born and raised in Longwood, Mo., Mr. Latimer went on to attend Central Missouri State University, where he received bachelor of arts and bachelor of science degrees in education in 1939. He then started his teaching career at Kemper Military Academy in Boonville, Mo. After a few years of teaching, he continued his own education at Iowa State University and earned a master's degree in commerce in 1947.

In the fall of 1951, he joined the staff at Lyons Township High School and taught business education. By 1965 he was named chairman of the department. That year, the department introduced the IBM Selectric typewriter. According to the school's 1965 yearbook, the typewriter came with "a simulator unit designed to introduce computer key punch," which, before that time, was offered only at junior college classes "for the then rapid growing field of data processing."

He retired from the school in 1977 and soon after started to volunteer in his community. "When people asked him where he came from, he would tell them, 'I came right out of high school,' " Fox said. She also recalled a sale the hospital held of used artwork and how she put him in charge of the sale and six high school volunteers. "He just came alive once he was working with the teenagers again. ... They responded to him too," Fox said.

Mr. Latimer also served as a past secretary, treasurer, vice president and president of the volunteer board at the hospital. While he worked two days a week at the hospital, he also worked every Saturday morning as a cashier at the Carousel Shop, a fundraising arm of Community Nurse Health Association, a non-profit group in La Grange. "He was a big part of this organization," said Lisa Garcia, one of the helpers with Carousel Shop. "He had quite a few regular customers that to this day come in and ask for him. ... It says a lot about his loyalty and honesty."

"He loved to travel," said his cousin Charles. "He traveled extensively, and he had about 70 photo albums of his travels to Europe, South America and all over the U.S. He also loved to bake, garden and visiting Chicago for the theater and music and the museums."

Survivors include several other cousins.

Services will be private in Longwood, Mo.

Published in the Chicago Tribune 04/28/09