Charlotte Mary Mangan Lattimer

Charlotte was born in Buffalo, NY on Nov. 27, 1912. She attended Buffalo State Teacher College Normal School from kindergarten through ninth grade, and then was accepted and graduated from Lafayette High School, where she was on the high school’s swim team. Upon graduation she was asked to train for the Olympics, but decided to go to Cornell University instead. While at Cornell, she majored in Home Economics. During summers, she worked on a Seneca Indian Reservation, and worked with migrant children’s education in New York and in New Jersey. She spent earlier summers at Camps Whitford and Weona, Angola by the Lake, where her parents were running the YMCA camps.

Charlotte graduated from Cornell University in 1935. She was a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, and was recently honored as a 75-year member. During her last term of her senior year at Cornell, she received a scholarship to do further study at Merrill Palmer in Detroit in early childhood education, that specialized in training preschool teachers; she also worked in the Framingham, Massachusetts woman’s state prison where she ran the preschool education program for children of the incarcerated women.

Charlotte Mary Mangan married Everett C. Lattimer June 25, 1936. After marriage, they lived in the Catskill region (Gilboa) where she was the home economics agent for four counties (Cattaraugus, Schoharie, Erie, Canandaigua) in New York State. Charlotte and Everett had three children, Barbara and twin sons Charles and John.

In January1947 she and Barbara, Charles, and John moved to FL to live in Altamonte Springs with her mother (Bertha) and father (John). She taught first grade at Kaley Elementary School (Orlando) until March 1, 1950 when she moved to Clearwater (moving to Largo in 1951) to become the Pinellas County Home Demonstration Agent, a job that she held until her retirement Nov. 30, 1967, over 17 and 1/2 years. Under her leadership, the home demonstration women and girls’ 4-H club programs flourished. In recognition of her accomplishments she was awarded the Distinguished Service Award offered by the National Home Demonstration Agents’ Association in 1960 after 10 and 1/2 years as Home Demonstration Agent. She is Past President of the Florida Home Demonstration Agents’ Association, Past President of the Florida Extension Workers’ Association, Past Vice President of the National Association of Extension Home Economist, and Past Chairman of the Florida West Coast District Home Economics Association. She was state delegate to the Paris work session of the International Home Economics Association, held at the Sorbonne in July1963, and in 1965 went to Ireland for the conference of the Associated Country Women of the World, the first of several ACWW conferences she attended in various countries.

After her retirement from Pinellas County Extension, she worked with the recreation and education programs at Haven House of Clearwater, Inc. for ten years. Haven House served as a Community Center for senior citizens of Upper Pinellas County, beginning to function in Feb. 1969. She organized various classes, activities, and educational tours for Haven House.

She was also a past Matron of the Eastern Star, and a past Worthy Chief the Alpha Delta chapter of Epsilon Sigma Phi. She was a member of the Faith United Methodist Church, Largo in which she taught Sunday School, and was chairman of the Board, among many other responsibilities.

She did graduate work at Cornell, University of Florida, Stetson University, and Florida State University. In 1958 she received the Grace Frysinger Fellowship that enabled her to do further study in leadership in Indiana, Oklahoma, and Washington, DC.

Charlotte was a person who thought of other’s needs always before her own, and was there to help friends in whatever way she could—driving them to a doctor’s visit or the grocery store, walking the dog, visiting friends when they needed someone to be there. She had a sense of adventure and loved to travel both in the US and abroad, encouraging her children to travel as well. Other hobbies she enjoyed were bell collecting, weaving, reading, and working puzzles. Many people will miss her, particularly her family.

Preceding her in death were her mother, Bertha L. Mangan, and her father, John J. Mangan.

Surviving are her children Barbara Lattimer Bell (Richard), Wooster, OH, Charles E. Lattimer (Bonnie), Largo, FL, and John M. Lattimer, Lakewood, CO, four grandchildren Jonathan F. Bell (Sarah), Providence, RI, Rebecca L. Bell (Maliha), Decatur, GA, Charles R. Lattimer (April), Oviedo, FL, and Sarah Lattimer Unruh (Jesse), Tallahassee, FL and six great grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at The Chapel of Prayer, Anona United Methodist Church on Saturday, April 9 at 10:00 AM, with a reception following the service.

The family requests that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made in memory of Charlotte M. Lattimer to the Florida United Methodist Children’s Home, 51 Children’s Way, Enterprise, FL 32725-8186, or to Suncoast Hospice, 5771 Roosevelt Blvd., Clearwater, Florida 33760.