Mary Cobb Latimer

Mary Cobb Latimer, age 89, died August 9th, 2023 in Prairie Village, Kansas. She was born at home on March 3rd, 1934 in Haskell County, Texas, the youngest daughter of Mary Altus and Walter Von Cobb, a west Texas pioneer ranching family dating back to the 1890s. She attended schools in Lueders and Haskell, Texas and was active in many activities including rodeo barrel racing. She married her high school sweetheart, Venton Wayne Latimer, in 1960 and together they raised one daughter, Ann Latimer Harlan, who was born in 1964.

Mary’s professional career spanned 30 years in Texas, California, and Oklahoma working in the oil and gas industry. She and Wayne lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma for 36 years and raised their daughter there. Mary was active in many church and civic activities in Tulsa, including being the first female Tulsa County Chairperson for the 1970 national census. She also served as the chairperson overseeing all aspects of then President Richard Nixon’s visit to Tulsa for the dedication of the Kerr-McGee Verdigris River dam and navigational channel canal to the Mississippi River project. She continued to be involved in other political campaigns in the Tulsa area and was even asked to join Senator Henry Bellmon’s Washington D.C. staff, a position she declined in order to stay in Tulsa with her family.

In October of 2000, Mary and Wayne moved back to their beloved Texas and lived in Granbury and Waxahachie, Texas. They were active in their church and many other activities including golf, Granbury Opera House Guild, and DeCordova Bend Country Club. Mary was also a very active member of the

Elizabeth Crockett Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), serving as Vice Regent of the organization. In June of 2017, her sweetheart Wayne passed from a brief battle with cancer. In April of 2019, Mary left her much loved state of Texas to move to the Kansas City area to be near her

daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren and great grandchildren. She enjoyed making new friendships at Mission Chateau in Prairie Village, KS and decided that “yankees” were not all that bad! An avid sports fan, Mary took great pride in often winning the NFL weekly pool, spending considerable time researching each team’s record! She was able to spend her final years with her family in town and many visits from friends and relatives from Texas and Oklahoma.

Mary is preceded in death by her parents and siblings Jean Cobb Aday and Robert “Clif” Cobb and husband, Venton Wayne Latimer, as well as her beloved Shih Tzu dogs, Allie and Sam. She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Ann and Kevin Harlan of Mission Hills, KS and four grandchildren, Abigail Harlan Sight and husband Bobby, Haley Harlan Mancuso and husband Jerry, Olivia Harlan Dekker and husband Sam, and Robert Venton Harlan as well as four great grandchildren and in addition by her nieces Cecile Cobb Green, Jane Aday Frates, and nephews Don Cobb, Bob Aday, and Allen Aday and their families.

A memorial service is planned at a future date and she will be interred in the Latimer family plot in Abilene, Texas. As a proud inaugural member of the World War II museum in New Orleans, memorial gifts may be made in her honor. Visit The National World War II Museum website to donate.