Florine "Flo" Latimer

The ray of sunshine known as Flo Latimer passed from this earthly life on Thursday, mid-afternoon, November 16, 2016. Surrounded by her family in Metairie, Louisiana, at her daughter and son-in-law, Mary Lea and Richard Tillman’s, home where she’d resided for the last fifteen years, her passing was peaceful and serene. She simply went to sleep.

Born on September 20, 1920 in Fearns Springs, Mississippi to Thomas and Vera Carr, the oldest of four children, Florine Lexie spotted her future husband, Col. Jim Latimer, from a car in nearby Philadelphia, Mississippi. She asked the cousin with whom she was riding who he was and said, “I want to meet him.” At 22, she wed the Philadelphia-native on May 9, 1942 and, during the course of their 59 years of marriage, they lived in Kansas, Georgia, North Carolina, Germany and then settled in Lake Charles.

In Lake Charles, as Col. Latimer taught R.O.T.C. at McNeese, Flo did what she did best: Made people laugh, cooked (no one who ate them ever forgot her salmon croquettes!), tended her roses, played bridge with McNeese faculty wives and other clubs, was a member of the Entre Nous Club, and was one of the most incandescent presences at the University United Methodist Church. Her two daughters, Mary Lea and Judy, were immersed in the A.C.T.S. community theatre scene and Flo, a passionate quilter and seamstress, sewed-up costumes for her girls and countless others.

Flo, an ardent Lawrence Welk fan, also loved to sing, anywhere, anytime, to the degree that life with her was not unlike a musical comedy. Often, at 2:00 A.M. in the morning she could be heard singing with gusto from her bed. Though she suffered from Alzheimer’s in her final years, her family remembers that she was never depressed, sad or weepy, but always joyful and bursting to greet the new day. She was, literally, in love with the world, thought it a wonderful, adventure-filled place to be and always aimed to make it even more splendid: There are scores of random children who were delighted by her, spontaneously, reciting poetry to them -- poems often remembered from her own childhood -- to inspire them.

Inspired, too, were her irreplaceable caregivers: Cynthia Denson, Sandra Barker, Martha Clark, Jennifer Sumlin, Claudia Johnson, Flora Alvarado, Kimberly Gibson and Michael. Flo’s chaplain, Lonnie Schmidt, came to visit regularly and, together, they’d belt out everything from hymns to “Hello, Dolly.” All adored her constant smile, beaming brown eyes and life-affirming spirit and she adored them right back. The family thanks these angels on earth for everything.

Flo is survived by her sweet, multi-talented sister, Marie Carr Wells; her daughter, Judy Latimer McCampbell of Arlington, TX; her daughter, Mary Lea Tillman and her husband, Rick; her grandsons, Christopher Latimer, his wife, Emily and James and Jason Tillman; and her great grandsons, Henry, Soren and Dashel Latimer.

There will be a visitation on Sunday, November 20th at Leitz-Eagan Funeral Home, 4747 Veterans Blvd. in Metairie from 5:00 P.M. until 7:00 P.M. and then a graveside service on Monday, November 21st at 1:00 P.M. in Philadelphia, MS at the Cook’s Chapel Cemetery in the Forestdale Community where Flo grew up. She will be buried between her husband and her father, all reunited, once more. Condolences may be offered at www.leitzeaganfuneralhome.com.