Samuel Edwin Latimer Jr

CDR Samuel (Sam) E. Latimer, Jr., 97 passed away peacefully at home, Nov. 19, 2025 surrounded by his adoring family. The son of RDML (Ret) Samuel and Mrs. Kensett Latimer, he was born in 1928 and raised in a typical transient Navy family with this highlight: The family was stationed in Honolulu, Hawaii when Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese. Luckily, his father was at sea that day and survived. His family, led by his mother, was evacuated by troopship over the Christmas holiday to San Francisco with one suitcase apiece. Thirteen yr. old Sam, 3 yr old brother Pete, mother and grandmother disembarked after dark alone and left standing on a SF pier. Mother found them a ride to a place to stay and ultimately got them an apartment to live out the War in Los Angeles. Navy wives are and always have been tough!
Sam enlisted in the Navy at age 17, went to Boot Camp and then NAPS at Bainbridge Naval Center, MD. Appointed from the fleet to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, he graduated and was commissioned Ensign in 1951. Flight training followed and he pinned on his wings of gold in 1953 in Pensacola. He started his flying career in an Anti-Sub squadron flying AF and S2F aircraft on tiny postage stamp sized (CVE) carriers and ended up flying Attack aircraft. A famous sage once wrote, "Fighter pilots make movies, Attack pilots make history."
He rose through the ranks to Commander during sea duty tours (8 deployments including two to the Vietnam conflict) on destroyers, a battleship and various aviation squadrons. He commanded two Attack Squadrons, VA-106 Gladiators (now based right here in Va Beach) and VA-72 Bluehawks, flying the A-4E and the A-7B primarily off the carriers' U.S.S. Forrestal and the Shangri-la. Interspersed were shore duty tours at the Pentagon, a relaxing year at Stanford for a Master's Degree in Education, an exchange stint with the Air Force, and a White House tour as Naval Aide to President Lyndon B. Johnson.
He was fortunate enough to fly 35 different military and 9 different general aviation aircraft amassing 3500 flight hours. He flew off of, and with skill and determination, landed back on 14 different Naval aircraft carriers 562 times, including 117 at night, and 150 on straight deck carriers. A highlight of his flying career was a flight in the co-pilot seat of Air Force One. His decorations include a Legion of Merit, a Combat Air Ribbon, and various other ribbons.
Following his retirement in 1970 Sam got his real estate license, sold houses and soon transitioned to managing property and hotels at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront. While indulging his passion for fishing he met the love of his life Gay as they moored their boats next to each other, and they married in 1975. Already a successful and pioneering businesswoman, Sam joined Gay in running her many retail businesses selling everything from jewelry to apparel. Along the way they engaged in many philanthropic activities, most notably fundraising for the upstart ODU Women's basketball program availing scholarships to women athletes, which had never been done before. They also rescued and placed in loving homes nearly 1,000 greyhounds from racetracks across America demonstrating their love for both humans and animals.
He is survived by his loving wife of 50 years, Gay Latimer, sons Randy and Robert, stepdaughter Valerie, and many grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Sam never met a man he didn't like, nor a man that didn't like him. He didn't have an ounce of malice in his body and his first thought was always for others. Everywhere he went he would shine the light of his personality on all those around him. No finer man walked this earth. He will be greatly missed.
In lieu of flowers please make a gift to Old Dominion Greyhound Adoption, 636 Piney Point Rd, Virginia Bch, VA 23452.