Richard Latterell

1944 - 2017

Richard Leonard Latterell, 72

Yuma, AZ

Dec. 13, 1944 - May 8, 2017

Richard Leonard Latterell, 72, of Yuma, Arizona, passed away peacefully on Monday, May 8, 2017, at his home in Yuma, Arizona, after a hard fought battle with cancer. 

 

Rich was born December 13, 1944, in Foley, Minnesota to Leonard and Phyllis (Trunk) Latterell.  He graduated from Foley High School, received his bachelor's degree from Saint John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota, and later his MBA from the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater.  After college graduation he began a career as an educator, with his first teaching job in Kimball, Minnesota.   In 1969 he relocated to Jefferson, Wisconsin, for a teaching position at the Jefferson Middle School, moving next to a teaching position at the Jefferson Senior High School, from where he eventually retired.   In the early 1980's, Rich discovered personal computing, ultimately teaching computer science and math, and leading the high school computer science department.  He spent many hours learning and programming with various computer languages.   Rich was also a high school wrestling coach.  While living in Jefferson, Rich was the Gemuetlichkeit Days treasurer.

 

In retirement, Rich split his time between Milton, Wisconsin and Yuma, Arizona.   Rich was very involved with his Yuma retirement community.  As the secretary of the Activity committee, he wrote monthly newsletters, created event calendars, wrote a scoring program for his golf league, and maintained contact information for members of his retirement park.  His retirement years were happy and busy.  He played golf, enjoyed shooting, learning new computer languages, and teaching himself Spanish.  He was a family historian spending time on Ancestry research and cataloging old family pictures.   He enjoyed photography, traveling, playing cards, and building his terraced garden, which he did over the course of seven years.

 

Rich is survived by his wife Jeannette (Fossum) Latterell, and survived by his son and daughter from his first marriage to Mary (Gambrino) Latterell.  His son Christopher Latterell, daughter-in-law Leslie (Schroeder) Latterell, and grandchildren John and Grace Latterell live in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin.  His daughter Rebecca (Latterell) Powell, son-in-law John Powell, and grandchildren Paige, Rylee, Tarek, and Karsen Powell live in Jefferson, Wisconsin.  He is also survived by his brother Bob (Diane) Latterell, Cold Spring, Minnesota; sister Joyce (Alan) Lewandowski, Austin, Texas; and sister Nancy (Rick) Goettl, Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, nieces, nephews, step-children, and step-grandchildren  Rich was preceded in death by his parents Leonard and Phyllis. 

Life celebrations will be held in fall of 2017 in Yuma, Arizona, and in summer of 2017 in Jefferson, Wisconsin.  In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to the Richard Latterell Memorial Fund, Premier Bank, P.O. Box 157, Johnson Creek, WI, 53038.