Phillip Latham
6/30/1932 - 11/21/2023
Phillip Latham passed away on November 21st, 2023, at the age of 91 in Kerrville, Texas where he resided for the last 32 years. He was born in Chicago, Illinois on June 30th, 1932, to Marion and Harry Latham. He married Diane Cannon on April 10th, 1955, in Port Arthur, Texas.
Phillip grew up in the greater Chicago area where his dad worked at the steel mills along the Lake Michigan shore. He moved from the Chicago Area to Beaumont, Texas when he was 14 years old. He graduated from Beaumont High school in 1950. He went on to attend the University of Texas Austin and graduated in 1955 with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. His first job was at Halliburton in the oil fields of West Texas where he ran tests on the oil wells. Phil was drafted into the US Army after the Korean War when his college deferment was over. After Basic Training, he was sent to White Sands Proving Grounds to work on missile testing and research for the next 2 years. After being discharged from the military in 1958, Phil and Diane moved to Detroit where Phillip worked for Chrysler Missile. After about a year and going through the cold winter and the rumors of layoffs, Phil interviewed and got a job with Lockheed Aircraft in Burbank, California. Phil spent the rest of his career at Lockheed totaling 30 years. Phil worked on many projects both civilian and military including the SR-71 “Blackbird”, L-1011 jet liner, space shuttle, and the F-117 stealth fighter.
After retirement, Phillip and Diane said goodbye to California and returned to Texas settling in Kerrville. Phil was active in several activity clubs including Volksmarching, Square Dancing, Investment club and he was a Docent at the Western Art Museum where he was named volunteer of the year twice! Phil loved to travel! They travelled the country with their 5th wheel trailer, walked all 50 states with their Volksmarching group, made several trips to Europe, visited Canada, Mexico, Australia, and the South Pacific.
Phillip was preceded in death by his mother and father; his brothers, Allan Latham and Harry Jr. Latham; and his daughter, Linda Richardson.
Phillip is survived by his wife, Diane Latham; his son and daughter-in-law, David and Linda Latham; his son-in-law, John Richardson; his grandchildren, Allan Latham, Steven Latham and his wife Haleigh, Kristen Latham-Perez and her husband Javier, Elli Richardson; his nieces, Carolyn Cannon, Sue Cannon, and Susan Cannon; and his nephew, Paul Cannon.
A celebration of life service will be held at the Museum of Western Art on December 16th, 2023, at 5:30 pm. Location: 1550 Bandera Hwy Kerrville, TX 78028.
A donation can be made in lieu of flowers to the Museum of Western Art at the following link: museumofwesternart.com/donate.
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