White Funeral Home
1315 Main Street
Jesup, Iowa 50648

JESUP – Rhoda (Leary) Latting died on January 20, 2020, in Alhambra, California due to complications of multiple myeloma and chronic kidney disease. She was 83 years old.

Local graveside interment services will be held at 3:00 p.m. Saturday, September 16, 2023, at Cedar Crest Cemetery, Jesup, Iowa.

Mrs. Latting was born on April 24, 1936, in Jesup, Iowa, the daughter of Agnes and Robert Leary, and was raised on the family's farm. She attended the public schools in Jesup and matriculated at Iowa State University, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1958. While at Iowa State she married fellow student Charles Latting, in 1957. The couple resided in several locations while Charles pursued a career in the United States Marine Corps and later, the FBI. Beginning in 1970 the Lattings’ most extended home was made in Martinez, California, where Mrs. Latting's three sons attended the public school and the family were members of Our Savior's Lutheran Church in nearby Lafayette. In the year 2000, Mrs. Latting and her husband moved to South Pasadena to be near children and grandchildren. In 2016 the couple moved to Atherton Baptist Homes in Alhambra.

Mrs. Latting was devoted to the educational and athletic activities of her sons and committed to supporting her community and its residents in need. For many years Mrs. Latting was the director of a charity road race that raised funds for her church's outreach mission. Later she organized fashion shows, and managed a church-sponsored thrift store, with proceeds benefitting charitable causes. In the 1970's she became interested in promoting voices of women in the church, and supported the appointment of women as ushers and deacons at a time when there were none. She went on to serve as president of the congregation of Our Savior's. In these years she also became interested in women's participation in athletics and took up her son’s favorite sport of running. For many years Mrs. Latting would begin her day with a jog along Martinez's Franklin Canyon Road. She was the force behind the family tradition of a run together bright and very early each New Year's Day.

Throughout her life Mrs. Latting had a deep interest in textiles and fashion. Outings with her children usually involved a fabric store. She was a skilled seamstress, and designed and sewed all her own clothing, and created hand-stitched quilts for the family and other charitable causes. She also loved antiques and spent many weekend days venturing out to shops in Port Costa and Benicia in search of old pieces that she could repair and refinish and return to use in her home. Later in life Mrs. Latting turned her focus to her grandchildren, to whom she was also devoted. Countless happy days with them were spent on walks, noticing birds and other wildlife, on swing sets, and finding coins that miraculously appeared along the way. For her grandchildren she wanted life to be full of joy, wonder and miracles.

At the time of her death, Mrs. Latting was survived by her husband, Charles; her brother Rolfe Leary of Saint Paul, Minnesota; son and daughter-in-law Charles Latting and Iris Haarmann-Latting of Wolfenbüttel, Germany; son and daughter-in-law John Latting and Caroline Fohlin of Atlanta, Georgia; son and daughter-in-law Robert Latting and Anne Castles of South Pasadena, California; and grandchildren Stephan, Sebastian, Benjamin, Cate, Helen, Patrick and Theodore Latting. She was preceded in death by her brother Roger Leary.

Since Mrs. Latting’s death, her brother Rolf Leary has passed and a great granddaughter Anna Isabel Latting, has been born.

At the time of her death, a memorial service was held on Sunday, January 26, 2020, at 3:30 p.m. in Merriam Chapel, Atherton Baptist Homes in Alhambra, California.

White Funeral Home, Jesup, IA, is in charge of the local arrangements.