By Philip Walzer
Bob Latimer ’56 (M.S.Ed. ’70) flourished as a teacher and administrator during his 30-year career with Norfolk Public Schools.
But as a student at the Norfolk Division of the College of William & Mary, “he gave great credit to his professors for dragging him kicking and screaming across the finish line,” said his widow, Erle Marie Latimer.
Bob Latimer, who died in 2020, has left a legacy that offers a gentler yet no less powerful push for future generations of Monarchs.
The “Bob” Scholarship benefits incoming freshmen who graduated from Norfolk Public Schools and demonstrate financial need. The scholarship was awarded to the first five recipients last fall.
“This gives me an opportunity to raise up this wonderful man and do something meaningful in his name that connects his history in the area with his deep and beautiful love for students,” said his wife of 42 years. “It comforts me to know that Bob’s name and legacy of helping students will live on forever.”
Latimer grew up in a second-floor apartment on Colley Avenue in Norfolk and slept on a bed in the dining room. “He was brought up with love, not with money,” she said. “It showed what really counted.”
His parents insisted he get a college education. “There was no discussion of doing something else.”
Latimer was the first in his family to attend college and was among the 15 students who received the first four-year degrees from the Norfolk Division in 1956. The license plate of the car his wife drives still reads: 56. Latimer later received his master’s degree in science education from in 1970.
He served in the Army in Korea for two years, returned to Norfolk and found a job he didn’t like at a meatpacking company, his wife said. Latimer walked into the school administration building on the spur of the moment and left with a job offer.
He taught at elementary schools including Taylor and Oceanair. “He really enjoyed being with the kids,” said Latimer’s widow, who received her master’s degree in public administration from in 1980. He retired from the school system as supervisor of adult and technical education in 1989.
Latimer was active in the Norfolk Rotary Club for 40 years. He also became a clockmaker. “He was mechanical,” his wife said. “Computers didn’t interest him, but he liked things that ticked and turned and worked.”
She estimates he completed more than 300 clocks.
“Basically, he would give them away,” to outgoing presidents of the Norfolk Rotary Club and Westminster-Canterbury on Chesapeake Bay, where she also served as CEO.
A health scare also inspired an annual act of culinary generosity. After Latimer underwent heart bypass surgery in 1993, his doctor told him to quit eating hot dogs. He agreed – except for one day a year, a Friday in December, when he would pay for hot dogs for all his friends at Doug’s Hot Dogs in Ocean View.
“He loved having everybody there from different walks of life,” his wife said.
“I never heard him say an ill word about anyone. He had so much interest in what other people were doing. They knew they were accepted. He was totally nonjudgmental.”
W. Sheppard “Shep” Miller III, the state’s secretary of transportation, was a longtime friend. “Bob was an extraordinary individual who had a knack for bringing folks into whatever he was working on,” he said. “His enthusiasm, smile and determination propelled him to success.
“Ht was truly one of the most pleasant and nicest people you’ll ever know,” Miller said. “Bob was a classic servant gentleman whom I was blessed to call my friend.”
The “Bob” Scholarship was established through the Educational Foundation. Recipients must be first-time students who graduated from Norfolk Public Schools with demonstrated financial need. The scholarships will be renewed if the students maintain a 2.5 grade-point average.
Erle Latimer said that creating the scholarship has helped her, too. “It’s healing for me,” she said. “It encapsulates him in a way that fills the empty space in my heart.”
To learn how you can make a lasting impact on future students through your estate plan, contact Barbara M. Henley, CFRE at 757-683-6563 or or Brett A. Smiley, CFRE at 757-683-4735 or .