The Charlotte Rotary Club selected a longtime business owner and community contributor to honor with its most prestigious award. On Tuesday, June 28, Marty Latchaw became the 35th individual in Charlotte Rotary Club’s history to receive the Clyde A Fulton Community Pride Award.
Latchaw was selected because he personifies the high ideals of the Clyde Fulton Award in a number of ways.
First and foremost, Latchaw has shown a longstanding commitment of service to the community and numerous worthy organizations with integrity and humility. A strong contributor to these values has been his lifelong involvement in the Boy Scouts of America. He earned the Eagle Scout award at age 15 and has been registered as a Scout or Adult Scouter for over 50 years. His two sons are also Eagle Scouts. He received the BSA’s Silver Beaver Award in 1991 for outstanding leadership.
As a high school student, he took a job in a local hardware store – where he learned how to serve customers from an expert – Rod Yates. He continued to work at Yates hardware after high school while attending LCC until he enlisted in the army in 1969. After basic training he went to jump school and served as a radioman in the 101st Airborne in Vietnam for seven months. He was awarded the Bronze Star during his service in the U.S. Army.
After returning home, he continued to work his way through college and graduated from MSU in 1978 with a degree in accounting. He joined the Charlotte Fire Department in 1979 and served this community as a 24/7 volunteer fireman for 34 years. The Charlotte Christmas Kiddies program was very important to him, and he served as a Santa on fire trucks for 30 years. He received the Outstanding Charlotte Fireman Award from the department in 1996.
He joined Rotary in 1982 and served the club as President in 1993-94.
Exemplifying Service Above Self, he has generously shared his expertise as a CPA and Certified Financial Planner over the years – quietly donating financial services to his church and many non-profit organizations. He is now in his fifth year as a member of the HGB Board of Trustees and currently serves as a valued member of the Board Finance Committee. He has also served the HGB Development Council and the CanDo Financial Pillar with community presentations on financial planning, including serving on the Eaton County Leadership Training faculty with a half-day seminar on finance for leaders.
In spite of this long record of achievement and commitment to community service, you will never see or hear him seek recognition for what he has accomplished here in Charlotte — except for the pride he shares with his wife Sue when discussing their daughter, two sons and seven grandchildren.
Article submitted by the Charlotte Rotary Club.
