Obit: Latta, Dale L. (? - 1973)

Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Latta, Bertz, Litten, Potter, Lindgren, Lulloff

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co, WI) 6/07/1973

Latta, Dale (? - 1 June 1973)

A fifteen-year-old Withee youth became the first drowning victim in Clark County for 1973 when the under currents on the Black River, near Withee, pulled the boy to his death last Friday.

The youth, Dale L. Latta, son of Mr. and Mrs. George Latta, lived with his parents just outside the city limits of Withee.

According to Sheriff David Bertz, Latta went swimming with two other minors, James Litten, 11, and Jeff Litten, 14, and a man, James Potter, 26, in the late afternoon. The group was in an area of the Black River where a gravel pit had been dug several years earlier and had walked out to an inlet point.

According to Sheriff Bertz, the group then decided to swim to shore from the point and upon their arrival on the shore they noted that Latta was not with them. Time of the swim was placed at 3:30 p.m.

Potter reportedly searched for the missing youth and when he could not find him called the boy’s parents and then the Owen police which transferred the information to the county sheriff’s department.

The Owen fire department also responded to the call.

Dragging operations were begun and the body was recovered at 4:20 p.m. by the deputy sheriff and traffic officer, Everett Lindgren.

Latta was pronounced dead at the scene by drowning by county coroner Robert Lulloff.

Latta had moved with his parents to the Withee area last fall from Coldwater, Michigan. The boy’s father is employed as a fireman at the Post Company in Withee.

Burial for the river’s victim was in Coldwater, Michigan.