In July 2022, Spur— and the literary world—lost a talented native son when writer Aaron Latham lost his battle with Parkinson’s disease. But his amazing range of work survives him, finding new adherents many decades after the screenplay of “Urban Cowboy” made him famous.
Attending Latham’s graveside funeral in Spur on July 28, 2022, were his widow, the acclaimed broadcast journalist Lesley Stahl, and a handful of their family members. Un- der a Zapata Funeral Home tent in the midsummer heat, Stahl gave from-theheart remarks about the man she loved and cared for, and memories of his parents buried there, Annie Launa Cozby Latham, and Clyde Latham, a football coach who was born in Spur and coached the Bulldogs for a few years.
The intimate group shared their memories and stories, including that of Clyde Latham’s second wife, and Gussie, whom he’d met at the Spur Dairy Queen.
Afterward, Stahl and her daughters dropped by the Texas Spur office to pick up copies of Aaron’s obituary notice. On the spur of the moment, they asked about the Palace Theater, where Stahl had once come to the movies. A speedy tour was happily provided, as the group had to get to Lubbock to make their flight back to New York.
Some weeks after the family’s visit, a letter arrived— with a wish to provide one of the brass memorial plaques like the ones that already grace the Palace’s old-time wooden seats. Harry Bob Martin promptly had it made, but the ideal occasion for installing it seemed to be the next Spur Homecoming.
The Dickens County Historical Commission will host a brief ceremony to do just that, this Saturday afternoon at 3:30 following the Spur Homecoming Parade. All visitors are welcome to attend, and to stick around and visit afterward in the “washed air” (as air conditioning was known back when the Palace was built) of the theater.
Copies of the “Ranch Country Cooking” cookbook (and its supplemental insert), also published by
coffee mugs will also be for sale. All proceeds benefit the Palace Theater.
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