Nora Maxine Latham Koontz

Nora Maxine Latham Koontz died on July 15, 2024, at Hinkle Hospice House in Lexington.

A funeral service will be conducted at Beulah United Church of Christ by Evangelist Jason Koontz at 2pm on Friday, July 19, 2024. Burial will follow in the Beulah United Church of Christ Cemetery.

The family will receive friends from 1 pm until 2 pm prior to the service in the church fellowship hall.

Maxine was born February 18, 1931, in Davidson County to Clarence Roy Latham and Nora Bernice Lanier Latham. She attended schools in Davidson and Forsyth counties. After graduation from Welcome High School, Mrs. Koontz worked at Belk-Martin in Lexington and Hanes Hosiery in Winston-Salem before pursuing a nursing career. A graduate of Winston-Salem School of Practical Nurses, she worked at City Hospital and Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem on staff and private duty. She was later employed with Northwest Oxygen Company and worked in the Inhalation Therapy Department at Lexington Memorial Hospital. Mrs. Koontz also worked in the offices of Drs. J. Dan Redwine, James T. Welborn and Rowland V. Long. She volunteered with the Davidson County 4-H Program and the American Red Cross as well as Hospice of Davidson County.

After leaving the medical profession, Mrs. Koontz chose to work on the family farm, H & C Hereford Farm, with her husband, Charles Don Koontz, who preceded her in death in 1991. Koontz Dairy operated for 33 years along with the continued raising of Hereford cattle. Mrs. Koontz led other cattle owners as President to reorganize the NC Hereford Women’s Organization. Cattle shows and sales took the Koontz family on many trips east and west, north, and south of North Carolina. Charles and Maxine were named Honorary FFA Degree recipients in 1987 and were American Junior Hereford Advisors (AJHA) of the year, 1989.

Mrs. Koontz was a past member of the American Hereford Association, serving on the National Women’s Association Board of Directors as historian, secretary, and treasurer. She was named outstanding Hereford Woman of the Year 1990. H & C Hereford Farm was honored by the AHA, Kansas City, Missouri as a breeder of horned Hereford cattle for over 50 years, 1946 to 2005.

Survivors include a son, Tony Eugene Koontz (Angie), and two daughters, Patty K. Lookabill (Reggie) and Donna K. Fulton (Rodney), all of Lexington. Seven grandchildren, Tonya Koontz Kelsey (Michael) of Tecumseh, Oklahoma, Jason Matthew Koontz (Elainia), Ericka Koontz Milner (Chad), Andrew Jackson Berrier, Brittany Lookabill Skeen (Jeffrey), Tristen and Abigail Fulton, all of Lexington; 14 great-grandchildren, Joshua Kelsey (Jana), Caleb Kelsey (Abby), Anna Swafford (Luke), Chloe Pearman (Seth), Olivia F. Koontz, Nora Grace Koontz, Hannah Joy Koontz, Rachael C. Edmonds (Johnathan), Nicholas Gray Carter, Riley Eugene Koontz, Carsen Faith Milner, Tyler Jackson Berrier, Noah Franklin James, Jonah Austin Skeen, Jakob Lane Skeen, and two great-great-grandchildren, Josie Mae Edmonds and Harper Jean Edmonds; one brother, Buddy L. Latham (Elaine) and many cousins, nieces and nephews of Lexington, Denton, High Point, Welcome, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and Swansboro, North Carolina; Salt Lake City, Utah and N. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Beulah United Church of Christ, 2828 Arnold Road, Lexington, NC 27295 or Hospice of Davidson County, 200 Hospice Way, Lexington, NC 27292.