The Marion Chamber of Commerce will be celebrating its mission, members and community at its 103rd annual awards celebration on Friday, January 19, 2024, at The Pavilion in Marion. The program will feature presentations by the Chamber, elected officials, and 2023 award winners.

One of the awards that will be given during the event is the Mayor’s Service Award. The 2023 Mayor’s Service Award winner is Sam Lattuca.

The Mayor's Service Award recipients are selected by the Mayor of the City of Marion, Michael Absher.

Sam Lattuca - In his own words.

I was born in Carbondale in 1947, because Marion didn’t have a hospital here at the time. I grew up in Marion on E. College St. in a house that no longer exists with five siblings and took jobs in my early teen years working on the square downtown, first at Cline-Vick drug store and later at Boatright Electronics.

I graduated from Marion High School in the Class of 1965, the last class to graduate from the old high school on W. Main Street. After working for the General Telephone Company for a year and a half, I joined the U.S. Air Force in January 1967 and went to Lackland AFB in San Antonio, Texas, followed by technical schools in Biloxi, Mississippi and San Angelo, Texas.

My first permanent assignment in the U.S.A.F. was in 1968 when I spent 28 months overseas. There I got to spend time as an aircrew member flying in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Laos. It also gave me the opportunity to see the Philippines and Okinawa as well. As a result of the missions that we flew in combat I was awarded the Air Force Air Medal three times. I left overseas on December 31, 1970 and reached American soil again on January 1, 1971.

Upon return home, I returned to work as an electronic technician for Boatright’s Electronics who had a store on what is now the Tower Square. In 1976, I purchased the repair department from him and started my own business named Lattuca Electronic Service. The business was based on the repair of a large segment of consumer electronics and in 1989 we moved into our own building on N. Vicksburg which my wife and I operated with a small staff until the last day of 2011 when we retired.

I married my wife, Debbie, in 1974 and we had our only daughter in 1977. Through those years we were active in the Marion Jaycee organization where I served as President for one term.

In 1979, I entered into the priesthood of the Liberal Catholic Church which I followed for 21 years until the year 2000. We hosted services in our home for years through that time with a small congregation and never had a permanent building.

In 2007, my wife and I got involved in helping form a 501-C3 organization to help form a shelter for homeless animals.

After our retirement in 2011, I became interested in establishing a website that accumulates facts and finding related to Marion and its history and people so that information about Marion and its past could be searched in one place. This is an effort that I continue to work on to this day.

I became involved with the Williamson County Historical Society in 2012 while researching Marion history and got involved by serving on the board as a director in 2014. In 2015, I was elected President and have served as such for the last 10 years. My wife and I will be celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary this year in 2024.