Zula Dietrich

ZULA DIETRICH OBITUARYJuly 28, 1921 – November 7, 2016Zula Dietrich was born on July 28, 1921 in Washington, D.C. to Elmer and Sallie Hendley Dietrich. By the time she was two years old, she was living, along with her older sister, Winifred, in south Arlington, Virginia in the Dietrich family’s beautiful English Tudor home. This newly-built home was one of the very first houses built in the then-aspiring D.C. suburb of Aurora Hills now Aurora Highlands.The aforementioned English Tudor, along with the neighborhood Calvary Methodist Church where she was a life-long member became integral components of her life, where she was married, saw her daughter get married, raised four children and ultimately passed on to God’s greater glory.Zula attended Nellie Custis elementary school across the street from Calvary Methodist Church in Arlington, Virginia, graduated from D.C.’s Eastern High School, and then Strayer Washington School for Secretaries now Strayer University. In 1944, she married Nick C. Latsios “The Golden Greek”, who graduated from Alexandria’s George Washington High School and became a Golden Gloves Champion, a Hall of Fame boxer and a well-known restauranteur and sportsman.Zula enjoyed a stand-out career as a professional secretary in the Federal Government, most notably working at the Pentagon in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and at the Commerce Department, personally recruited by the Under Secretary of Commerce. After retiring from Government service, she was recruited to work at the prestigious international law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley and McCloy, where she worked for an additional five years. Subsequently, she worked as a personal secretarial assistant to Archibald Roosevelt grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt during the writing of his personal memoir.Throughout her adult life, Zula was active in church, social and civic activities, at one time serving as President of the Carlyle Junior Women’s Club in Alexandria, Virginia. Having lived through the Great Depression, Pearl Harbor and World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and even 9/11 and the Great Recession, she authored a locally renowned book of short vignettes about her life growing up in the aforementioned neighborhood of Aurora Hills, entitled “Zula Remembers – South Arlington in Earlier Times.” The book represents a personal history of Arlington County and has been adopted by the Arlington County Museum.She always felt that her life’s greatest achievement was raising her four children to become well-educated, well-adjusted, decent and patriotic citizens of the great Commonwealth of Virginia and the United States of America.Zula Dietrich passed away on November 7, 2016, was pre-deceased by her former husband, Nick Latsios, and is survived by: her four adult children, Terre Latsios Wilkinson, Dean, James and Mark Latsios; daughter-in-law, Susan Macpherson; granddaughters Tara Christine Plansky and Erin Anne Saporito; step-grandson Jamie Macpherson; great-granddaughters, Madelyn and Jordan Plansky; brother-in-law, George C. Latsios; sister-in-law Stella Latsios Adamopoulos; niece , Christine Wallace; and nephews Father Chris Wallace, Alexi, Chris, and Elia Adamopoulos.A Memorial Service will be held at Calvary United Methodist Church, Arlington, Virginia on December 7, at 5:30 p.m.