Francis Black, 93, of Chamblee, clockmaker and neighborhood 'Mr. Fix-It'

“Everybody knew he had a good machine shop in the basement,” said his son, Sam W. Black of Tucker. “They’d come and he’d sharpen their lawn mower blade. Or if they needed him at their home, Dad would take his toolbox and he was gone. He was very mechanical.”

Mr. Black made a career with his dexterous hands at Lathem Time Corp., an Atlanta company that makes time clocks.

He’d been stationed at the Naval Air Station, part of what is now DeKalb-Peachtree Airport. After completing a tour of duty during World War II, he and his wife, the late Frankie Vivian McClendon Black, a Georgia native, returned to his home in Portland, Maine.

Shortly thereafter, he got a letter from a Navy crewmate. Lathem, a family business, was planning to start manufacturing time clocks, he wrote. The thinking was that aviation mechanics would make wonderful clock builders.

So the couple returned to Atlanta. Mr. Black worked at Lathem from 1946 until his retirement as its purchasing agent in 1981.

In that 35-year span, he held various positions, from delivery truck driver to production supervisor and area mechanic.

And of course, he made his share of time clocks.

“You have to be dexterous with your hands to make clocks,” said his son, who also has worked for Lathem 37 years and replaced his father as purchasing agent.

“It’s not like a watchmaker, but it is the same scenario. It’s putting in screws, setting different wheels and gears that have to move once every hour or once every minute.

“It’s very precise.”

And Mr. Black was one of the best,” said Bill Lathem, a fourth-generation Lathem who is president and chief executive of the 90-year-old business off I-20.

Mr. Black worked for Mr. Lathem’s father, grandfather and great-grandfather.

Francis Edward Black, 93, of Chamblee, died Saturday at Ivy Hall at St. Ives in Alpharetta from complications of a stroke. The funeral will be 2 p.m. Thursday at Skyland United Methodist Church in Atlanta. H.M. Patterson & Son, Oglethorpe Hill, is handling arrangements.

Mr. Black lived in the Chamblee area, near DeKalb-Peachtree Airport, more than 65 years. He used to give guided tours of the old Naval base hangar, which still stands at the airport.

He belonged to Norcross Masonic Lodge No. 228 more than 60 years. Likewise, he was a member of the Scottish Rite and York Rite bodies of Masonry.

In 1979, he served as president of the Northeast Shrine Club. Five years ago, he was granted president emeritus status of the Northeast DeKalb Shrine Club.

Bill Messer of Buford had known Mr. Black since 1970.

“He was a man who was the same every time you saw him,” he said. “He worked for many years at the Shrine temple. He was handy. A jack-of-all trades.”

Sam Black started work at Latham when he was 15. He returned after military service and graduation from Oglethorpe University.

Today he is the vice president of purchasing and corporate secretary. He and his father shared the same office for eight years.

“We were in the Shriners and the Masonic order together,” his son said. “He was one of my best friends.”

Additional survivors include a daughter, Eileen Black of Monroe, La.; and one granddaughter.