Emily Helen Hastings
Here is the eulogy I wrote for my Mom's funeral...
My mom was a great mother first and foremost. She lived her life dedicated to her three sons. She believed in raising men who had a wide variety of interests and talents. She wanted her sons to be renaissance men.
In this vein, she pushed us boys into music at a young age. All of her sons were required to take piano lessons at the age of 6 or 7. Each of her sons excelled at music and over the years we played Piano, violin, cello, electric bass guitar, trumpet, trombone and pretty much any other instrument someone needed us to play. We played all styles of music from classical, jazz, rock, reggae, etc. Expanding our musical horizons she made sure we had season tickets to the Billings Symphony, and we had many great times attending musicals, concerts, etc.
In addition to musical pursuits, mom was passionate that her boys be exposed to physical and intellectual pursuits. Mom insisted we boys figure skate as children. Every Friday afternoon, Mom would load us on a bus in Lewiston, we would get off and spend the night at our grandparents ranch, then early Saturday morning drive into Great Falls to take skating lessons. Mom always sewed the elaborate costume we wore for our Ice Shows. I have often bragged to my wife that my natural grace is directly related to my Mom forcing me to be a figure skater. Mom sacrificed to make sure that us boys could attend Basketball camps, football camps etc. every summer.
Mom was always cutting edge and interested in the latest and greatest new things. She purchased our first computer in the early 80’s when no one had computers. Mom had the foresight to know that her sons needed to intellectually stimulated. To further this, she made us go to computer camps, college for kids and other such pursuits. Mom was very proud that her boys were intellectually curious as she was.
Mom was passionate about making sure her sons had a strong work ethic and that we be self sufficient. This translated in us boys getting paper routes at a very young age. Once each of us were making our own money, our parents made us use or money to purchase the things we wanted. Going to movies, buying keyboards or guitars soon became our responsibility. If we wanted something, we earned the money to buy it ourselves. We were required to wash our own clothes and cook many of our own meals. The value of this self sufficiency did not become apparent to me until I left home and saw how many guys my age couldn’t wash their own clothes or manage their finances.
My Mom was an innovative award winning teacher who touched the lives of hundreds of children in Alaska and Montana. Teaching was very important for my Mother. For many years she was a kindergarten teacher, and realized that some children are not ready to move on to the 1st grade. She seized on this fact and developed a new transition grade to help these children reach their full potential. My brothers and I, over the years, have often run in to former students and the parents of students of my mother and the reaction is always the same, universal love and respect toward my mother as a teacher.
My mom was a lifelong ardent Catholic, who took her Catholic faith very seriously. Mom was always a public school teacher but she made great sacrifices to ensure that her sons attended Catholic grade, middle, and high school. I believe my Mom would have been extremely satisfied that two of her sons graduated from Benedictine Universities. Her faith was source of strength in her life.
Mom was an avid walker. Mom was a five foot tall dynamo. She loved to go walking with friends as a form of exercise. Growing up we walked everywhere. We walked with Mom to school, on vacations we walked across San Francisco, Seattle, Washington DC. I have very vivid memories of often seeing Mom walking with friends with her unique walking style, hands raised above her head to prevent them from swelling.
Growing up with a Mom like Emily was always fun. She had a natural curiosity and a great intellect, and liked to laugh with her kids. You never knew what was going to happen. One time we were coming back from a trip to Richland Washington and stopped in Walla Walla. Walla Walla is known for their great sweet onions and Mom decided to buy two 100lb sacks of onions. We had Mom, Dad, the 3 boys and Grandpa and Grandma in a Chevy Suburban with 200 lbs of onions. It was 100 degrees out and after about 10 miles all of us were suffering from the effects of that many onions in an enclosed space. My dad decided to mask the smell buy putting the onions into our sleeping bags…. 5 years later those sleeping bags still smelled like Walla Walla sweet onions…
