Catherine Ingraham Hastings Catherine Hastings, 88, died Sunday, May 16, at Jeff Anderson Hospital in Meridian, Mississippi. Born July 24, 1921 in Hemmingway, South Carolina, and after an early childhood in Batesburg, South Carolina, "Kitty" moved to Richmond, Virginia where she graduated from John Marshall High School and then earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Richmond Professional Institute (now Virginia Commonwealth University). A true daughter of The South, she was proud to belong to the Daughters of the Confederacy AND the Daughters of the American Revolution. She was a gracious lady and known by many as a true "Southern Belle." Three weeks before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Kitty married Dave Hastings, a dashing young VMI graduate who worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. Kitty and Dave got their chance for an extended honeymoon but shortly after the birth of their daughter Cathy, Dave was off to serve in support of the Allied Invasion of Europe and did not return until completing a year with the Army of Occupation. What followed was a spectacular career in railroading, with Kitty and Dave moving north and south along the coastal lines of the South. Son David Jr. was born not too long after Dave's return from WWII and the family eventually settled in Jacksonville, Florida, where the Atlantic Coast Line RR would, through a series of mergers, become CSX and Dave would end his career as its Executive Vice President. Kitty fell in love with her new hometown and branched out into her own career of volunteer service with St. Luke's hospital, The Cummer Gallery, the Salvation Army Women's Auxiliary and the United Way. Always petite and graceful, she also found time to dance and ride her bicycle (for two) around her Ortega Forest neighborhood. Just two weeks short of sixty wonderful years together, Dave went on to his reward. Kitty remained in Jacksonville, keeping a very active social calendar for awhile but two years after the death of her daughter in 2003, she moved to Meridian, Mississippi to live next door to David Jr. and to begin building a new circle of friends in the Magnolia State. Kitty is survived by her son David Jr. (Wanda), granddaughters, Catherine Lyon (Dal) and Kristin Mitchell (John), step grandchildren Tré Freeman (Jan) and Dana Habig (Brian) and nine great grandchildren, Charlotte and Madeleine Mitchell, Andrew Lyon, Will, Mary and Catherine Freeman, and Henry, John and Betsy Habig. Her funeral service will be held at the Robert Barham Funeral Home on Thursday May 20, 2010 at 3:00 o'clock. Visitation will be held Thursday, 2-3 at the funeral home. Interment will with her beloved Dave in the Arlington National Cemetery on . In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations in her memory be made to the Ortega United Methodist Church, 4807 Roosevelt Blvd., Jacksonville, FL 32210, where Kitty and Dave celebrated their faith in Jesus Christ for forty years.
