Janet Ferguson Hastings

Marion, Va. / Arlington, Wa.

Janet Ferguson Hastings, age 79, passed away Saturday, March 28, 2020 at A Mother’s Heart care facility in Arlington, WA.

Parkinson's took Janet away from us way too soon. Now she is able to laugh, talk with her hands, and visit all the people in heaven. She was a teacher till the end, putting up things on her chalk board in her mind. Smiling when her class "got" the lesson. Remembering all the things in that distance where we couldn't follow her. All with that "I have a secret" smile on her face.

She will forever be remembered by her students as a teacher that cared about their education, but also their lives beyond grade school. When she was able, she liked to keep track of how “her” students were doing in their adult lives. She thrived on knowing she was able to help a student get past their difficulties with learning and go on to live to their fullest potential. Even when she worked for the VA Employment Commission, she still preferred to educate her clients on how to use the system rather than do it for them.

Janet was also fond of traveling, making friends where ever she went with her exuberant desire to learn about her surroundings and the people who live there. While visiting with her daughter Cyndi, while they were stationed in Germany with the U.S. Air Force, and her German daughter Sabina (Klein) Bopst, Janet would frequently talk to anyone that wanted to have a conversation with her be they an American or German. Before Parkinson’s forced them to settle in one place, Warren and Janet loved to travel across the country from the east coast to the west coast. They would visit family and friends along the routes on the way out and back.

She was preceded in death by her parents John and Bess Ferguson, step mother Edna Ferguson, in-laws Warren and Nanny Hastings, brothers-in-law Ed Hastings and Robert Hastings, nephew Paul Ferguson, and niece Linda Hastings.  

Janet is survived by the love of her life, Warren Hastings; two children; Wayne Hastings, of Mount Vernon, WA, and Cyndi Parks (Ray) of Bellbrook, Ohio; three grandchildren Andrea Hastings, Conner Hastings, Chase Parks, and step-granddaughter Shannon Ayala (Jeremy) and her family; brother John Ferguson and much loved by her Ferguson nieces and nephews: Robert Ferguson and family, Cheryl Aldridge and family, and Patricia Stuart and family; Warren’s brother Charles (Nancy); much loved by Hastings nieces and nephews, Ed Hastings and family, Donna Hastings and family, Greg Hastings and family, Debbie Spears, Diane Hastings, Steve Hastings and family, Bobby Hastings, Amy Hastings-Larson and family, and David Hastings and family.  

Graveside services will be held Friday, June 19, 2020 at 2 p.m. at Rose Lawn Mausoleum.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to the Parkinson’s Foundation, 200 SE 1st Street, Suite 800, Miami FL 33131; or Alzheimer’s Association, P.O. Box 96011, Washington D.C. 20090-6011.

To share memories of Janet Ferguson Hastings, please visit www.seaverbrown.com. Care for Janet’s family has been entrusted to Seaver-Brown Funeral Service & Crematory, 237 East Main Street, Marion, VA 24354.