Bessie Emling Hastings

IN MEMORY OF: Bessie Emling Hastings Serving Location: CRAIN PLEASANT GROVE-MURDALE FUNERAL HOME 31 Memorial Drive, Murphysboro, Illinois Bessie Emling Hastings, 100, slipped the bonds of earth and took her Master's hand on August 26, 2026. She was born in rural Pinckneyville on February 1, 1926, to Rev. Herman Emling and Lula Bishop Emling. Like Samuel of old, Bessie was involved in the Lord's work from childhood. One of her earliest memories is riding on a folded circus tent in the back of her father’s Model T enroute to a tent revival her father was conducting. She was also pianist for Vacation Bible Schools as a pre-teen. As an adult, Bessie often accompanied her husband, the late author and pastor Rev. Robert J. Hastings, to speaking engagements. Robert was pleased that Bessie's loving and outgoing personality eclipsed his at these engagements. "If I go back a second time without her, folks are disappointed," Robert once said. Bessie wrote an unpublished manuscript titled "A Dime's Worth of Coffee" as a sequel to her husband's popular memoirs "A Nickle's Worth of Skim Milk", and "A Penny's Worth of Minced Ham." Bessie graduated Pinckneyville Community High School and Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She earned a master's degree in religious education at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, Texas. She excelled at teaching children to appreciate overseas missions often improvising her own curriculum. She was a member of First Baptist Church of Marion. Bessie was like Mary Poppins treating her children and their friends to many outings and sweets. Creative and artistic, she assisted as an adult in drawing floor plans for her family’s homes in Nashville, Tennessee, Carbondale, and Springfield. She decorated these homes with a Southern ambience. Bessie enjoyed every ounce of the creation with a special passion for kittens, birds, flowers, and stars. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Robert, infant son Thomas Robert Hastings, and daughter-in-law Patricia Shean. She is survived by daughters Ruth Hastings of San Francisco, California, and Nancy (Andy) Schumacher of San Anselmo, California, and son Tim (Ginny) Hastings of West Frankfort; grandchildren Craig Jessup, Anne (Isaac) Vana, and Laurel (Preston) Sink; and great grandchildren Felix, Arrow, Emme, Hudson, and Laurel. She is also survived by "the little sister she never had" housekeeper and friend Sharilyn Grammer of Christopher. The family deeply appreciates the outstanding care Bessie received at Parkway Manor Nursing Home and Memory Lane in Marion. Funeral services will be held for Bessie on Tuesday, September 1st with visitation at 10 a.m. and service at 11 a.m. at Crain Pleasant Grove-Murdale Funeral Home. Rev. Milton Bost, formerly of Murphysboro and now residing in Chatham, will officiate. Visit the Crain Funeral Home of Murphysboro Facebook page for live stream and posting of services. Bessie’s remains will be interred at Pleasant Grove Memorial Park where they will await the return of her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As Solomon of old recorded, “Her children will rise up and call her blessed.” Crain Pleasant Grove-Murdale Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Bessie Emling Hastings

February 1, 1926 - August 26, 2026