Sandra Sue Hastings

Sandra Sue (Jones) Hastings was born on June 30, 1937, in rural Jetmore, Hodgeman County, Kansas.  She was the daughter of Tracy B. Jones and Nettie Ella (Bell) Jones.  Sandra spent almost all her life in the Jetmore and Hanston areas of Kansas.  She passed away at her home in Jetmore, Kansas, on January 18, 2026.

Sandra is survived by her five children, Susan D. (Phillip) Hastings-Guerrero of the home, Michael W. (Shauna) Hastings of Lawrence, Kansas, Greg J. (Susan) Hastings of Shawnee, Kansas, Warren R. (Susie) Hastings of Dallas, Texas, and Charles Brian (friend Linda) Hastings of rural Jetmore, Kansas.  Sandra is also survived by nine grandchildren, Cevan (Melissa) Cross-Hall, William Hastings, Olivia Hastings, Anna Hastings, Nakia Hastings, Hayley Hastings, Yumiko Hastings, Michaela (Taylor) Bolyn and Briana Hastings, and two great-great-grandchildren.

Sandra graduated from Jetmore High School and was her class Salutatorian.  She attended Kansas State University and while in college married her high-school sweetheart, Charles Richard Hastings, on December 5, 1958.

Sandra was a homemaker, wife, mother and rancher.  She was blessed with a God given talent for art.  While she won many local and state awards with her oil paintings and charcoal artwork, she mostly painted for fun and in her words, “art was her therapy.”  She enjoyed going to art classes and art shows and especially enjoyed time with her fellow artist friends.  She also enjoyed making Native American art such as jewelry, painted skulls, leatherwork, porcupine quill beading and more.  She was always happy to receive more porcupine quills, feathers and other material to make her “Native Art.”

With a lifetime love for costume jewelry, Sandra was awarded Midwest saleswoman of the year by Sarah Coventry Jewelry and earned a trip to New York City to accept the award.  Sandra was also a successful businesswoman owning multiple rentals and “being her own contractor.”

Sandra enjoyed animals.  She had many stories about riding her horses as a young girl and helping her parents and brother with their various farm animals.  She shared her love for animals with her children, which included getting the kids involved with chinchillas, dogs, cats, horses, pigs, goats, sheep and baby calves.  The Hastings farm was a destination for many kindergarten classes which would come to see and pet the different baby animals.

Speaking of calves, Sandra hated the fact that so many baby calves were born and abandoned to die at the local feedyard.  So, she made a plan.  She recruited one or two of her sons and they would go daily to the feedyard and “rescue” baby calves.  She assured her sons that if the mother of the calf charged them, they were to hold the calf between themselves and the cow and the son and the calf would “make it.”  No one died, so she was right.  Sandra put her medical mind to work and came up with a cocktail of meds and treatments that allowed the baby calves to survive and then thrive.  Her plan became a very lucrative business and made her famous.

Sandra was a voracious reader, writer of poetry and short stories, artist, gardener, knitter, bead artist, seamstress and cook.  Her cherry and mulberry pies were family and local favorites.  Sandra also opened and ran “Country Keepsakes,” a craft shop in Jetmore, Kansas, for 20 years.

Sandra also had a practice of befriending and helping less fortunate families in the area that needed help.  There was often a big pot of soup on the stove being made for a needy family.

Out of her many diverse achievements, she was most proud of each of her children and would often say that her gift to the world was her children.  Sandra loved the Lord.  After recovering from a brain tumor, she rededicated her life to Jesus and gave God credit for her recovery.  She attended Faith Fellowship Church in rural Hanston, Kansas.

Sandra was preceded in death by her parents, husband and brother, Donald Jones.

Funeral service will be 10:00 a.m. Saturday, January 24th, 2026 at Faith Fellowship Church, Hanston, with Pastor Doug Ellison presiding.  Visitation will be 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Friday, January 23rd with family present from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. at Beckwith Funeral Home, Jetmore.  Burial will be in Fairmount Cemetery, Jetmore.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given to the O’Shea Memorial Clinic in care of Beckwith Funeral Home, P.O. Box 663, Jetmore, KS 67854.  Personal condolences may be left at www.beckwithfuneralhome.com.

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