Francis C. Hastert

1911 - 2007

WAHOO – Francis C. "Chick" Hastert, 95, of Wahoo, died July 20 at South Haven in Wahoo.
Hastert was born Nov. 7, 1911, to Charles and Lena Hastert in Shelby. He worked in his father's hardware store and the Shelby movie theater as a youngster. He graduated from Shelby High School and then attended the University of Nebraska and the University of Southern California. He graduated from the University of Nebraska with a degree in chemical engineering. After his graduation he worked for Phillips Petroleum for several years in the oil fields in Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma. In 1948 he worked in Mendoza, Argentina for a time on a dam project in the Andes Mountains. During World War II he was the chief ordinance inspector at the Nebraska Ordinance Plant in Mead. In later years he was the operations manager at the Field Lab of the University of Nebraska, which was the former site of the ordinance plant. He retired from the University in 1973. He did many hours of volunteer work at Haven House and South Haven. At the age of 90, he bought a computer and learned to navigate the Internet and communicate with family and friends via email.
He married his wife, Anne, in April 1935.
His wife, a son, John, his parents, two brothers and two sisters preceded him in death.
He is survived by his children, Anne of Lincoln and Charles of Prairie Village, Kan.; three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren; and a sister of Boulder, Colo.
A memorial mass will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, July 24 at St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church in Wahoo. Inurnment will be at St. Francis Cemetery in Wahoo.
Memorials may be made to Saunders County Home and Hospice Care.
Svoboda Funeral Home of Wahoo is in charge of the arrangements.