Mildred L. Hastings

Mildred L. Hastings, 86, the mother of U.S. Rep. Alcee L. Hastings, D-Fla., has died after a lengthy illness and complications from heart disease.

" She ' s at peace, and so am I, " Rep. Hastings said. Hastings was with his mother at the Westside Regional Hospital in Plantation, Fla., when she died June 24.

Mrs. Hastings, the granddaughter of slaves, was a fourth-generation Floridian who worked for a quarter century as a domestic housekeeper for wealthy families in New York and California and lived to see her only child became the first black federal judge in Florida and a Democratic member of Congress.

Born in Altamonte Springs, Fla., on May 23, 1918, she attended Crooms Academy in Sanford, the first secondary school available to blacks in Seminole County, through 11th grade. She was married to the late Julius " J.C. " Hastings, and their son, Alcee, was born in the same house, which still stands. Julius Hastings died in 1969.

The couple worked in Jamaica Estates, N.Y., as well as in Beverly Hills, Bel Air and Truesdale, Calif. Mrs. Hastings often said: " We worked for the best, and we were the best workers. "

Acquaintances of her son often called her " Mom, " and some lawyers nicknamed her " House Counsel, " because of what the congressman ' s aides called " her special common sense approach to complex legal problems. "

" Mom was my greatest friend and mentor, " Hastings said. " She described herself as a ' greedy reader. ' She loved flowers, good music, good friends, good food, good drinks and good jokes. She taught me everything. "

Mrs. Hastings ' bleakest moment may have been in late 1981 when her son, then a federal judge, was tried on bribery conspiracy charges. Hastings was acquitted of those charges but was impeached by the House on related charges and removed from the bench by the Senate in 1989. Three years later, Hastings was elected to Congress and has easily won re-election every two years since.

Mrs. Hastings is survived by her son and three grandchildren.