Vern Hastings

Vern Hastings 1917 - 2012 Vernon Leroy Hastings (Vern), age 94, retired Air Force Colonel, Professor Emeritus, and longtime resident of the Phoenix area died at his residence in Sacramento, California on the 19th of July with his family at his side. He remained optimistic to the end, planning for his birthday and examining with satisfaction his most recent purchases. Vern Hastings spent his entire career in the Air Force and in Academia optimistically focused on improving the future. With that optimism he elevated not only those who knew him but also the engineering profession to which he dedicated his career. Vern Hastings was born in Table Rock, Nebraska, on 4 August 1917 to Frank and Teresa Hastings. He grew up on a farm in rural Nebraska where mules were used for plowing. That memory stayed with him, prompting him to observe that the trajectory of his career was from "Mules to Missiles." He attended school in Table Rock and Lincoln, where he graduated from Lincoln High School in 1935. In 1939 he enlisted in the forerunner to the U.S Air Force, the Army Air Corps, and graduated from the first Army Air Forces Officer Candidate School (OCS) in May 1942Vern Hastings' first command position was as Director of a training program for pre-meteorology cadets, based at the University of Wisconsin (Madison). In Madison, he met and married Madison native, Norma Coughlin, one of eight daughters of Thomas and Margaret Coughlin. Throughout World War II he had other technical training assignments. After the war, as an Air Force reserve officer, he attended and graduated from the University of Nebraska (B.S. Mechanical Engineering 1949). He went on to complete a Master's degree while on active duty, graduating from Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College (M.S. Industrial Engineering 1955). His thesis, titled "A Study of Activities in an Engineering Research Organization," foreshadowed his lengthy post-military career in Engineering Education at Purdue and Arizona State Universities. During his Air Force career, He and his family lived in multiple locations throughout the United States and Canada. From 1949-1951, he served as base engineer at Goose Bay, Labrador, and site support engineer for several arctic weather and radar stations. From 1952 to 1954 he served as chief of the Procurement Branch of the U.S. Army Chemical Procurement District in Chicago, Illinois. From 1953 to 1954 he served as Deputy Chief of the Air Force Logistics Command's Facilities Maintenance Branch at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. In 1955, He was assigned to the Air Force Ballistic Missile Division, as Chief of the Initial Operation Capability (IOC) Branch (Inglewood, CA).In that capacity he directed the design of all U.S. operational base facilities for the Atlas Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM). He also led the top secret site selection team for the first missile base to be located in the western United States. Under his direction the team selected Camp Cooke, a former Army Base, which was renamed Vandenberg Air Force Base. Vandenberg was the location for the first Atlas ICBM operational launch complex and the first combatready missile base in the United States. Following that assignment, he relocated to his native Nebraska where as Commander for the ICBM Construction Task Force he served as Chairman of the Missile Sites Labor Committee, an entity created by President Kennedy to facilitate the construction of missile sites throughout the United States. He was promoted to Colonel in 1963; from 1962 to 1966 he served as Director of the Civil Engineering Center at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) at Wright Patterson Air Force Base (Ohio). He retired from the Air Force in 1966 to accept his first civilian academic position. In 1966, he became Assistant Dean for Purdue University's newly created School of Technology (West Lafayette, Indiana), where he helped develop and grow the relatively new program. In 1973 he accepted the position of Professor and Director for the School of Construction at Arizona State University, where he focused on building the relevance, size and stature of the Construction Management Program. Under his leadership the program grew and ultimately became a master's degree granting program. Professor Hastings retired as Director of the Program in 1987, but remained active as Professor Emeritus. In this capacity, he was instrumental in raising millions of dollars in endowed scholarships for the Del E. Webb School of Construction In 2002 the Del E. Webb Foundation funded an $80,000 endowment in Professor Hastings' name. Today the Del E Webb School of Construction annually disburses $300,000 in scholarships to students, due in large measure to the efforts of Professor Hastings. He remained active in retirement, maintaining his health through diet, exercise and a positive mental attitude. He continued to support professional organizations dedicated to furthering excellence in the engineering profession. He was an active member of numerous professional engineering organizations including the National Society of Professional Engineers , the Association of General Contractors , the American Institute of Industrial Engineering , the American Society for Engineering Education, and the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) (Phoenix Post). He was regularly the oldest participating member at many of the annual meetings of these organizations. He was able to travel extensively in retirement, including several trips to study Engineering Education in the People's Republic of China. Vern Hastings is preceded in death by his wife Norma (Madison WI), his brother Robert (Table Rock NE), his sisters Lotus (Lincoln NE) and Ida (North Platte NE) and his son Michael (Phoenix AZ). He is survived by his wife Violet (Sacramento CA), his sister Patricia (Phoenix AZ), his daughter Margaret (Sacramento CA) his sons Robert (Denver CO) and Thomas (Washington D.C.) and his granddaughters Kirsten, Britney, and Marika (all of Sacramento CA). A memorial service is scheduled for Monday, October 1st at 12 noon in the chapel at Queen of Heaven Cemetery, 1562 E Baseline Road: Mesa, AZ 85204. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to: Vern Hastings Undergraduate Scholarship Arrangements entrusted to Queen of Heaven Mortuary

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