RUMFORD – Linda Florence (Mason) Hastings, 97, of Rumford, formerly of Vienna, died Wednesday afternoon Aug. 3, 2011, with family by her side, at the Rumford Community Home where she had been a resident since July of 2009. She was born April 2, 1914, in Vienna, one of eleven children of Harold and Matilda (Nickerson) Mason. She received her education in Vienna schools and on Oct. 12, 1932, married Charles Hastings in Mt. Vernon. He died on Dec. 10, 1980. In addition to being a homemaker, she worked at Maine Dowell in Vienna and Fairbanks. She was a member of the North Vienna Methodist Church, the Philathea Club of Farmington Falls and Starling Grange in Fayette. On the CB radio, she was known as the “Biscuit Woman”. She enjoyed working hard, (both in the workplace and for the benefit of her family) for whom she would knit, cook and make her wonderful homemade biscuits. She especially enjoyed family gatherings around the holidays and taking scenic rides through the white mountains and around familiar country roads. Her surviving family members are her four children: Virginia Wheeler of Chesterville; Florence Hastings of Peru, Linda Johnson and her husband Chester of Canton; Sharlene Hastings of Vienna; daughter-in-law, Mary Lou Hastings of Vienna; sons-in-law, Raphael Rawlins of Wilton and Floyd Stevens of Vienna; many grandchildren, nieces and nephews. In addition to her parents and husband, she was predeceased by two sons: Alvin Roy Hastings and Charles Peter Hastings, Jr.; daughter Shirley Ann Rawlins; sisters Lillian Brown, Mary Bowie, Edna Davis, Nellie Howe, Madeline Metcalf and Goldie Easter; brothers: Ernest Trask, Hezekiah Mason, Norman Mason and Ezra H. Mason. HASTINGS – died, at Rumford, 8/4/2011, Linda Florence (Mason) Hastings, 97, of Vienna. Family and friends are invited to call at the Wiles Remembrance Center, 137 Farmington Falls Rd., (Rtes. 2 & 27) Farmington on Sunday afternoon from 2-4 PM. Funeral services will be held Monday morning at 9 AM from the N. Vienna Methodist Church with Rev. Laura Church officiating. Committal services will be held at the Franklin Cemetery, Tower Rd., Vienna. Following services, a reception will be held in the church vestry, hosted by the church Hospitality Committee. All are welcome. Condolences and tributes may be shared with her family on her tribute wall at www.wilesrc.com. Remembrance gifts may be given in her memory to her family c/o Wiles Remembrance Center, 137 Farmington Falls Rd. Farmington, Me. 04938.

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