Katherine Hasty Hankins

Katherine Hasty Hankins – Beloved teacher and friend, age 95, a native and lifelong resident of Theodore, AL died Sunday, September 23, 2012. She was the daughter of the late Judge N.L. and Mary Williams Hasty, and was preceded in death by her husband of nearly 50 years, Edward W. “Bobby” Hankins. She was a graduate of Livingston University. As a young teacher, she taught at Oak Grove near Citronelle, and at Alba School in Bayou La Batre. In October 1940 she married E.W. Hankins and “retired” from teaching. In December 1941 she began teaching again in a “temporary” capacity, to replace a male teacher called into the military, at her alma mater, Theodore High School where she had graduated in 1934. She stayed 40 years, as a teacher of Science, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, girls P.E. and as a school bus driver. During World War II she also served as coach of the boys basketball, baseball and six-man football teams. She endeared herself to all who knew her, students, fellow teachers, administrators, and parents, During her career she served as teacher, acting principal, assistant principal, and instructional specialist. Her teaching career totaled 46 years. Mrs. Hankins retired in 1981, but remained active as a Sunday School teacher at the First Baptist Church of Theodore, working with the Rolling Readers Literacy Program where she received the J.C. Penney Gold Rule Educators Award. She was an active member of Delta Kappa Gamma International (an organization of Professional Women Educators): and a member of the Alabama Retired Teachers Assn, The Mobile Retired Teachers Assn., and the Mobile Joint Legislative Council. She was recognized by the naming of the local National Honor Society Chapter in her honor, and as a Citizen of the Year in 1982 by the Theodore-Tillman’s Corner Chamber of Commerce. In response to the high esteem in which she was held by her students, colleagues and community, on March 1, 2000, the Mobile County Board of School Commissioners voted to re-name Theodore Middle School the “Katherine H. Hankins Middle School”, the first time in Mobile County this honor was bestowed on a living person. The Mobile County Commission had voted earlier to rename that portion of Theodore Dawes Rd. in front of the school “Katherine Hankins Dr.” The school is situated on land next-door to where Mrs. Hankins was born and raised. Most of the school land was either donated by or purchased from her father N.L. Hasty. She was a person loved and respected by those who knew her, as she loved and respected them. She will be sadly missed and long remembered. She is survived by her sister-in-law, Marjorie Jordan, Mobile, AL; nieces, Mary Agnes Pellerin and Beth Pellerin, both of Theodore, AL, Katherine Corner and Emily Boutwell, both of Mobile, AL, Emily Jones, Hattiesburg, MS, Ruth Odom, Atlanta, GA, Joanne Smith, Houston, TX, Mary Beth Marsh and Christine Newton, both of Marianna, FL; numerous great-nieces, two name-sakes, Katherine Marsh Evans, Starkville, MS and Katherine Lydia Cannon, Dallas, TX; nephews, Jodie Hasty and Nathan Hasty, both of Hattiesburg, MS, and Khyle Jordan, Mobile, AL; and many friends. The family will receive friends at Radney Funeral Home on Wednesday, September 26, 2012, from 5-8 p.m. Graveside services and entombment will be Thursday at 11 a.m. from the Chapel of the Pines Mausoleum in Pine Crest Cemetery. Memorials may be made to the First Baptist Church of Theodore.