Pearl Hastings Dies at 92; Worked Among Infamous Gangsters in Chicago

Pearl Joanne Hastings was born Pearl Carmel Prazza in Denver, Colorado on July 16, 1920. She was the third of four children of Italian immigrants who entered this country through Ellis Island in 1904. Her family moved to Chicago when she was a little girl. She grew up in this eventful city during the days of prohibition, gangsters and great economic depression.  

As a teenager she worked as a waitress among those infamous gangsters but also in the elegance of the famous Morrison Hotel where she served the likes of politicians and even Albert Einstein himself. She once went on a date with then famous 1930s movie star, Rudy Vallee. She sang in nightclubs in Chicago and St. Louis.  

In 1939 she and her sister, Marie, went on a vacation to visit their mother and other family where they had moved to in Coronado, California. They never went back.  Pearl fell in love with the palm trees and the weather. She worked, along with most of her family, at the restaurant owned by her mother, Gerry’s Coffee Shop at 10th and Orange Avenues in Coronado during the war years. The ratio of men to women was about 10 to 1 so this pretty woman got lots of attention. She never failed to also share the heartaches caused by war.  

She married a Marine, Frank “Tex” Hastings and eventually raised three children: Judy, Joe, and Dolores.  In 1960 they moved to the brand new community of Clairemont. She always said her greatest blessing was caring for her children and that she was blessed twice when asked to move to Ramona in 1984 to help care for her grandsons, Jesse and Wes Ellis, after retiring from her career as a graphic artist.  She lived here for the last 29 years of her long life among the things she loved the most: animals, plants & trees, her children and grandchildren and was the greatest Chargers and Padres fan ever!

Missing her forever are her children Joe Hastings (Kim) & Dolores Mortier (Hal), her grandchildren Jesse Ellis & Wesley Ellis (Amanda), her step-grandchildren Wendy Flannery (Shawnn), Mark Mortier (Trisha), Joel Mortier (Becky), & Lacey Stone (Logan), and her step-great-grandchildren who lit up her life until the end. A special thanks to her caregiver and friend, Rebecca Shutters, who accompanied her for the past two years as far as she could go, until Pearl slipped into the presence of God on June 24, 2013.

A service will be held at First Congregational Church of Ramona in August.

Bonham Bros. & Stewart Mortuary and Cremation Service is assisting the family.