Ada Harcourt Hastings of Lenox died on March 18, 2017, at the Kimball Farms Nursing Center after a long illness. She was the wife of George B. Raymond of Lenox.
She was born on October 22, 1932, in Dayton, Ohio, the daughter of Alice (Jay) and V. Wilshire Harcourt. Her grandparents were Marguerite (Soleliac) and John Clarkson Jay and Lily (Wilshire) and Vivian Harcourt. She was the g-g-g-great-granddaughter of John Jay, Governor of New York and first chief justice of the U. S. Supreme Court.
As an infant she returned with her parents to live in New York City where both sets of grandparents were living. In 1934 the family moved to Westchester County. During World War II, they lived in Indiana, Pennsylvania, where her father had bought a leather goods business.
She was a graduate of the Wellesley College class of 1954. In 1956 she married George C. Hastings of West Hartford, Connecticut, and lived there until 1995. Her marriage to Hastings ended in 1987.
She was active in many arts organizations in the Hartford area: the Wethersfield Community Players, the Morley Players, Way-Off-Broadway, the Trinity Church (K)naves, and the Hartford Stage Company, where she was a member of the original Founders Committee in 1964 and an usher for several years; The Wadsworth Atheneum, where she was a docent for 15 years and involved in setting up the Docent Council, serving several terms on the council board. Since 1984 she was an honorary docent; She was involved with Plaza Seven Arts Festival in downtown Hartford, being in charge of hanging part of the art shows and demonstrating the technique of batik. She was a batik artist and teacher in the 1970s and ’80s, and an exhibiting member of the Society of Connecticut Craftsmen. She was active in Nuclear Freeze and Peace Action. She was a member of the Junior League of Hartford Inc., the Town and County Club, the Hartford Wellesley Club, the Saturday Morning Club, and Trinity Episcopal Church.
In 1995 she remarried and moved to Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Here she had been active in St. James Episcopal Church and was a member of the board of the Berkshire Historical Society at Arrowhead. She enjoyed being a volunteer tour guide at Tanglewood.
She is survived by her husband and three children: John Jay Hastings and his wife, Frances Glenda Hastings, of Portland, Maine; Lucinda B. Hastings of Housatonic; and Juliet H. Hastings and her husband, Daniel London, of Atlanta, Georgia; a grandson, Tyler W. Hastings; two step-grandsons, Samuel and Weston Matranga; grandson Michael C. London; and granddaughters Miranda A. Hastings and Catherine J. London. She also leaves her two sisters, Marguerite (Harcourt) Braun of Kansas and Wendy (Harcourt) Davis of Alabama, and several nieces and nephews.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, April 29, at Crissey Farm in Great Barrington. In lieu of flowers, donations should be made to the Alzheimer’s Association through FINNERTY & STEVENS FUNERAL HOME, 426 Main St., Great Barrington, MA 01230. To send remembrances to her family go to www.finnertyandstevens.com
