Palestine High School Alumni Association

04 / 14 / 1940  –  10 / 19 / 2011

Barbara Jean Spann Hastings Driver, born April 14, 1940, died at the University of Texas Southwestern Zale-Lipshey Hospital on Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2011 from complications associated with a brain-stem tumor. She was 71 years old.

Born in Grapeland, Texas, to J.C. and Annie B. Dickey Spann, Jean spent most of her childhood in the east Texas area between Grapeland and Palestine, graduating from Palestine High School in 1958. In September of that same year she became Mrs. Donald Ray Hastings, to whom she remained married until his death in 1986. After her marriage, and even throughout early motherhood, Jean continued her education, earning a Bachelor’s Degree in English and finally a Master’s Degree in Psychology, spending a career in education, both as teacher and school counselor. At the age of 65, she returned to school to become a Licensed Professional Counselor in order to serve the members of the Tomball community through her church’s counseling center, which she founded.

For the majority of their marriage, Don and Jean lived in Palestine, where they ministered through Southside Baptist Church and Jean taught reading to the inmates at the Beto I Unit. After Don’s death, Jean met Warren Kenneth Driver, whom she married on March 26, 1988. The two celebrated their 23 wedding anniversary this year. Shortly after their nuptials, Jean and Warren settled in Tomball, where they lived for 19 years. There, Jean served as counselor in the Tomball School District and was very active in Tomball’s First Baptist Church, where she taught Sunday School. Last year the Drivers moved to their retirement home in  Canton and became members of Lakeside Baptist Church there.

Jean is survived by her husband, Warren Driver; her mother-in-law, Grace Jenkins Hastings; and five children, Melissa Hastings Herring and husband Glen, Elizabeth (Betsy) Hastings Mitchell and husband Kenneth, Rebecca Hastings Nix and husband Michael, Mendi Driver Paschall and Matthew Driver and wife Lynn Jackson Driver. She has 12 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. She is also survived by four siblings and their spouses and many other family members and friends who loved and will miss her.

She was preceded in death by Don Hastings; her parents, J.C. and Annie B. Spann; and brothers, Delma Henri and H.O. “Buddy” Spann; and sisters, Ann Pearl Spann Seglequist and Dorothy Beatrice Spann Jones.

Services for Jean Hastings Driver will be held at Southside Baptist Church in Palestine, Texas on Saturday, Oct. 22, 2011 at 11 a.m., with interment to follow at Roselawn Cemetery. Visitation will be  Friday, Oct. 21 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Herrington/Land of Memory Funeral Home.