EAST BETHEL – Florence Hastings, 103, a resident of East Bethel, died quietly in her sleep on March 5. As the oldest citizen of Bethel, she received the Boston Post cane in February 2007.

She was born in Portland on Aug. 26, 1904, the daughter of Robert and Edna Wellman Bickford. She grew up and attended schools in Bowdoinham and Brunswick. She graduated from Gorham Normal School in 1924, and taught school in Lisbon, Hanover and Augusta.

She married Robert D. Hastings on Dec. 18, 1926. They made their home on the Hastings Farm in East Bethel, where they raised their four children. She taught school in East Bethel and substitute taught in the local area for 20 years.

Throughout her lifetime, she earned a reputation for her creative handicrafts. She braided and hooked rugs, made quilts and knitted afghans, sweaters, mittens and hats, did tole painting and created Christmas craft items. She excelled at whatever craft she learned and instructed many others over the years.

Her home and the homes of her friends, children and grandchildren showcase the quantity, variety and quality of her handwork. The Florence B. Hastings Traditional Arts and Crafts room in the proposed new addition to the Robinson House at the Bethel Historical Society will continue her legacy.

Her cooking was legendary and no family gathering was complete without her cinnamon buns and pies. She volunteered as a guide and craftsperson at the Bethel Historical Society for many years.

She was honored as Outstanding Homemaker by the Oxford County Extension Service in 1976. For several years the Hastings opened their home to summer visitors as part of the Farm Vacation Program. Families from New York, New Jersey, Michigan and the Panama Canal Zone spent their summer vacations there. The social aspect of three meals a day of fresh farm and garden products and the experience of being part of a working farm resulted in life-long friendships.

She gained notoriety as the star of “The Center of Things,” an hour-long documentary about the Hastings family farm, which was part of the PBS series “Our Stories.”

Her sense of humor and famous one-liners will be remembered by her family and many friends of all ages. She was proud of her home, the oldest in Bethel, which she restored and lovingly decorated over the 81 years she lived there.

She is survived by her four children, Virginia Gamble of Bethel, Mary-Alice Bancroft and husband, Allen, of Paris Hill, Robert “Sonny” Hastings and wife, Betty-Ann, of East Bethel and Ann Morton and husband, David, of Bryant Pond; 16 grandchildren knew her as “Grammie Moo-Cow,” Laurie Gamble Flanagan and husband, Mark, Alan Gamble and wife, Carol, Rebecca Gamble Dalke and husband, Dave, Brenda Bancroft Leighton and husband, Rick, Leslie Bancroft Krichko, Kristi Bancroft Boucher and husband, Rick, Holly Bancroft Brown, Mark Bancroft and wife, Angela, Jeffrey Hastings and wife, Cathy, Eric Hastings and wife, Celeste, Julie Hastings Warwick and husband, Jack, Jay Hastings, Ellen Hastings Franklin and husband, Scott, Pamela Morton Rowinski and husband, Chris, Thomas Morton and Paul Morton and wife, Danielle; and 28 great-grandchildren.

She was predeceased by her husband of 66 years, Robert D. Hastings; her three brothers, Earle Bickford, Lendall Bickford and Clifford Bickford; and her son-in-law, George Gamble.