A Brief History of Fanny Arnold

   Frances Hastings was born in 1914 in Palo Alto, and named after her mother, Frances Simes Hastings. Known as Fanny, she lived in several places as a child. Her father, Russell P. Hastings, was a civil engineer with Standard Oil of California. Fanny lived in Whittier at one time, and attended kindergarten in Anaheim and first and second gradein San Francisco. The family moved to Olivas, Argentina, where she attended a British School from grades three to seven. While in Argentina, Fanny became fluent in Spanish.

Frances Simes Hastings in San Francisco

Frances Simes Hastings kept her house in San Francisco while living with Russell and her family in Argentina. After an enthusiastic return to San Francisco in 1927, Frances Simes Hastings purchased 1600 ac. in Carmel Valley, and soon she and Russell were spending as much time as possible in their ranch house. Fanny attended the Carmel Valley Ranch school for one year when it was located near the Robinson Canyon bridge. When that site was no longer available, Frances and Russell Hastings sold part of their “Rancho del Pato Alegre” for a new site for the Carmel Valley Ranch School.

Fanny at Hastings Reserve in 1930s.

Fanny on horse at Hastings, probably 1930s.

Overview of Hastings in 1950's.

School House in 1935

Fanny attended school there and lived on the Hastings ranch up through her sophomore year in high school. Fanny finished high school at Hamlins, a private school in San Francisco. During that time, Fanny rode a winning jumping horse named “Demosthenes”. Tom Arnold worked as a cowboy for Russell Hastings in the early 1930’s. Russell Hastings grazed cattle on the Arnold property and bought it from the Arnold family in the 1930’s. Tom Arnold later moved to Menlo Park to run a large stable operation.
      Fanny attended Stanford University for two years. A mutual interest in horses brought Fanny Hastings and Tom Arnold together. They were married in 1935. Together, they raised their children Emily, Henry, Jesse, Michael and Sally. Tom farmed several places in Menlo Park, raising his own hay. Riding lessons, training horses, boarding horses and transporting horses provided a livelihood for Fanny and Tom until development in the late 1940’s encouraged them to move to more open space east of Mount Hamilton. Once again they divided family time between the city home in Menlo Park and this time, the Arnold family ranch east of Mount Hamilton. Tom passed away in 1969.

      Fanny has been personally involved in the operations at the Hastings Reserve for many years. Fanny’s support has made it possible to restore and modernize many of the buildings and acquire critical additional lands as they became available. These include the Robertson Addition, with renovated Robertson House on 360 acres. Fanny provides an annual scholarship for students working at the reserve. Fanny’s legacy is a modern, vibrant biological field station with many students grateful for her assistance in their lives. Fanny continues an active life on her ranch on Arroyo Bayo, east of Mount Hamilton.

Buildings Fanny has renovated for the Hastings Reservation:

Hastings Cabin, rebuilt in 1992.

Lower Barn; new in 1993

Robertson House, rebuild in 1990.

Bunk House Cottage new in 1995.

Hallisey House, purchased in 1989.