News

By Cheryl Blackerby

    DELRAY BEACH — Elaine Prentice Hapgood found her mission in life more than a half-century ago when she attended an International Planned Parenthood conference in Pakistan. She witnessed firsthand the consequences of unbridled population growth and how important access to reproductive health care was to young women.
    For the next five decades, she committed herself to Planned Parenthood causes near her Delray Beach and Greenwich, Conn., homes and reached out to young women in developing countries around the world through volunteer work with the United Nations.
    “Elaine was committed to advancing women’s rights and reproductive justice in Connecticut and beyond,” said Judy Tabar, president and chief operating officer of Planned Parenthood of Southern New England.
    “Planned Parenthood of Southern New England lost a tremendous friend, longtime supporter and assiduous advocate,” Tabar said. “We are deeply saddened and keenly aware that we have lost a great activist for many under-represented communities.”
    Elaine “Ellie” Hapgood died peacefully at her home in Delray Beach on Oct. 26. She was 95.
    Mrs. Hapgood was preceded in death by her first husband, John Powers, and by her second husband, Cyrus Hapgood, who died in 2002. She is survived by her daughter, Lynn Babicka of Vero Beach, and her son, John Powers of Boulder, Colo.; five grandchildren: Jim Bohart, Bobbi Hapgood, Shelley Babicka, Lauren Zuskin and Jonathan Babicka: three great-grandchildren; and her devoted caregiver, Raija Stahistedt.
    Mrs. Hapgood’s philanthropic course traced the footsteps of her father, Richard Prentice Ettinger, who founded the Educational Foundation of America in 1959. She shared her father’s belief that overpopulation was a global crisis and was a charter member of the foundation he established to curb it.
    Mrs. Hapgood served as the foundation’s president for many years and embraced projects to improve health-care services and education for Native Americans. She also took on geriatric care issues and numerous environmental causes.
    “Mrs. Hapgood chose to dedicate her life to ensuring the availability of reproductive health services to men and women, regardless of age, race, religion or economic status,” according to the foundation.
    In the late 1960s, Mrs. Hapgood worked as a volunteer with the United Nations Population Commission. She also served on the boards of the Population Crisis Committee and the Population Institute.
“Her father was such a strong influence in her life. He told her the biggest issue we would face was overpopulation, and she took that to heart,” said her son,  John Powers.
She was a friend of Prescott Bush, grandfather of  President George W. Bush, a U.S. senator and supporter of Planned Parenthood. “She was a Republican, but when it got to George W. Bush, she changed political parties. She had to follow her core values, and it was certainly a lesson to her children,” Powers said.
 Powers said Mrs. Hapgood’s “passions in life were her family and playing golf.”
    The family requests that memorial contributions go to: Planned Parenthood of Southern New England, 345 Whitney Ave., New Haven, CT 06511-2348; or Planned Parenthood of South Florida and the Treasure Coast; or the Alliance for Sustainable Colorado in Denver.
    A funeral service for Mrs. Hapgood was held Nov. 3 at First Presbyterian Church of Delray Beach. A memorial service will be held June 30, 2013 in Greenwich, Conn.