The Ellis Family

Recipients of the
Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic Impact Award
October 2021

Linda Ellis was born in Miami, Florida, where she met and married James Ellis. They moved to Scarsdale with their three children in 1970.

Shortly thereafter, Marilyn Gaylin introduced Linda to the Planned Parenthood Lindhurst Tag Sale and Auction and to the amazing women who made it possible. These women came of age before Roe v. Wade. Each had her own horror story — memories of friends or family members who struggled with unreliable family planning and unsafe abortions. There was the knitting-needle self-abortion. The neighbor who died in a dirty hotel room under unreliable "medical care." The classmate who jumped from a balcony, desperate and ashamed after becoming pregnant as a teenager. With that shared but rarely discussed background, they bonded over the annual summer activity of sorting through hundreds of donated items to prepare for the sale.

Eventually, younger women joined them.  One was Linda’s daughter, Nancie Ellis, herself a young mother by then. Nancie brought her own baby daughter to sleep in the stroller while she unpacked dishes.

That baby is now a 25-year-old woman who understands the importance of Planned Parenthood. She is joined by her sister and cousins in doing what they can to support women’s health issues. Linda’s grandchildren have escorted patients as they walked past ugly signs and shouts outside Planned Parenthood facilities, relied on Planned Parenthood’s doctors for regular wellness checks, and been emotional support for friends before and after abortion care.

Planned Parenthood, so important to the daughters of that Westchester tag sale group, now offers expanded essential services to their grandchildren. Prenatal care is offered along with contraception and abortion. Patients can also visit PPHP for gender affirming therapy and HIV testing.  Linda is grateful for all Planned Parenthood does for her children, her grandchildren, and for the next generation. She understands the importance of not taking any of these services – or the ability to offer them – for granted in today’s political climate. She wants to see them continue into the long-term future for the benefit of the thousands of patients served by Planned Parenthood’s dedicated staff.