Popular community leader dies

APPLE VALLEY — A popular community leader and cancer survivor who helped many High Desert residents with their own cancer battles has died.

Elaine Haizlip was a volunteer coordinator with the American Cancer Society and its Reach to Recovery Program, according to her husband of nearly 70 years, Bud Haizlip.

Barbara Costa told the Daily Press that her mother was 85 years old when she died on Monday at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton. She said her mother had been transported to the medical facility after suffering a brain hemorrhage at her home in Apple Valley.

“Elaine was an amazing lady who did so much for this community,” said friend and co-volunteer Candy Kutsch on Wednesday. “I was shocked when I found out that she’s no longer with us. The world will most certainly feel her absence.”

Costa said instead of surrendering after being diagnosed with breast cancer in 1990, Haizlip began volunteering at the American Cancer Society office that she established in Victorville.

She was recruited as a Reach to Recovery volunteer in 1998 and was certified as a Reach to Recovery trainer and represented the region on the California Division Reach to Recovery Management Team, the Daily Press reported.

Reach to Recovery is an ACS program that helps people cope with their breast cancer experience. It offers comfort and emotional support. Haizlip also recruited, trained and coordinated volunteers that staffed the High Desert office.

A native of Nebraska, Haizlip was nominated as one of the Daily Press’ Most Inspiring Women for 2009. Two years earlier, she was awarded the Terese Lasser Reach to Recovery Memorial Award from the ACS for her contributions to the Reach to Recovery Program.

Bud and Elaine Haizlip celebrated their 60th anniversary during a family reunion at the couple’s Apple Valley home in April 2006. They also enjoyed a ride in a 1941 Plymouth Coupe that Bud Haizlip had restored; the same as the one they had after they were married. Guests arrived at the event from Oregon, Washington, Utah and North Carolina, as well as California.

“My mom was a lifetime member of the Eastern Star who helped her make specially made pillows for women who had a mastectomy,” Costa said. “Whether it was with the Girl Scouts, Little League or the PTA, my mom was always a leader.”

Costa said after her parents moved to Apple Valley, her mother and granddaughters took advantage of the rural lifestyle by raising horses and pygmy goats.

“She retired from the American Cancer Society in 2004, but not before she impacted many lives,” Kutsch said. “Her perspective on life was incredible and she was a master problem solver."

While volunteering for the ACS, Kutsch was contacted by a representative of Loma Linda University who told her about a single mother with three cancer-stricken children who could not make the drive from the High Desert for appointments because of a broken van.

After spending the entire day looking someone to drive the family to Loma Linda, Kutsch finally gave up and told Haizlip her story.

“Elaine told me that we needed someone to fix the woman’s van, not people who could drive a mother with three screaming children,” Kutsch said. “Elaine found a mechanic who rebuilt the van motor and repaired the rest of the van for free.”

Costa said the Eastern Star is planning to conduct a service sometime in the future and the family will conduct a celebration of life even in April, which would have been the Haizlips' 70th wedding anniversary.

Rene Ray De La Cruz may be reached at 760-951-6227, RDeLa Cruz@VVDailyPress.com or on Twitter @DP_ReneDeLaCruz.