Lucy Hackney, a Vineyard Haven woman whose family connections include friendship with civil rights icon Rosa Parks, died Friday at 1:20 am, surrounded by family. She was 81.
In a 2015 conversation with The Times, Hackney detailed her family’s friendship with Parks, the woman who refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Ala., bus in 1955.
It was Hackney’s father, Cliff Durr, who was among the attorneys who represented Parks in that heralded case. But even before that, Parks was a family friend.
“She was just a lovely, elegant woman. She was such a fine lady, so humble, but strong as well,” Hackney said of Parks in 2015. “Not many people know how educated she was; this was because as a child she had been tutored by white women bent on educating black girls in Alabama. Mother always told me how this underground tutoring of black girls by white women began because they were disgusted with the poor quality of education at that time … I think this added to Mrs. Parks’s courage against segregation; she had been around white people since childhood.”
Hackney was the daughter of Cliff and Virginia Foster Durr, a couple known for their activism.
Her husband, Sheldon Hackney, died in 2013 from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Sheldon Hackney retired to the Vineyard with his wife after serving as president of the University of Pennsylvania. He was a highly regarded historian, as well.
“The Island is my home, mainly because my family has made it their home,” Lucy Hackney said in that 2015 interview. “My husband and I followed our children here, first in the glorious summers, but immediately after Sheldon’s retirement from his presidency at the University of Pennsylvania, we came full-time. The thing that has always been the most value to us is having our family near, being near our roots.”
Lucy Hackney’s funeral service will be held at a later date, to be announced. A complete obituary will follow. Donations in her memory may be made to Camp Jabberwocky, P.O. Box 1357, or to Hospice of Martha’s Vineyard, P.O. Box 1748, both in Vineyard Haven, MA 02568, or to the Martha’s Vineyard Museum, P.O. Box 1310, Edgartown, MA 02539. Arrangements are under the care of the Chapman, Cole and Gleason Funeral Home, Edgartown Road, Oak Bluffs. Visit cgfuneralhome.com for online guestbook and information.
