The publication is reproduced in full below:
HONORING THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF HELEN ANDERSON TOLAND
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HON. STEVEN HORSFORD
of nevada
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, June 29, 2021
Mr. HORSFORD. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and legacy of Helen Anderson Toland. Ms. Toland has been a Las Vegas resident since 1964 and served as the Clark County School District's first African American female school principle at the former Kit Carson Elementary School, now renamed Helen Anderson Toland Elementary School in her honor.
Originally from Marceline, Missouri, Ms. Toland attended University of Illinois and worked as the first black speech correctionist in Louisville, Kentucky before receiving a master's degree in speech therapy from University of Southern California (USC). While in Los Angeles in the early 1960s, she became active in the NAACP, through which she met Jim Anderson, whom she married in 1964.
When Ms. Toland arrived in Las Vegas, she was initially hired as a speech therapist by the Clark County School District, before becoming principal of Kit Carson in 1965, a position she held for seven years, after which she became principal at Robert E. Lake Elementary School. While principal, Ms. Toland took great pride in providing for her students, including by organizing field trips to Disneyland and Mt. Charleston. Following the passing of Mr. Anderson, she married Elton Toland and moved to Los Angeles in 1972 before moving back to Las Vegas in 1980.
Throughout her lifetime, Ms. Toland has been very active in community work in Las Vegas, as well as in Africa. In addition to her work with the NAACP and the civil rights movement, Ms. Toland was also a board member of an environmental group called Foresta, and was involved with the National Association of College Women and Les Femmes Douze. Ms. Toland is also a member of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and was one of the founders of the local chapter. Ms. Toland also has held community yard sales to raise funds for the schooling of young people in Las Vegas and Africa, contributed to the first preschool speech therapy program in Kubwa-Abuja, Nigeria, and shares artwork and artifacts from her travels to Africa with members of the local community, including university and school children.
Earlier this month, the Historic Preservation Commission, joined by Councilman Cedric Crear, preserved Ms. Toland's Westside home as part of the City of Las Vegas Historic Property Register, and she will be included among the icons to be enshrined at Historic Westside Legacy Park later this year, in honor of her years of accomplishments and dedication to the Las Vegas community. We love and appreciate everything Ms. Toland has done for the Southern Nevada community, and want to take this opportunity to say thank you
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 113
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