[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 113 (Tuesday, June 29, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E716]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         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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