Katz Elementary School namesake has lived a historic life

At Merrill Gardens Retirement Communities in Henderson, many seniors have a story to tell. Edythe Katz was no different detailing her life through the 1900s, except her story included how Edythe and Lloyd Katz Elementary School was named for her and her husband.

The faculty and staff of Merrill Gardens, 1935 Paseo Verde Parkway, have enjoyed their talks with Katz.

"I love her stories," said Karen Marano, a care provider. "She should have written them all down."

Marano can even recall some stories of the places Katz has been and the people she has met.

"I met a lot of interesting people over the years," Katz said. "I don't know what I'm doing sitting here now."

Katz, who recently celebrated her 91st birthday, was born Edythe Sterling in 1920 in Massachusetts.

Being Jewish, she encountered prejudice in her community and school, where she had to go above and beyond to prove herself.

"I remember telling friends at finishing school about going to a wedding and getting to drink champagne at the theater," Katz said. "Some mother complained, saying she didn't want her daughter going to school with drunken Jewish girls."

Her proud story nearly got her in trouble.

"A Christian girl could have rolled under the tables with the all the ushers and nothing would have happened," Katz said. "But I had to be better than everybody else."

Katz was approaching her 20s when World War II started, inspiring her to join the National Guard.

"The first (National Guard) recruitment agency I went to wouldn't accept me because I was a Jew," Katz said. "There was a lot of anti-Semitism in this country."

But the second recruitment center took her.

With the National Guard she moved around to Hawaii, Colorado and eventually California.

"I actually landed in Hawaii the day we dropped the bomb on Hiroshima," Katz said.

She moved to California in 1947, lived near Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood and worked for Burt Lancaster, an actor, director and producer.

"I was an old maid at 27 not being married," Katz said.

Katz met Lloyd through a mutual friend.

"And that was it," Katz said. "He looked just like a movie star. Just like Frank Sinatra. All the time we would go out and I would hear people whisper, 'Who is that movie star?' (referring to Lloyd)."

They married in 1947.

The couple came to Las Vegas in 1951 to take over the Fremont, Huntridge and Palace movie theaters.

Katz said the theaters had customers such as Elvis Presley and Elizabeth Taylor. Even Walt Disney gave the theater praise for its selection of children's cartoons and movies on Saturday mornings.

Katz's fond memories of the theaters included what she and her husband stood for: equality.

"(Las Vegas) was known as the Mississippi of the West," Katz said. "Most movie theaters were segregated. We played a big role integrating them."

At that time, Katz said movie theaters either had different sections for African-Americans or even entirely separate theaters.

Because Katz knew the hardship of prejudice firsthand, she became a big proponent of justice.

"We figured (African-Americans) paid the same price as any other person," Katz said. "They should sit wherever they want."

Full integration happened later in the '50s.

"I think it was Lloyd that broke up segregation (in theaters)," Katz said.

Along with owning theaters, Katz was active in the community. She was a member of several religious, political and secular groups and worked with the Clark County School District.

"It is not what you get back but what you give that counts," Katz said.

Katz started a volunteer program with the CCSD that helped underprivileged children with tutoring or financial assistance.

"She did so many philanthropic things," Marano said. "She is always getting honored or asked to be a guest at all these organizations."

Lloyd died in April 1986.

"We didn't have enough time together," Katz said.

Katz remarried when she was 75 and recently lost her second husband.

But Katz carries on.

For their service to the community, a Summerlin-area elementary school, at 1800 Rock Springs Drive, was named for Edythe and Lloyd Katz.

"Lloyd wasn't alive when the school was named," Marano said.

Katz didn't know the school was being named until it opened.

"It was such an honor," Katz said.

Katz tries to visit a few times a year to see the progress of her school.

"They treat her like a rock star when she comes," Marano said.

Because of the distance between her apartment at Merrill Gardens and the school, it has been a few months since her last visit.

"Can we drive up there one day?" Katz asked Marano. "I want to go visit them again."

Contact Henderson and Anthem View reporter Michael Lyle at mlyle@viewnews.com or 387-5201.