By Vernon Robison

Moapa Valley Progress

The late Joy Kendall pictured with her husband Jeff Kendall. Joy’s memory will be honored next week with the opening of the Joy Kendall Resource Center at Chaparral High School.

A Las Vegas family with local ties will be recognized next week for the efforts of their late mother and wife in forwarding education in her community.

On September 6, the Joy Kendall Resource Center will be dedicated at Chaparral High School in Las Vegas. The Center will be equipped with computers, publications, information from state and local agencies, and access to teachers and counselors in an effort to help parents participate in planning their kids’ education.

Joy Kendall was the wife of Jeff Kendall and mother of seven children. She passed away in May of this year after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

Husband Jeff Kendall grew up in the Moapa Valley and is the son of John and Judy Kendall of Overton.

Joy served actively in the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) for thirty years. Her service started when her son, who is now 34 years old, was in kindergarten. During that time she served as PTA President at Cunningham Elementary School in Las Vegas. She served as PTA District President and helped many schools form PTA’s during that time. She started the first high school PTA in the state at Chaparral High School where she also served as its PTA president. She served as PTA State Vice President over the legislature for two years and was appointed by the governor to represent parents in Washington, D.C. in helping to revise the federal No Child Left Behind act.

“She was always involved in the PTA and I was always supportive,” said husband Jeff. “But I didn’t realize the number of people and lives that she has touched. Her efforts really made an impact on people.”

The center is being funded through donations in the community raised through the Eagle Scout project of Nikkolas Perez, Jeff Kendall said. Additional funding has come from the PTA and the Clark County School District.

“Throughout her years of active service in the PTA she always focused on getting parents more involved in education,” said Jeff Kendall. “I think that this center was exactly the kind of thing that she would have wanted; a place where parents and teachers can go to get resources for educating children.”