Doris Topsy-Elvord, known as “Mother Doris” for her legendary work in the community, and for being both the first Black woman to be elected to the Long Beach City Council and the first Black person to serve on the harbor commission, has died. She was 90. Topsy-Elvord’s last public appearance came in August when the city named the newly renovated community center complex in North Long Beach’s Houghton Park after her. Sitting in a wheelchair, she blew kisses at Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia, who called her “a history maker in Long Beach, an incredible woman who continues to leave an important legacy in our community.”
Long Beach Vice Mayor Rex Richardson said that naming the facility the Doris Topsy-Elvord Community Center was the “perfect birthday gift” for the former councilwoman, who turned 90 in June. “Mother Doris was such a special person,” Richardson said Wednesday. “She was incredibly generous with anyone who wanted to contribute to the city. Even when she was out of public office, she maintained her excitement and interest in what was going on in the city and what she could do to help.”
Topsy-Elvord was elected to the Long Beach City Council in 1992, becoming the first Black woman to serve on the panel. She represented the Sixth District, in Central Long Beach, for two terms. During that time, she served as vice mayor twice. In 2003, she broke ground again, becoming the first Black person and only the third woman to serve on the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners. Topsy-Elvord served one five-year term, acting as board president in 2005.
Topsy-Elvord is known affectionately in the city as Mother Doris because of her work mentoring young and old alike, according to Aaron Day and Indira Hale Tucker in their book, “The Heritage of African Americans in Long Beach – Over 100 Years.” “She is known to be spiritual, committed and colorblind and states she wouldn’t have it any other way,” the pair wrote in their book.
Doris Topsy-Elvord, née Walker, was born on June 17, 1931, in Vicksburg, Mississippi. She and her family moved to Long Beach in 1942 when she was 11 years old. In 1949, Topsy-Elvord became the first Black student to graduate from St. Anthony High School. One of her proudest moments, she once told the Press-Telegram in an interview, was being inducted into the St. Anthony Hall of Fame in 1991.
After high school, she initially pursued a degree in chemistry at UCLA but changed her mind – and began what would become a decades-long career in public service. In 1956, she worked as a California Youth Authority counselor. She followed that post up with jobs in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the Long Beach Department of Parks and Recreation. Topsy-Elvord then went to the Los Angeles County Probation Department as a deputy probation officer. She spent 19 years there. Her career, however, was only one aspect of her ambition.
She went back to school in the 1960s, earning her bachelor’s degree in social welfare from Cal State Long Beach in 1969. In 1981, she received her master’s degree in criminal justice administration from Chapman College, a school in the city of Orange that’s now named Chapman University. Topsy-Elvord retired in 1988. But she didn’t slow down. Rather, she became a member of the Long Beach Civil Service Commission, serving one term as president. She also served as vice president of the Long Beach Unified School District Personnel Commission, and as commissioner of the First Justice and Peace Commission of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Topsy-Elvord was just shy of her 61st birthday when she edged incumbent Clarence Smith to become the Sixth District councilwoman.
Some of her proudest achievements as a City Council member included helping found the Atlantic Community Economic Development Corp., establishing the Long Beach Midnight Basketball League, cofounding the African American Heritage Society with Indira Hale Tucker, leading efforts to designate the home of civil rights icon Ernest McBride as a cultural heritage site and eradicating graffiti in the Sixth District to allow for economic growth.
“Mother Doris was an institution in Long Beach,” said Bob Foster, who served as mayor from 2006 to 2014. “She was a pioneer for civil rights and a tireless fighter for her community, an active participant in civic life and a person who believed in service to others. I was honored to know her and at times work with her.”
Topsy-Elvord was in her 70s when another legendary Long Beach woman, then-Mayor Beverly O’Neill, appointed her to the harbor commission in 2003. During her time on the harbor commission, she helped develop the Green Port Policy; that policy, which came about in 2005 and still exists today, is aimed at reducing the negative impact of port operations on the environment. Topsy-Elvord also played a major role in expanding the port’s Small Business Enterprise Program.
Topsy-Elvord has received many honors and awards for her community service, including being named Woman of the Year by the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce in 1993 and by California State Sen. Ralph Dills in 1994.
