Lessons in EQAO: Part 2 | Adelaide Hoodless school continues to defy expectations on EQAO test
Helen Toth - one of Hamilton's first female uniformed police officers - loved the job so much she did her best to hide her pregnancy so she could stay on the job as long as possible.
It was 1962 and Toth was carrying her first daughter, Carla. She was going to have to give up her job when Carla arrived because there was no such thing then as maternity leave. Paid maternity leave didn't arrive in Canada until 1971.
My mom removed the buttons on her police jacket so they wouldn't show her tummy," said her daughter, Starr Andreeff, a Hollywood producer and former actress.
She didn't want to quit. She kept hiding it and hiding it until one day the chief brought her in and said, I think it's time.' She hid it as long as she could. She was crushed that she had to leave."
Toth, who died April 6 at age 85 in Henderson, Nevada, joined the department on Jan. 9, 1959, as a 21-year-old coming from a part-time bank job. That same day, Irene Glachan, 25, an office worker, and Delores Eitel, 24, a registered nurse, were also sworn in.
The trio were not Hamilton's first female police officers. That was Muriel Oliver and Leora Etherington in May 1944. But they were not issued any uniforms and served as probation and morality officers. Both retired in 1963.
Andreeff said when the department advertised for women officers in the fall of 1958, her mother put her name in right away because it was always something she wanted to do."
Chief Len Lawrence had vowed the women would do comparable work to male officers. The duties included taking part in narcotics and gaming-house raids, operating radar speed-traps, assisting ID officers and detectives, investigating vice complaints, and escorting women prisoners.
Andreeff said her mother told stories of the work, including undercover assignments where they couldn't use male officers.
Mom was just in heaven," said Andreeff, who was in such shows as The Golden Girls" and General Hospital." It was the best job she had. She loved it."
Current police chief, Frank Bergen, called Andreeff to express his condolences. The Hamilton Police Historical Society and Museum said on Facebook Toth was a true trailblazer."
Toth attended an event in 2008 marking the 50th anniversary of the hiring of her and her two colleagues. Glachan died in 1996 and Eitel died in 2004. Eitel left the service in May 1971, two months before she got married.
Toth was born in Winnipeg on June 3, 1937, and came to Hamilton when she was a child with her parents, Leslie and Elizabeth Toth. Her father worked at McCoy Foundry and her mother worked at the Cotton Mill. They also ran a pool hall on Sherman Avenue. Toth graduated from Delta Secondary School.
After she left the department, Toth founded the Glendale Girls Softball League about 1972 and also the Mini Sweethearts League, opened to girls under age seven. She introduced softball to the Canusa Games and ran the leagues until she moved to Beverly Hills in 1985 to be near her daughter, who was just starting her Hollywood career.
She moved in 2000 to Henderson, a suburb of Las Vegas, where she golfed and joined the Sun City Anthem Theater Club. She became a U.S. citizen.
Andreeff said her mother was full of life."
She always had a sparkle in her eyes," she added. She had so much energy. She was just bursting with joy."
Toth is survived by her children, Carla, Starr and Dane, three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. She is also survived by her brother, Ernie. She was predeceased by her sister, Alice and her former husband, Carl Andreeff.
Her son, Dane, is head of a firm that makes devices to help people with neurological ailments and daughter, Carla, was a music industry executive and cattle rancher.
Daniel Nolan can be reached at dannolanwrites@gmail.com