Most readers probably don't recognize this gentleman. It doesn't mean he was nobody. In fact, he is important in CSDR’s history. First and foremost, Toivo was the best friend and right-hand man of the CSDR Founder Perry E Seely. Toivo worked closely with Seely to get the legislation passed in Sacramento in 1946 to build the second CSD somewhere in Southern California. Toivo next worked with Seely to select the best possible school site. They finally chose Riverside.
Seven years later in 1955, Toivo was hired to teach printing for a brand-new Vocational Department and taught until 1968 when he was forced to retire at age 70 due to the age limit for state employment.
I saw Toivo and his wife, Lucille, once in the Seely Hall in 1971. I later found out how important Toivo was to CSDR, the Calfornia Association of the Deaf and the National Association of the Deaf. He was born in Finland in 1898 and moved to Minnesota in 1905. After completing his compulsory education in 1918 at MSD, he proceeded to Gallaudet for another five years before earning a BA in 1923. He moved back to Minnesota. In 1938, Toivo moved to California for a new adventure and made friends with Perry Seely at the Los Angeles Club of the Deaf. They worked together at the East Los Angeles newspaper plant. Seely died in 1949, so he didn't live long enough to see the new school construction. Conversely, Toivo witnessed the erection of the school in 1951 and died in 1983 at the age of 85.
The following short memorial accounts from Toivo’s former students are to give you an overall impression of what he was like in life.
Marlon Branton, ‘72, fondly remembers Toivo during his last year of teaching the print trade in 1968. He was 14. His parents were deaf and got monthly NAD magazines. Toivo’s article on humor appeared in the magazine Marlon read regularly. Toivo emphasized on safety for working with dangerous machines in the print shop. He enjoyed working on the quarterly school newsletters titled The California Palms filled with campus news.
Fred Gravatt, ‘69, had Toivo for one semester. He described the older gentleman as calm and down to earth.
Bill Ramborger, ‘62, had Toivo for three years in the shop. Bill looked to him as a father figure for advice. Toivo with an impeccable English corrected Bill’s English for three years. It was him as an alumnus of Gallaudet who made him eventually go to Gallaudet. And he finished his degree in 1967.
Class President Dick Ramborger, ‘64, received Vocational Principal Howard Rahalow’s permission that seniors with experience in printing worked in the print shop by themselves to print one page without Toivo’s knowledge because the senior class voted to dedicate the yearbook to Toivo for his service above and beyond the call of duty as a teacher.
Karen Kleiman, ‘66, has a fond memory of Toivo standing by the classroom door and teasing her on her way to typing class. He made the habit to supervise students outside during class changes.
Ed Rogers, ‘63, places Toivo on his list of favorite teachers. Toivo taught him every aspect of printing from type setting all the way up to linotype operation. A kind and gentle man. Very intelligent and caring. Ed loved his humor which he had in abundance. When making his point or showing Ed how to do something, Toivo would end it with that infectious smile and spelled out, “See, zimble” (his version of simple). A good and special man who enters Ed’s thoughts from time to time over the course of his life.
Marlon Branton, ‘72, added another story of his assistance with the program book for a Christmas play. It was due for the play the next day. With time pressure, Toivo was grateful to Marlon for staying in the shop from 3:00 to 5:30 to manually print one program book at a time for 500 copies by himself. Several students came back to the shop after dinner to fold them and clean up the shop. Stepping out of the shop, Marlon was surprised to see the thin white layer of snow on the ground in December 1967.
I flew to Washington DC for three days of research at Gallaudet University where Perry Seely and Toivo Lindholm stayed for their undergraduate studies 60-70 years before I did. I made a side trip to Toivo’s son, Al, for one night stay at their Civil War-era house in Virginia for several hours of interviews about his deaf parents to build a good biographical account of the school’s history.
Lastly, Toivo was president of the California Association of the Deaf for eight years from 1950 to 1958. Of particular interest to CSDR and CSDF, the CAD board successfully lobbied against a bill proposed in the California legislature for school renaming. Both sister school names would be changed to the Thomas Alva Edison Preparatory Schools. With a sigh of relief, the bill never got through.
Kevin Struxness, ‘76, MA
Editor, CSDR Old Times
5 December 2024
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