Community activist, dentist Truesdale dies at 39

Tuesday, April 30, 2002 | 8:54 a.m.

Whether it was filling cavities or filling a void in community services for distressed women and needy children, LeAnn Truesdale met her challenges with enthusiasm and passion.

LeAnn P. Truesdale, a local dentist whose activism was instrumental in fluoridating Las Vegas' water and passing the state's unwanted baby law to prevent newborns from being abandoned in trash bins, died Wednesday at her Henderson home from unknown but natural causes, her family said. She was 39.

A memorial service for the Southern Nevada resident of 12 years will be 1 p.m. Wednesday at Shadow Hills Baptist Church.

Truesdale, a member of the first four-year class at UNLV's Boyd School of Law, will be honored with a posthumous law degree at the May 17 graduation ceremony at Artemus Ham Hall, the school said.

Truesdale and her husband, Dr. Terry Truesdale, have operated a dental practice for the past 10 years.

In the late 1990s LeAnn worked with fellow dentist, state Sen. Ray Rawson, R-Las Vegas, to fluoridate Southern Nevada's water, primarily to reach needy children who did not have access to fluoride products that help prevent tooth decay.

The Legislature in 1999 passed a bill to add fluoride to Las Vegas tap water. In 2000 voters gave their approval to the action.

As a member of the Junior League of Las Vegas, Truesdale assisted with programs that help battered women. She also spoke at the 2001 Legislature in favor of a bill to provide a safe haven for babies discarded by their parents.

Truesdale was born Sept. 3, 1962, in Everett, Wash. She earned a bachelor of science degree from the University of California at Irvine in 1984 and two years later got her master's in biochemistry at Loma Linda University. She received her dental degree in June 1990 at Loma Linda.

She received special congressional recognition in 1997 for addressing underserved children's dental health care in Southern Nevada and was president of the Southern Nevada Dental Society from 1998 to 1999.

In addition to her husband and parents, Truesdale is survived by two sisters, Elizabeth Marrow of Whidbey Island and Carol Lynn Poland of Laguna Beach, Calif.; and a grandmother, Edith Farris, of Everett.

The family said donations can be made in Truesdale's memory to the Ready to Learn program at the Junior League of Las Vegas.