History of the Elvyn Holt Award

This oversight was promptly corrected the following year. In a letter to the second president of the NAEO, Gilbert Pena, Mr. Leavy stated that Elvyn would be attending and would “make a real contribution to the conference”. She attended her first conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma at the Camelot Inn in September of 1967. (The hotel rates were $10.00!)

At the May 1968 conference, held at the Jack London Inn in Oakland, California, Elvyn was serving with Gil as a panelist on the program. The topic of the panel was “Problem Clinic”, and Elvyn discussed current case developments, executive agreements, post rendition follow-up, and interstate cooperation. Incidentally, Governor Ronald Reagan was the guest speaker at the luncheon, and his extradition assistant, Edwin Meese, moderated one of the other panels. The room rates for the conference had increased to a whopping $12.00! The NAEO constitution was presented for approval at that conference. No doubt because of her recognized expertise in the field of extraditions, Elvyn was one of only two individuals, not associated with either a governor’s or attorney general’s office, who was invited to attend as a member of the NAEO. With her spunky spirit, Elvyn soon became a “one-woman show” and singlehandedly became the stabilizing force behind the NAEO.

Past Elvyn Holt Recipients