‘She was such a happy person’: Las Vegas woman dies at 106

At 106, Manuela “Dolly” Diaz lived to be one of Clark County’s oldest residents. And she did it with a smile on her face, her loved ones said.

“She was such a happy person, and I think that was the key to her longevity,” granddaughter Tracy Bias said. “She was very healthy and she loved to live life.”

Diaz, of Las Vegas, died from complications of pneumonia on Aug. 18, according to Bias, 58, and her sister Carleena Shumway, 62, who spoke about their late grandmother in an interview Thursday.

Bias, of Magnolia, Texas, spoke by phone while the Las Vegas Review-Journal interviewed Shumway at her Las Vegas home. Their mother, Rebecca Morgan, 83, Diaz’s daughter, also was present.

To the sisters’ knowledge, Diaz was the only family member to have reached 106, though other relatives lived into their 90s and another one reached 100. Bias said records found on a genealogical website indicated Diaz might have been the oldest woman in Clark County at the time of her death.

Whether or not that was true is unclear. Clark County spokeswoman Stephanie Wheatley said she was unsure whether the county had a way of tracking its oldest residents.

The Nevada Office of Vital Statistics, part of the Division of Public and Behavioral Health, did not immediately respond to an inquiry seeking confirmation as to whether Diaz was Nevada’s oldest resident when she died.

Roots in Nevada

Diaz was born June 16, 1920, on what is now the Fort Yuma-Quechan Reservation in southern Arizona, Bias said. Diaz came to Nevada as an infant after her father moved the family to Tonopah for a mining job.

Although Diaz spent parts of her life living elsewhere, she lived in Las Vegas for the majority of her years, Bias said.

Bias said Diaz attended what is now the Historic Fifth Street School in downtown Las Vegas and graduated high school from the Sherman Institute, a boarding school for Native Americans in Riverside, California, about 55 miles east of Los Angeles.

While Native American boarding schools were traumatic and abusive for many students, Shumway and Bias said their grandmother spoke of Sherman with incredible fondness.

“My mother would call it whitewashing, but (Diaz) loved that she got to sew and did the home ec and to cook,” Bias said. “She fondly, fondly, fondly talked about that school all our lives.”

Diaz married Marcos Medina in 1941 after a two-week courtship. Medina served as an airman in World War II and stayed in the military and worked at bases across the United States after the war.

Medina died in 1970, but the armed forces remained a presence in Diaz’s life, Bias and Shumway said. Diaz served as president of a Las Vegas Veterans of Foreign Wars Auxiliary post in the 1970s and 1980s.

In 1943, Diaz gave birth to Morgan, Bias and Shumway’s mother, at a hospital at what is now Nellis Air Force Base, then called Las Vegas Army Airfield, where Medina was stationed.

After her husband’s death, Diaz worked for decades at the Run-In Chef, a cafeteria-style grill at Nellis Air Force Base. The restaurant became a Burger King shortly after Diaz retired in the 1990s, Shumway said.

‘She would dance all night long’

Bias remembers going dancing with Diaz at the Guadalajara Jalisco dance hall in North Las Vegas and rowdier venues, such as the Shark Club and Tramps.

Nights dancing with her grandma would begin late, Bias said, typically around 11 p.m., and stretch long into the morning.

“She would dance all night long,” Bias said of Diaz. “We would get out at 8 o’clock in the morning and go to eat breakfast after she danced. And this woman was dancing with us until she was 70 years old.”

Diaz also enjoyed cruising with a CB radio, teasing truck drivers and announcing her arrival at her grandchildren’s schools with loud music playing through a speaker.

“She thought she was going to embarrass us, but we actually got a kick out of it,” Shumway said. “And all of our friends did, too.”

At home, Diaz enjoyed cooking meals from scratch, making homemade tortillas and squeezing fresh orange juice. After she moved in with Shumway in 2020, she was known for quietly lifting loved ones’ hands to her lips, kissing them and telling them she loved them.

Bias said Diaz was also a great storyteller.

“I’d be next to her in the little double recliners,” Shumway said, “and we’d just hold hands and either watch TV or put music on. She loved Freddie Fender.”

Diaz’s life also intersected with several eras of Las Vegas history, Shumway said. Diaz saw Elvis Presley perform in Las Vegas, while her sister was a Caesars Palace “goddess” or cocktail waitress.

Diaz was also a well-versed traveler, according to her granddaughters. In her 90s, Diaz went to Europe — visiting Ireland, Spain and Italy — and also to Africa.

Funeral services planned

Shumway and Bias said they are expecting a large turnout for their grandmother’s funeral, which will take place at 11 a.m. Wednesday at St. Frances de Sales Catholic Church, 1111 N. Michael Way. The burial will be held at Palm Mortuary-Downtown.

Diaz had five children, 14 grandchildren and dozens of great and great-great grandchildren, many of whom will be traveling from across the U.S. and even as far as Canada in the coming days.

Shumway said the loss of her grandmother has been heartbreaking, but she is thankful to have had such an influential matriarch in her life.

“It’s not a sad ending,” Shumway said. “It’s just her presence physically won’t be there.”