I’m a pioneer, educator, historian, shaper of Las Vegas … who am I?

Pop quiz: Who is the first lady of Las Vegas?

No, it's not Mayor Carolyn Goodman.

Hint: She married two men, both with the surname "Stewart."

A clue: There's a school named the Helen J. Stewart School.

"People think the school is named after her. It's not. It's named after her disabled granddaughter," said Linda Miller, a retired educator who portrays the first Helen J. Stewart. (Oops. Add me to that bad girl list. And I actually volunteered to teach disabled kids how to swim there when I first landed in Las Vegas.)

"She's been forgotten," Miller said. "Pioneer women in other states are remembered. Why isn't Helen?"

Just guessing, if you didn't know her name, you don't know why she's considered the first lady of Las Vegas.

Helen J. Stewart owned the ranch that became the core of Las Vegas once she sold it to the railroad for $55,000 in 1902. Then she went on to become a leading figure in the town -- the first postmaster, the first woman to serve on a jury, a founder of the Mesquite Club, a women's group that continues to this day. She was a founding member of the Christ Episcopal Church, also active today. She was a women's rights advocate as well as an advocate for Native Americans. Her Indian basket collection was renowned.

Finally she's getting her due. A statue is in the works, along with a documentary. And a new book about her is out.

On Dec. 3, at noon at the Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort Historic State Park, the Helen J. Stewart statue will be dedicated. The bronze statue at the fort on the southeast corner of Washington Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard will be near where the Stewart ranch once stood, so the site is appropriate.

The $99,000 cost is covered by a grant from the Las Vegas Centennial Commission, and sculptor Benjamin Victor was the chosen artist. He also sculpted the Sarah Winnemucca statute placed in the U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall in 2005.

A documentary on her life by Gwendolyn Clancy should be finished by January, and there's a new book out called "Helen J. Stewart: First Lady of Las Vegas," by Sally Zanjani and Carrie Townley Porter.

Her statue portrays her when she's about 35, wearing a mantle covered with a grape leaf vine, copying a mantle her family donated to the Nevada State Museum.

Sculptor Victor, in a written statement, said he gave her a formal dress and styled hair because they indicate her role in society in early Las Vegas.

There's strong movement of her stepping forward, and Victor said that represented the beginning of her move toward independence and women's rights, which occurred after her husband, Archibald Stewart, was murdered in 1884.

Victor surrounded her with items reflective of significant aspects of her life. The Paiute basket and Native American blanket indicated her empathy with the Paiutes. She provided the land for the Las Vegas Paiute Indian Colony on Main Street.

The mesquite bush was a natural, as were the letters hinting at her role as postmaster of Las Vegas. Victor also included books to show her role as an educator and historian. Yet look down, and she's wearing work boots to signify her hard days as a rancher.

And if you look carefully there's a small reference on the base of the sculpture to the Episcopal Church.

When she died in 1926 at the age of 72, she left her mark on Las Vegas in countless ways, a woman of many firsts.

Does a statue, a documentary, a book, even a column, change her forgotten-woman status? Probably not when more people are interested in sex scandals and reality shows than history.

But focusing on a woman who helped shape Las Vegas is a worthy endeavor anyway. So I will.

Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. Email her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call her at 702-383-0275. She also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/Morrison