Family of woman killed in Las Vegas shooting starts college fund for other victims' families

Family of woman killed in Las Vegas shooting starts college fund for other victims' families

(Courtesy of Debbie Davis)


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LAS VEGAS — After their daughter, Neysa Davis Tonks, died in the Oct. 1 shooting at the Route 91 Harvest music festival, Chris and Debbie Davis returned to Las Vegas to help raise Neysa’s three boys.

Neysa was a 46-year-old single mother who left behind sons now aged 25, 18 and 15. Chris and Debbie Davis, who are from Ogden but lived in Las Vegas for most of their lives, had retired and were in Wisconsin when the shooting took place.

After they came back to Vegas following Neysa’s death, they helped her middle son, Braxton, apply for college. Chris Davis worked diligently every day for months to help Braxton, according to Debbie Davis.

Braxton eventually was accepted at three schools and now attends Dixie State University in St. George, where he’s studying to be a dermatologist, Debbie Davis said.

She said working through Braxton’s college search was challenging.

“I can tell you it was crazy,” she said. “It was really hard and took a lot of things that we weren’t used to, but we got it done. … College will make his future real bright.”

The couple, along with their other daughter, Mynda Smith, want to help other youths who were affected by the Las Vegas massacre get to college. They’re hoping to raise $3 million through their fund “Children of the 58 - Loved and Never Forgotten.”*

There are 55 children who lost their parents in the shooting, according to Debbie Davis. One child was only 2 months old when the shooting took place, she said.

The family launched the fund at an event last week with the help of Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and Las Vegas City Councilman Steve Seroka. The fund is administered through the Nevada Community Foundation.

Over the next year, they will work on raising the money, Debbie Davis said. They’re hoping to award the money to some of the kids by next year in time for the second anniversary of the shooting.

Money awarded through the fund will support their tuition only, she added.

“Trying to figure out how to find lightness instead of darkness, we started to try to come up with ideas of what we could do to help each other,” she said. “We together decided if we could do something to benefit the youth, that would be a good thing to do.”

The family also set up an endowment fund in Neysa’s memory at University of Nevada-Las Vegas that supports students through the peer mentoring program at the school. In the program, UNLV students help their peers work through any issues they might have during college, such as switching majors, Debbie Davis said.

Neysa worked for a technology company and would always help others with networking or job-seeking if they found themselves in a difficult situation. Setting up the endowment made sense considering that part of Neysa’s worldview, her mother said.

“Her whole goal in life was to help others, and she always did that even as a young child,” she said.

The UNLV endowment will be around for as long as the school exists, Debbie Davis said.


We together decided if we could do something to benefit the youth, that would be a good thing to do.

–Debbie Davis


The surviving family members of the Vegas shooting victims are in a private Facebook group where they support each other, she said.

They are all on board with helping each other and doing what they can to support the children who lost parents in the shooting, she said. It’s important for people who have been affected by tragedies to be in a supportive environment, she said.

“I would just encourage people to surround themselves with people that love them and care about them, whether it’s family or friends,” she said.

Anyone interested in learning more about the fund can contact the Nevada Community Foundation at 702-892-2326.


*KSL.com does not assure that the money deposited to the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account, you should consult your own advisers and otherwise proceed at your own risk.

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