Hello!
We celebrated our 43rd Anniversary today with a luncheon meeting at the Trellis Restaurant in Menlo Park. We were happy to have in attendance Susan Swope, a charter member of the club, and Bob Tokheim, who infamously joined the club a week after it chartered. Not many clubs can boast one member from their charter year, let alone two.
We remembered our two members who joined at different times to overcome their stutter and their success at conquering their impediment to speaking; the demonstration speeches that members have given regarding making ice-cream, apple strudel, and pavlova, lessons learned such as “communication skills need to be maintained just like any other skills, otherwise it’s easy to lose those skills”, and remembering the fun times had when we met regularly in person.
We also celebrated our contest winners Bob Tokheim for the 2023 International Speech Contest, and Lisa Wottrich for the 2023 Table Topics Contest.
We announced that our 2022 Karl Lind Award is posthumously awarded to John Sleeman for embodying the spirit of Karl Lind. John Sleeman passed away in November of 2022, but as long as he was able, John attended meetings regularly and took on roles as well as served as a Club Officer. Despite not being in the best of health, his enthusiasm for the program and focus on the positive meant that many of us did not even realize the gravity of the health issues he faced. Even as he became gravely ill, he remembered to have someone inform us that he could not continue as Club Secretary anymore. John will be fondly remembered as a person who gave his all to the club and is more than deserving of the award.
The 2022 Toastmaster of the Year/Outstanding Toastmaster is Naomi Levenson. Naomi was the member who faithfully followed the Toastmasters program and committed to improving her communication skills by giving winning Pathways speeches, giving winning evaluations, and giving Table Topics responses that resonated with the audience. She also served as a Club Officer for both six-month terms and served as a mentor to our newest member. She exemplifies what we should all strive for to become better communicators and leaders.
Many thanks to the award selection committee members Tina Garg and Yuki Suzuki who stepped up to accept the responsibility despite being new to the club.
Many thanks to everyone who attended and made the meeting fun and engaging for all, and especially to Lisa, Phil, and Naomi who ensured that the in-person meeting moved smoothly. And finally, a thank you to our guests Tim Gasser and Diane Tokheim who attended in support of their spouses Anne Petersen and Bob Tokheim, and added to the energy and celebratory atmosphere.
Reema Mahamood, VP Membership