Homer versus Helen or Why Women Win the Day

Stan Coss was Toastmaster and chose  Women’s History Month as the theme. We learned much about “Homer Blanchard,” the first woman in Toastmasters who later became International President. Curiously, it was the men in her club who were her advocates and helped her join under the Homer alias when women were not allowed. We learned more interesting facts about women in leadership positions and other situations during Table Topics.

Ron Climer was grammarian, and word master. The word of the day he chose was “bonafide”. It means authentic, genuine. Ah-counter was Melinda Lowrance and Timer was Jackie Branscum.

Sally Jones told a very funny joke to get us in the right mind frame. Then Nathan did his Icebreaker. Nathan was funny, articulate and very well organized in his presentation. His title said it all in “Band Nerds, Political Mishaps, and Escaping the Corporate World”. We gave him several standing ovations.

Speaker #2 was Rei Fuller, our Division Director and two time DTM. Her speech title was “Kick Your Skills up a Notch”. She was doing a persuasive speech from the High Performance Leadership curriculum. Her message was on why we should consider checking out the new Advanced Toastmasters Club that is meeting once a month at EarthFare on the third Saturday. She invited everyone to an Open House with a free breakfast on April 28, 9:00-11:00 am.

Don Groff did Table Topics around Baseball terms that also have real life meanings. He challenged us to use illustrations of the term with examples from strong women leaders or situations surrounding women. Carol had a humorous one where she hit a “home run” that backfired on her. 

Judy evaluated Rei ending with suggestions from the group. Brad Deinst gave Nathan a very informative and strong evaluation with a grow at the end.

 Betty ended the meeting with a glowing General Evaluation. Stan closed out the meeting by reminding everyone about dues being due by March 31. Carol then reminded us about the coffee she is hosting at our recognition meeting April 4. 



It is a tradition that the ice-breaker first-time speaker get a standing ovation.  Sometimes, as in this case, the congratulatory recognition is well-earned.  

Carol in her table topic said that at age 16 she won the right for her tall female friend to play basketball with the boys.  She didn't know the principal would insist that she also play. 




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