Famed 1st
Canadians Members
Even though First Canadian has not had a member of
the club elected to the District's triumvirate
since W.R. (Bill) Gazzard in 1951, our members
have served as Area and Division Governors of
Division 'A' of District 21 Toastmasters. And,
some members have joined our club that have been
PID, PDG, Past Division Governors and Past Area
Governors.
 Our
most famous member is Sandy
Robertson,
DTM (No8), PID, PDG who joined
the Club in 1984. He was the 1985-86 Club
President, and as served Toastmaster in many
capacities in the last 55 years.
He first attended our St George's Day Celebration
after being invited in 1957, and has attend most
of them ever since. Sandy says, “I was
inducted into Victoria Beaver Club 790 on Tuesday,
4th October 1955 and married the girl (Kathy) on
the Saturday following. I often claim that I
joined TM in self-defence ... Truth is, we
have partnered these 55 years together, in
professional and community activities as well as
in the club, District and Board activities in
Toastmasters. It's been a great team.”
He was the first Editor of 'The Link', the
Districts Newsletter in 1960, the same year as
Vancouver hosted the Zone A Conference on June
4th, 1960. The following year he became the
District's Junior Lieutenant Governor (1961-62),
District Governor (1962-63), International
Director (1966-68), received one of the first DTMs
(his was No 8) with 14 other Toastmasters in 1970,
District Parliamentarian, and first District
Historian, Co-chair of the 1960 District 21 Spring
Conference, that was attended by Dr. Ralph
Smedley, founder of Toastmasters International.
Sandy says his highest honour was to be awarded
his ATM (Able Toastmaster) (#400) by Dr Ralph
Smedley at the 1963 International Convention in St
Louis.
The 1966 Region One Conference was held at the
Empress. To quote Sandy, “I got the credit
as chairman, but it was a great team effort
-- and I managed to get the Government of BC
to pick up the cost of the luncheon. We made
a substantial profit, and split it --
several hundred dollars -- between the (then) two
local Areas (1 & 8).”
At our 60th Anniversary he was our Keynote
Speaker. [his
keynote
speech]
In 2005 many of the District other Famous
Toastmasters attended Sandy's “Tea Party” to
celebrate his 50 years in Toastmasters. There is a
picture of him with six other Past District
Governors. Pat Johnson, DTM, (who is now our
International President) presented him with the
“President's Citation” award.
He is currently a member of our Club as well as
the Beavers Toastmasters Club #790.
Written
by Brian Dodd, DTM District Historian (2008-
date)
Frank Paulding,
is Victoria Toastmasters Club (First Canadian
Toastmasters, Club #38) Founder. Once upon a time
a Y.M.C.A. General Secretary wrote to another
Y.M.C.A. General Secretary; and in a few years our
Club was born. Frank Paulding wrote to Ralf
Smedley before July 26, 1930 from the New
Westminster Y.M.C.A., to Ralf Smedley at the "Y"
in Santa Ana, California the the founder of
Toastmasters about forming a club in British
Columbia.
Frank was running a speakers club they call “The
Spokes” as the New Westminster YMCA. As a result
of his letter he was at a meeting of Toastmaster
at Whittier College on July 26th. The meeting
discussed a name that they could use for their
‘Federation of Toastmasters’, and since Frank was
from Canada it occurred to Ralf Smedley to call it
“Toastmasters International”, like Rotary
International of whom he also was a member.
Before he could form an official Toastmaster's
Club in New Westminster, Frank Paulding was
transferred to Victoria, Y.M.C.A. as General
Secretary in 1932; and like Ralf Smedley had done
when he was transferred, Frank started another
speaking club called the “Y-Speakers' Club” for
the young men at the “Y” in Victoria. Frank was
transferred because of his fund raising ability,
the Victoria “Y” was having financial trouble at
the time in the doldrums of the thirtys.
It took Toastmasters until December 19th, 1932 for
Toastmasters International, Inc. to be
incorporated u nder the laws of
California. In Dr Ralf Smedley's book “The Story
of Toastmasters” © Copyrighted in 1959, it is
recorded at the October 7th., 1933 ‘Council
Meeting’ of Toastmaster in Glendale, California
that of the 18 clubs, the 18th Toastmaster Club
came from Victoria, British Columbia. At the 1934
Convention in San Diego, Ralf Smedley states that
of the 28 clubs they had on October 6th., that one
club was from Canada.
The next date we have is on October 24th,
1935, the day that the Charter Members were in
attendance to charter the first International Club
of Toastmasters International Inc. Thus creating
“Victorian Toastmasters Club” with Charter #38 and
at each meeting they still say "The Club that put
'International' into Toastmasters International".
Frank was named Honorary President of our Club,
with James E. Hill as President. Victoria
Toastmasters Club was the only Canadian club in
District 2.
Frank continued to work at the 'Y' until 1946, the
year that the five BC Toastmasters Clubs became
District 21 on July 26th, 1946. I am sure he had
something in forming the new District.
The picture is at the laying of the cornerstone of
the present YM-YWCA on June 26th, 1964. Left to
right: Viv Shoemaker (one of First Canadian's
charter members), Frank Paulding, Archie McKinnon.
Written by Brian
Dodd, DTM District Historian (2008-
date)
Barry Goult
joined First Canadian Toastmasters in 1941, after
being club President in 1944-45, he quickly rose
in the ranks of Toastmasters International, by
becoming Lieutenant Governor of District 2 for the
1945-46 year, when only 2 clubs were in British
Columbia.
Before the 1945 Internationl Conference in Los
Angles, Internationl President Elect Franklin
McCrillis must have told Barry, if Club 38 and
Club 59 could find three more clubs they could
have their own District.
With the help of Ed White (First Elected Governor
of District 21) a fellow Club 38 member, as quoted
from Barrie Goult's speech "We
were fortunate enough, with the assistance
of our Vancouver friends in having the
Chilliwack Charter re-activated. With the
assistance of a well-known Victorian, George
Wilkinson, it was possible to form the Union
Club within weeks of the meeting of the
International Directors meeting
in Seattle in 1945.
We were thereafter
joined by the Thunderbird Club, when its charter
was presented by President McCrillis [on
July 20th, 1946],
who was welcomed to Victoria by Mayor Percy
George [who
was Mayor from 1945-1951]".
As a result of Thunderbird's Charter, District 21
Toastmasters came into being at Toastmasters
International Convention in Seattle a few days
later from July 24th to 28th. Barry was appointed
the District's first Governor, with Ed White as
Treasurer. Ed became the first elected District
Governor in 1947, them remained as Treasurer until
at least 1954.
Barry was the keynote speaker at our Club's 35th
Anniversay [unabridged
copy of speech].
Written
by Brian Dodd, DTM District Historian (2008-
date)
 Mike
Brodsky is our
club’s another unique past president. Mike
started coming to First Canadian
Toastmasters with his seeing-eye dog Quincy
in 1988, when he was 68 years old and had
already attended the Thunderbird club for 10
years long. The CBC News published a feature
story on him in Nov 2009 reported
that “After a career in the military, this
retired photogrammetrist (specialized
map-maker) went completely blind overnight
at age 54.”
Besides
coming to Toastmasters, Mike also
volunteered in the community. In October
2005, he was one of the five
Victoria area seniors presented with the
UVic Centre for Aging’s Valued Elder
Recognition award for his work with the
Victoria READ Society and the Canadian
National Institute for the Blind.
I
(Clara Yan) phoned Mike for an interview.
Before he picked up the receiver, I had been
worrying about communicating with a 90-year
old senior over the phone. To my surprise,
on the other end of the phone line was a
friendly, talkative and intelligent senior
in an energetic voice with quick and
sensible responses.
The date I called was June 6.
Mike brought me back to the D-day in
history 66 years ago over the phone. He
was one of the few still survived Canadian
soldiers took part in the Normandy
Landings, the decisive Allied victory to
end the World War II. “Not hot and sunny
like today, Clara, the weather was cloudy
in the morning, but it clear up in the
afternoon.” Of course, no soldier in the
Landings would forget the forceful
historical day. When was asked how would
he spend the day on June 6
every year, “Nothing really special, but
the government had a special ceremony in
2004 on the grounds before the
Parliament Building for the 60th
Anniversary.”
Mike
has an active outdoor life with a canoeing
passion. He paddles regularly about once a
week. However he has recently pulled his
back in the exercise, now he’s resting and
waiting for full recovery. He looks forward
to paddling again in summer.
When
being asked about his Toastmasters journey,
he said he started with the Thunder-bird
club. He recalled the first time when he was
invited to the Toastmasters meeting, he was
daunted. “Very good speakers…and I thought
there was no way to approach that level.”
Some-how he managed to go again, eventually
joined, and continuously stayed as a
Toastmaster. In 1988, the meeting
dates collided with his volunteer work in
READ society. He switched to the First
Canadian club. In 1991 he served
as Club President for the First Canadian.
Before that he had served as the VP Public
Relations when he was in the Thunderbird
club.
Mike
found the public speaking and leadership
skills he learned and developed in
Toast-masters “extremely useful”. “I did
work for the United Way and the CNIB. The
Toastmasters training had helped me did a
good job. I learned a great deal in
Toastmasters.” “It (public speaking) is a
very valuable skill to learn.” The CBC news
story reported that Mike had once given a
keynote speech included 29 limericks for the
Canadian Authors Association’s annual
convention.
Mike is enthusiastic about
joining us to celebrate the upcoming First
Canadian 75th
Anniversary.
Photo: Mikes
has an active outdoor life
with a canoeing passion
(Credit: Photojournalist Dr. Ted
Grant)
Written by Clara Yan,
VP-Public Relations (2009-10)
Victor E. Lindal
joined our Club
in 1985 after a lull in our membership.
 Born in Atlin, BC, but
brought up and has lived in Victoria ever since.
He has been Sport Consultant, Broadcaster,
Teacher, Team and Personal Coach, Salesman, and
Entrepreneur in Public Speaking. And most
important a loving husband, father and
grandfather.
In his Volleyball coaching days, Vic was "known
fondly as "Mr. Volleyball", Vic has been a
fixture on the sports scene in B.C. for
more than four decades. His vision of
creating an environment wherein young
players can develop a high skill level has
helped make B.C. one of the hotbeds for
volleyball in the country.
His achievements as a coach are impressive
and include guiding B.C.-based teams to
seven national championships and he
coached the national women's team to
Canada's first-ever victory over the USA
in the early 1970s" Greater Victoria
Sports Hall of Fame.
One day he saw a Toastmaster
information table in one of the local malls,
manned by a middle aged gentleman. He
pointed out that he felt he did not need
help in speaking, but need help in
organizing his speeches. The gentleman said
he had come to the right place, and invited
him to attend a meeting. The gentleman was
Sandy Robertson, and has been Vic's mentor
ever since.
Vic was World International
Speaker Contest Finalist in 1980 in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin; after winning District
21 World Speaking Contest he went to the
Toastmasters Region 1 Finals in Seattle. He
was the only Canadian of the nine finalists.
He thought, 'How can I beat these Americans
in an American city'. Jesse Owens, a famous
American track and field athlete had just
died on March 31st. So, he
thought 'I will give a tribute to Jesse
Owens' who had won four gold medals at the
1936 Olympics in Berlin. The speech title
was "Dare to Dream , Dare to Believe that
you can achieve"
Vic completed the Iron-man
triathlon at age 50
"Vic
has been recognized for his efforts as a
volleyball builder both provincial and
nationally by being made a member of the
Volleyball Canada Hall of Fame in 2000 and
the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame in 2001"
Greater Victoria
Sports Hall of Fame.
He is now a member of Master
Motivators, Division 'A's only Advanced
Club. He continues to use both his coaching
and Toastmaster skills in his business at http://viclindal.ca
as a Professional Personal Coach,
Inspirational Speaker for Corporations and
other organizations.
Keep an eye out for him on the
byways of Victoria on his bike with his
grandchildren, snorkeling or scuba diving in
a tropical ocean by a reef near a warm beach
anywhere in the world, walking up a mountain
with young people, hiking through the lands
of Spain, or helping with an open air
Speech-a-thon in Centennial Square.
In one
interview he was asked what he wanted to do,
part of his answer was ‘“to continue
inspiring the clients I have and new ones
that come into my life and provide
guidance so they can follow their life
paths.” But what if people don’t know what
it is they want to do? Vic says, write
down all the things you don’t like or
don’t want to do, and then write a list of
the opposites. Ask yourself what each of
those things is going to look like.’ Quoted from article
“Senior
Living
Magazine” by Enise Olding.
Vic legacy is his family, and
I’m sure one or two of his grandchildren
will become Toastmasters. One granddaughter
has attended three Master Motivators
meetings as a guest already.
Written
by Brian Dodd, DTM District Historian (2008-
date)
Brian
Dodd, DTM our next
VP Public Relations ( 2010-11)
for the new Toastmasters year, was
appointed as District Historian since July, 2008
as a result of his impressive High Performance
Leadership (HPL) project in creating a
multimedia DVD “A Mini History of Toastmasters
in British Columbia”.
Currently Brian is working on his second HPL
Project - to place the District 21's Archives in
the BC Archives of the Royal British Columbia
Museum. Last Sunday, Brian gave a speech at the
Speech-a-thon at Centennial Square in Victoria
appealing to the audience to get involved in
cataloguing the Archives. Later, he will widen
his call to action by converting the
presentation invideo format and upload to
YouTube. He will also work with District
Governor Elect Tom Jones to appeal to Division
Governors for more Archives that are in the
possession of the Divisions and the clubs.
Brian has developed a passion in history since
he was a student in Wales. His contribution in
Toastmasters will have the Archives to be
preserved, and be available for future members
and historians.
[ PS - Brian
was elected the club's President for the year
2011-12]
Written by Clara Yan,
VP-Public Relations (2009-10)
Revised
by
Brian Dodd, DTM Jan 18th, 2012
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