Last Wednesday Wallingford Toastmasters Club 252 had a retirement party for Dick Hendricks. Dick is 105 years old and a founding member of our club from back in 1960.
The celebration was attended by 40 guests. Many of the current members and past members in attendance hadn’t even been born when Dick started the Wallingford club, although one former member in attendance has known Dick his entire life and helped Dick get the club going back in 1960.
Dick’s career was with the Federal Government working for the United States General Services Administration (GSA). At one point Dick worked for a women’s penitentiary and there were some women that had escaped. They had to search the the woods to find the escapees. After that day, his 6 year old son told his friends at school that his Dad chased women for a living.
At his job he was required to write reports and give presentations on his reports. He would frequently stumble and that’s why he joined Toastmasters in 1953, 7 years before starting the Wallingford Club.
It wasn’t until 1972 that women were allowed to attend the Club. Up until 1972, women had their own club called Toastmistresses. While a lot has changed over the years, Toastmasters mission of helping people with their public speaking ability has remained the same.
Dick says he can stand up and give an improvisational talk about any topic and not be frazzled. He is full of enthusiasm and joy and says he is still learning. He offers some speaking fundamentals:
- Keep it simple
- Include humor
- Speak confidently
- Project your voice
- Know how to finish promptly and effectively
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So glad to hear that DIck is still going strong. I attended the Wallingford toastmasters meetings from 2000-2002 and Dick was an inspiration.