Page 42 - June 2020
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LEANNA LISTENS
Jan Jackson, DTM
Woman of Many Talents
Leanna Lindquist, DTM
I don’t remember when I first met Jan. I do know it was
through Toastmasters. We are Facebook friends. She has
a wonderful sense of humor, loves to read, and is a great
writer.
Why did you join Toastmasters? of dibs and dabs. My Toastmaster list is long, but
Unlike most people, I joined Toastmasters these three will give you some idea.
to become a more disciplined speaker and not • The first aha was when I learned that in
to overcome a fear. I was born and raised in 1905, Ralph Smedley created the life-
Rainier, Oregon, which was one of those small changing Toastmaster program from his
towns where everybody knew everybody, and basement office of the Santa Ana YMCA.
you were expected to do anything anyone needed That’s hard for me to wrap my head
any time they needed it. For me, that included around.
singing on the stage from the age of three, • The second had to be 2007, when Darth
teaching Sunday School as a teenager and even Vader showed up in person at that first
giving an impromptu sermon to a packed church fall conference I attended in Eugene. I
when the minister was suddenly called away. I could plainly see that being a member of
think one reason public speaking was easy for Toastmasters was going to be different than
me, was because growing up knowing everybody, anything else I had encountered to date
I knew that they all had fears of their own. In (blame Gary Schmidt).
2007, however, I wanted to launch a speaking • The greatest aha, and it keeps showing up,
campaign to promote my new Country Traveler is Toastmasters are supportive. It doesn’t
Online magazine. Because planned speeches are matter what you need, a Toastmaster will
not as forgiving as impromptu ones, I knew was step up and help you out.
going to have to learn how to do a better job. I
joined Bootstrappers Club #2397. What has your being a writer brought
to Toastmasters?
What have been some of your greatest I started out as a music major at the University
aha moments in Toastmasters? of Oregon (yes, I’m a Duck—smile), but my career
Aha moments don’t seem to come to me in path didn’t take me in that direction. When I
big identifiable chunks but rather in hundreds joined the staff of the Salem YWCA in 1964, I
42 ONE COMMUNITY
