By Jan Jackson
It was a burning passion to speak before Christian women’s groups that led Ann Snelling to seek out and join a local Toastmaster club even though the closest club met a 6:15 in the morning, 60-round-trip miles from her Silverton home. Now, nearly 10 years later, Snelling has become Toastmaster International’s District 7 Governor in charge of 161 clubs in Oregon, southern Washington and Northern California.
“I just like the organization and what it does for individual people,” Snelling said of Toastmasters. “I still belong to my Salem Toastmasters club and I’m also a member of Silverton Silvertongues which I joined as a mentor a few years later. By helping me increase my communication, listening and thinking skills, those clubs have helped me make significant personal growth. I’m not aware of any organization that does what they do.”
The first meeting of what became Toastmasters International was started in 1924, in a Santa Ana, Calif., YMCA basement. Then a director of education at the YMCA, Ralph C. Smedley observed that many of the young YMCA patrons needed training in the art of public speaking and in presiding over meetings and he started the first Toastmaster club.
By 1930, a federation was formed and today there are 11,300 clubs and more than 220,00 members in 90 countries.
From the very beginning, Snelling says she was fascinated with district leadership in Toastmasters and she wanted to be a part of it. When she had an opportunity to take an administrative role, she took it.
As lieutenant governor of Education and Training, she began to think how she would approach her year as district governor.
“I was sitting enjoying some quiet time at a regional conference when I hit on the idea of having the group do the Hokey Pokey,” Snelling said.
“Within the various verses there were elements that addressed the process of personal growth and how it comes in various stages such as putting your right foot in, then your right arm in and then your whole self. During that conference I used the Hokey Pokey and it was received with such enthusiasm that, I decided to use “put your whole self in” as my theme. My goal is to put my whole self in with excellence, enthusiasm and fun and help everyone else do the same.”
In August, Snelling and her leadership team attended the International Toastmasters Convention in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, where she received an award from International President Chris Ford for Excellence in Education.
“I worked with Ann several years ago in her capacity as the Capitol Division governor,” Scott Stevenson, current District 7 governor of Education and Training said.
“As I watched her skillfully help her area’s club members focus on achieving their goals, I was envious of them for having such a devoted and knowledgeable leader. Little did I know that in 2008, I would have the opportunity of working very closely with her again as a member of the District 7 Trio. She is a joy to work with and she is putting her whole self into helping us ‘newbie’ Trio members learn our roles as D7 leaders. She is an excellent role model and mentor; I want to be just like her when I grow up.”
Snelling, who was born and raised on a farm in Fredricktown, Ohio, lived there until she went to Cincinnati Bible College. While there, she earned a double major in English Bible and Piano Performance, met and married her husband Le (Carl) and moved with him back to his hometown of Escondido, Calif.
It wasn’t until the couple vacationed in the Willamette Valley that they fell in love with and moved to Silverton.
A classical pianist who has been a staff pianist at both Palomar College in San Marcos, Calif., and Willamette University, Snelling spent many years teaching students in her own studio. Still a freelance musician, she is currently a rehearsal pianist for the local Festival Choral of Oregon. One of her personal goals for Toastmasters is to speak as well as she plays the piano.
For more information about Toastmasters, contact Ann Snelling at P.O. Box 891, Silverton, OR 97381, email at [email protected], or visit www.toastmasters.org.
