Ralph Chestnut Smedley (1878 - 1965)

Born 22 Feb 1878 in Waverly, Morgan, Illinois, United States

Husband of Frances Elizabeth (Bass) Smedley — married 6 Oct 1904 in Bloomington, McLean, Illinois, United States

Died 11 Sep 1965 at age 87 in Santa Ana, Orange, California, United States

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Biography

Ralph Smedley is Notable.

Ralph was born in 1878. He is best known as the founder of "Toastmasters International." He created a group of people dedicated to helping others to become better communicators and leaders. The organization has grown to become the world's largest non-profit educational organization with 300,000 members in 15,800 clubs across 149 countries worldwide.

Smedley was raised in Illinois as a child. After High School he enrolled at Wesleyan University at Bloomington, Illinois. He graduated in 1903. From there he started working at the YMCA. He was a modest and quiet person, however, he had a passion for helping others. It was while working at the YMCA that he began to see the need for communication skills within management. In order to aid people to learn how to become public speakers or to conduct meetings, plan programs, work on committees, he started a public speaking club, "The Toastmasters Club. This began in 1905. This layed the foundation down for methodologies which are followed in the Toastmasters even today.

It wasn't until he moved to Santa Ana, California that Toastmasters really got going. He was still working at the YMCA when word began to spread quickly about Smedley. He developed, the "Manual of Instructions" and "Ten Lessos in Public Speaking" in order to save time from having to write redundant letters about the same questions. In 1928 he secured copyrights on his publications and trademarked the name, "Toastmasters Club." He based the name on a person who gives toasts at events, or gatherings.

By 1930, close to 30 Toastmasters clubs had started, including a club in British Columbia, Canada. The club was renamed, to Toastmasters International. In 1932, the club was incorporated as a California non-profit organization. Smedley assumed multiple positions, such as that of Secretary and Editor of the new association.

Smedley kept his day job at the YMCA but spent his evenings writing articles about the art of speaking. Some of the literature is still used today. His theory was that good speaking, simply put, is that a person should address a group just as he or she would when talking to just one person.

Great orators were mentioned such as Franklin D. Roosevelt and humorist, Will Rogers. Smedley pointed out that both men succeeded with their radio talks because each listener felt as if they were talking only to them.

Over the years, Toastmasters continued to grow. In 1941, the organization hired Smedley to work full time as the leader. He gave up his YMCA job as secretary and rented a 12 by 16 foot office in downtown Santa Ana. From there he handled the organization's growing correspondence. He also distributed educational materials to clubs that were springing up across the nation and around the world.

As the educational director he wrote two manuals, "Basic Training" and "Beyond Basic Training." Both of these manual are still used today.

Smedley was honored by Toastmasters International in 1956 at a national convention where he was elected as president and board member for life.

He continued his work and lived in Orange County, California, up until his death in 1965, at the age of 87.^[1]

He passed away in 1965.^[2] He is buried in the Pacific View Memorial Park, Orange, California.

Sources

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_C._Smedley
2. ↑ https://findagrave.com/memorial/5919135

• https://familysearch.org/tree/person/details/93NL-F9V