

The Southern Lights Toastmasters Club is celebrating their 45th Anniversary on January 23rd, 2025! It is a momentous occasion for the club and we want to share some of the club's incredible journey.
Congratulations to the club and may Southern Lights continue to inspire, encourage, and support members to grow, excel, lead, and serve fellow club and Toastmasters members on their journeys!
A HUGE Thank You to our current VP Education, Nigel Bowles, for providing the club's history and the photos!

A brief history
Southern Lights Toastmasters Club had its genesis in the Northern Lights Club. In the mid-1970s, Northern Lights was a struggling club with less than ten members. This was an era when women were not allowed to be members, but this changed in 1978 when the club was opened to women (the first club in Edmonton to do so). Within a few months, Northern Lights membership grew to over forty members, too many in fact to fit into the meeting room. In 1979 the members agreed to spin-off a new club, which was called Southern Lights.
To facilitate the split, the club’s roster was listed alphabetically. The first person on the list stayed in Northern Lights, the second person was moved to Southern Lights, the next to Northern Lights and so on down the list and on January 23, 1980, Southern Lights Toastmasters Club was officially chartered.

Interesting facts about Southern Lights (SLTM)
January 23, 1980 - SLTM was officially chartered - along with two other clubs, Jubilee and Tower Power. Two of the Charter Members are still members of Southern Lights, Neil Wilkinson, DTM, and Nigel Bowles.
Meetings were held in the basement of the Van Winkle Hotel (51 Ave and 103 Street) - now called the Best Western Cedar Park Inn.
During the 1980s there was a dress code for men. Ties and jackets were to be worn and if one did not wear a tie, the General Evaluator would note it!
For the first few years, SLTM was a ‘supper club’ and everyone ate dinner at the meeting. This was discontinued sometime in the early 1990s.
A lot of members have competed (and won) in the Area, Division and District Speech contests and one member competed in the International Speech Contest.
Southern Lights has achieved the ‘Distinguished Club’ designation annually for most of its 45-year history.
Prior to 2014, the club met in a number of different locations, and currently (2025) meets at the Providence Renewal Center, Edmonton.
In March 2020 SLTM weekly meetings were abruptly cancelled due to COVID. By mid-April, however, the club began weekly online meetings using Zoom - and that would last for two years. In April 2022 in-person and online (hybrid) meetings resumed. This format continued until September 2023 when the hybrid meetings were discontinued in favour of in-person meetings only.
Among the club’s current members, there are five Distinguished Toastmasters (DTM): Neil Wilkinson, Marlene Petruch, Wayne Sager, Juergen Abildt, and Okpapi Omoaka. One of those members, Neil Wilkinson has the distinction of being a Past International President (PIP), the highest position there is in Toastmasters International.

List of Presidents
1980/81 Theron Kasawski
1981/82 Nigel Bowles
1982/83 Amber Blakely
1983/84 Valerie Knebel
1984/85 Herb Ashley
1985/86 Myrna Thomas
1986/87 Doug Irvin
1987/88 Jan Fraser
1988/89 John Pye
1989/90 Juergen Abildt
1990/91 Sue Cullen
1991/92 Anne Rabik
1992/93 Mike Russnak
1993/94 Marguerite Dinelle
1994/95 Rick Charlton
1995/96 Jayne Galanka
1996/97 Kerby Yamamoto
1997/98 Nigel Bowles
1998/99 Sandra McLeay
1999/00 Carol Peters
2000/01 Leigh Mumford
2001/02 Wayne Sager
2002/03 Karen Burgess
2003/04 David Smid
2004/05 Darryl Hauge
2005/06 Marlene Petruch
2006/07 Mike Livingstone
2007/08 Dennis O’Brian
2008/09 Karen Burgess
2009/10 Mabel Ong
2010/11 Chris Atkey
2011/12 Marlene Petruch
2012/13 Wayne Sager
2013/14 John Hallett
2014/15 John Hearn
2015/16 Patricia Cunningham
2016/17 Rhonda Lagace
2017/18 Vishwadha Busawon
2018/19 Nigel Bowles
2019/20 Michelle St. Louis
2020/21 Diane Gunn
2021/22 Bob Wang
2022/23 Barb Turner
2023/24 Noel Blades
2024/25 Darryl Hauge


List of Charter Members
Leonard Addison
George Andrews
Nigel Bowles*
Myron Bulawaks
Don Carter
Phil Cotrell
Cathy DaSilva
Doug Densmore
John Haas
Theron Kasawski
Pat Kileen
Glen Kosak
Gisele Lapointe
Bill Lysak
Joan McCauley
Yanko Misik
Larry Monaghan
Jim Pennell
Sharon Petryk
Gerald Sack
Ian Taylor
Pauline Weller
Neil Wilkinson*
*Current members of Southern Lights














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