St. Lawrence Toastmasters has a history of developing great speakers. Since 1948, the club has seen a disproportionate number of its members go on to participate and win regional, district and international competitions.

To recognize the achievement of these members, we’ve established a Hall of Fame. Membership is awarded to those who have shown an exceptional ability to speak, to persuade, and win competitions at all levels. Each Hall of Fame member has also given generously of their time in teaching others in the club or at workshops, the winning formulas to giving great speeches.

Many members of the Hall of Fame are still active members of the club, attending the weekly meetings. This provides you with an exceptional opportunity to learn, be mentored and be evaluated by some of the best speakers and presenters in Montreal. All you need to do is attend one of our weekly meetings.

Gilles Pelletier

 

In 1992, Gilles joined TM following his attendance to a Speech craft given at Canada Post. At that time, he was petrified to speak in public, but right from the start, he saw that in TM he would acquire the skills and get all the tools to communicate more easily. He was one of the founders of the Club Poste-Voix. And in 1994, he joined St. Lawrence club and he is a member still. As a competition fan, he won three times at district level, first with a humorous speech, in 1993 and then in the speech contest of 1994 and 2004. 

 

He also engaged in leadership roles, when at the 1995 Spring Conference he gave a workshop entitled I.M.P.A.C.T. or the six secrets of a winning speech, and in 1999, another workshop entitled “Les mythes aux boules à mites, les diktats au débarras”, about myths and legends on public speaking. He also hold various fonction at the executive: secretary, vp-membership, and president in 2009. He had a great impact on the club, particularly in the promotion of French. He was the first speaker to present his speeches in French, although St.Lawrence club had the charter of bilingual club since. He also is a devoted member that always motivate and congratulate his colleagues toastmaster.

 

Jeannine Scott

Jeannine joined toastmasters in September 1993 and gave her ice-breaker speech at the 45th Anniversary celebration.  She was the President of the club in 1996 and was the District Champion in the Humourous Speech Contest in English in 1994 and in French in 1998.  Jeannine placed first in the District International Speech Competition three years in a row; 2002, 2003, and 2004.  In 2003, she also placed first in the region and participated in the World Championship of Public Speaking in Atlanta, Georgia.    Jeannine feels that she joined Toastmasters to gain confidence and has received benefits ten times more than she expected.

Italo Magni

Italo joined St. Lawrence Toastmasters in March 1989 and became club president in 1993. He obtained the ATM designation as well as winning the English district humorous speech contest in 1989 and then went on to win the French district humorous speech contest in 1992. In 1994 he represented our District 61 at the International Speech contest. Italo considers the most important benefit that he has gained from Toastmasters is to be able to express his creativity through words. He has presented workshops at both the regional and district conferences as well as being the keynote speaker as such conferences.

Jacques Lamontagne

Jacques joined St. Lawrence Toastmasters in 1983 and became club president in 1985. He has obtained his ATM designation and won the English district contest in 1991 and went on to win the French contest in 1997. Jacques was our chairman for our 50th anniversary celebrations. Jacques considers the most important benefit he has gained from Toastmasters is increased confidence. This has allowed him to leave a major transportation corporation and start his own company, INFO-GRAF PLUS.

Wendy Marshall

Wendy joined toastmasters in September 1996.  She was the club President in 1998.  She has participated in Humourous Speech Contests up to the District level.  She was responsible for the start-up of the St. Lawrence web site and continues to be actively involved in all area of the club’s activities.  She was awarded her Advanced Silver Level in November 2003.  Wendy believes her experience in Toastmasters and especially in the St. Lawrence Club, has helped her professionally and she enjoys the continuing challenge of trying out new speech material and collaborating with her fellow members.

John Fowler

John joined St. Lawrence Toastmasters in 1981 and became club president in 1988. He has obtained his ATM designation and participated in our district table-topics contest in 1992. He was chairman of our 40th anniversary celebrations. John considers the most important benefit that he has obtained from Toastmasters is the ability to express himself confidently in public. He used this confidence to leave a major bank to complete his MBA in France. Upon his return, John rejoined St. Lawrence and is now president of his own management consulting company.

Colette de Moscovaki

Colette joined St. Lawrence Toastmasters in 1989 and became club president in 1996. She obtained her CTM and participated in numerous club contests and district evaluation contests. Colette has been our treasurer continuously for 10 years and also acted as treasurer of our spring district conference in 1998. Colette considers the most important benefit that she has obtained from Toastmasters is the ability to properly give evaluations to others.

John P. Clarke

John joined St. Lawrence Toastmasters in 1964 when we were meeting at the Naval Officers Club located on Dr. Penfield Street and became our club president in 1967. He obtained his ATM and was a keen evaluator, winning the district contest in 1976. He was our area governor and lieutenant governor in the central division and governor administration in District 61. John considers the most important benefit that he has gained from Toastmasters is the ability to communicate more effectively with both large and small groups.

Frank Hofstetter

Frank joined St. Lawrence in 1969 and became our president in 1974. He obtained his ATM designation and won a divisional speech contest. He has been our districtÕs governor of education and then governor in 1975. Frank considers the most important benefit that he has obtained from Toastmasters is gaining increased self-confidence which enabled him to start his own business.

Jim McAlpine

Jim first joined Toastmasters in Baie Comeau in 1960 and became president of that club in 1962. He joined St. Lawrence Toastmasters in January 1964 and became our club president in 1970. He obtained his ATM designation and won the district speech contest in 1975 and 1984 and represented the district at the regional contests. Jim considers the most important benefit that he has gained from Toastmasters is to be self-confident.

Vigi Gurushanta

Vigi joined St. Lawrence Toastmasters in 1979 and became our president in 1982. He was chairman of the 1984 Regional Spring Conference in Montreal. He then moved to Toronto where he became District Governor in 1989. He achieved his ATM bronze and DTM designations. Vigi considers the most important benefit that he has obtained from Toastmasters is to be self-confident and improved communication skills.

Ragbhir Dhillon

Ragbhir joined St. Lawrence Toastmasters in 1976 and became our president in 1980. He obtained his ATM bronze, silver and gold and then his DTM designation. He also went on to compete at the district speech contest in 1961, placing second. He won the district contest in 1979 and placed second at the regional level. Ragbhir moved to Toronto and rose to District Governor in 1985. IN the year 1997 he helped his club place number five in the world and personally contributed 3,500 points and made over thirty speeches. Ragbhir considers the most important benefit that he has gained from Toastmasters is to be self-confident.

Harry Clark

Harry joined the club in 1961 and became President in 1965. Harry was always on the lookout for new members, approaching them on the basis of ” I want to do you a favour and invite you to my Toastmasters Club”. He always felt that anyone joining was doing themselves a favour by gaining the opportunity for self improvement. He recruited many members this way and many of them did the same with their friends. Thus many current and former members can trace their involvement in Toastmasters directly or indirectly to Harry Clark. Harry passed away in 2000 and will be missed by many.

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