A Well-Lived Toastmasters Life

Herb Nowlin, DTM, shares a birthday with Toastmasters International. Both were born on October 22, though the organization’s debut, in 1924, came a couple of decades before his. It seems fitting that the 82-year-old and Toastmasters have the date in common, given all they have done for each other over the years.

Leadership and service have been common themes in Nowlin’s life. He was a U.S. Navy pilot in the Vietnam War and worked for more than 40 years as an attorney specializing in family and immigration law. The Ventura, California, resident joined Toastmasters in 1976 and remained a member until about five years ago, when he began battling early dementia. Nowlin served in numerous Toastmasters leadership roles, including on the Board of Directors from 1984 to 1986.

In addition, for 20 years he helped bring order to Annual Business Meetings at the International Convention as the official Parliamentarian for the proceedings.

“Herb was very well-liked, very gentlemanly,” says Jim Sullivan, DTM, a longtime fellow member of Nowlin’s in the Sandpiper Toastmasters Club in Ventura.

Nowlin has always been a highly disciplined man who values rules and regulations, say those who know him. So perhaps it’s no surprise he developed a passion for parliamentary procedure, a system of guidelines that helps people navigate group discussions and facilitate effective meetings.

How did he manage to learn the abundance of parliamentary rules?

“Just one at a time,” he says.

Sara Nowlin, DTM, and her parents, Herb and Creda, at the 2016 Toastmasters International Convention in Washington, D.C.

Family Fun

Toastmasters brought fun and fulfillment not only to Nowlin but to his entire family. His wife, Creda, 81, is also a Distinguished Toastmaster and a longtime member. She co-founded the Los Amigos Bilingual Club, in Oxnard, California, in 1982. Their daughter Sara was a member of two clubs in New York for a number of years, earning her DTM, while her sister, Mandi, attended Toastmasters meetings in Madrid, Spain, when she studied abroad as a college student.

When Sara and Mandi were children, social life for the family of four often revolved around Herb’s and Creda’s Toastmasters friends and activities. Trips to the International Convention meant annual family vacations in cities like Orlando, Florida; Palm Desert, California; and Toronto.

Nowlin says one of his favorite memories is seeing 10-year-old Sara and 4-year-old Mandi get up onstage and dance with famed rock ‘n’ roller Chubby Checker, the headline entertainer at the 1988 convention in Washington, D.C.

As a 5-year-old, Mandi beat out all the adults in a 1950s-themed hula hoop contest at the 1989 convention in Palm Desert. And a few years earlier, Sara did campaign duty at convention when her father was running for International Director.

“I made a sign, a campaign sign that I wore as a sandwich board,” she recalls. “I still have it—it said, ‘Vote for My Daddy.’”

Starting Up in Southern California

Nowlin, Sullivan, and the late Don Ensch, DTM, started the Sandpiper Toastmasters Club in Ventura (about an hour north of Los Angeles) in 1976. Ensch, who died in 2020, was the deep-voiced announcer for the International Convention for many years (as well as a Board member in the early 1980s). The three men would become best friends.

The gregarious Sullivan, still an active member of the Sandpiper Toastmasters Club and a Toastmaster for about 50 years, recalls those early days. “Herb was, I would say, more on the serious side, and I was more on the other side. And Don was more on the serious side too. I tried to even them out,” he says playfully.

Nowlin and Ensch had their share of adventures. The two men traveled to many Toastmasters conferences and events together, riding in Ensch’s car—a vehicle Nowlin still remembers: “the orange Pinto.”

Their road trips included one memorable excursion from California to the 1980 International Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. “That car had no air conditioning!” Nowlin said of the 1977 Ford Pinto, in a 2009 Toastmaster magazine article about Ensch. “We have gone tens of thousands of miles together for Toastmasters in that orange Pinto.”

Not long after he joined Toastmasters, Nowlin became interested in parliamentary procedure. He pored over books on the topic, practiced in Toastmasters meetings, and soon mastered the myriad procedures, a skill that also benefitted him in his legal career. He also held Toastmasters training sessions on the system of rules.

At the Annual Business Meetings, Nowlin provided counsel to the International President on parliamentary procedure. He also provided direction to delegates at times. Looking back at minutes of those business meetings, you see the same kind of sentence pop up time and again: “Parliamentarian Nowlin explained the procedural rules prescribed by the Board of Directors … ”

Nowlin says using the parliamentary system is a great benefit “because it allows you to keep order in what you’re doing.”

Sara says her dad loved serving as the organization’s Parliamentarian all those years. He still has a copy of Robert’s Rules of Order—the premier guide to parliamentary procedure—on his bookshelf.

Medical Issues

Health problems have taken their toll on Nowlin and his wife. He continues to battle dementia, while Creda has Alzheimer’s disease. (She still occasionally attends a meeting of her Toastmasters club, assisted by her fellow members.) Several years ago, Sara and Mandi moved back into their parents’ home to help care for them.

Herb is able to converse, and his friendly manner is still there, but he struggles to summon more than short answers. Some memories stand out—his daughters dancing with Chubby Checker—while others are lost to time.

He says serving on Toastmasters’ Board of Directors in the 1980s was a rewarding experience “because it gave me an opportunity to think about other people and what was going on in the organization.”

Despite their health issues, Herb and Creda managed to attend the milestone convention in Anaheim, California, last August commemorating the 100th anniversary of Toastmasters International. Sara and Mandi accompanied them. Though Herb was in a wheelchair due to a fall, he enjoyed the event, particularly programs connected to Toastmasters’ centennial, Sara notes. He also had the chance to reconnect with old friends like Past International Presidents Ted Cocoran, DTM, and Tim Keck, DTM, and Accredited Speaker Sheryl Roush, DTM.

Growing up, Sara and Mandi sometimes accompanied their parents to club meetings and speech contests. Sara remembers how her serious, studious father always “came alive” when he was participating in Toastmasters activities, whether giving speeches, leading meetings, or offering counsel at conventions.

“We never really got to experience [him that way] in any other setting,” she says. “So it was fun to watch, for sure.”

“I think it gave him a purpose,” she adds of Toastmasters. “I think it gave him a sense of meaning.”

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