"Icebreaker" (1st Speech) given at Oak Hill Toastmasters International, Austin, TX on 6 Nov 2003:

My name is Stephanie Spencer.
I would like to open with a favorite quote from the poet Robert Browning which inspired me to join Toastmasters. He wrote, "A man's reach should exceed his grasp or what's a heaven for?"
Here is my reach tonight:
My earthly life began in New Orleans, Louisiana where my family lived in the Vieux Carre section of the French Quarter. It was all very picturesque, but I only have this on hearsay as we moved to Mobile, Alabama when I was 3 years old. Growing up in the South was a genteel experience, with life moving at a slow pace. Many times I remember sitting on the front porch in the cool of a summer evening having neighborhood conversations and watching fireflies - only we called them lightnin' bugs! I enjoyed my school years, did well and for that I am grateful to many excellent teachers. I went to parochial schools and was taught by the Sisters of Mercy and the Sisters of Loretto. Upon graduation, I came to Texas to attend the University of Houston, where I majored in English with a minor in Journalism. My dream was to become a real-life Brenda Starr, the heroine of a Sunday paper cartoon. She was portrayed as a dynamic, ace newspaper reporter whose life was filled with adventure. This was quite a contrast to my more introverted personality, yet it was a life attitude I had always wanted to emulate. However, I never completed my degree because I fell in love with a native Texan and was married in 1968. We were blessed with two daughters who were both born in the month of March, yet 10 years apart. Cindy was born in 1970 and Michele in 1980. Almost 10 years after that (in 1989) we had a wonderful grandson, Dylan. I often joked that every 10 years there was a baby in my life! My husband and I divorced after 17 1/2 years of marriage, neither of us ever remarried and he passed away in 2000. I moved to Austin, Texas and have been working for the Secretary of State of Texas. I am currently a Revenue Processor/Receptionist and work in the Corporations Section. I enjoy my job, but enjoy even more the fact that I will be retiring in 5 1/2 years. Then, I plan to move back to Louisiana (this time to Lafayette where my eldest daughter lives). I will have come full circle.
My interests include studying sacred Scriptures, specifically, The Bible and The Book of Mormon, a ministry to feed the homeless that I do once a month in conjunction with a neighborhood Methodist Church, attending LDS single adult socials, family antiques, a dollhouse and a nun and bride doll collection. I also enjoy 3 pets: a miniature dachshund named Perkins, a gray tabby cat named Buddy and a yellow tabby cat named Lyle.
I will close with another favorite quote, this time from Amelia Earhart. She said, "Courage is the price that Life exacts for granting peace".
Addendum: On August 19, 2009, I was blessed with a beautiful granddaughter named Madison. After Retirement, I lived in Lafayette, LA from August 2008 to March 2013. From then to May 2014, I lived with my youngest daughter, Michele, and her family in Buda, TX. I am now, once again, living independently in Austin, TX.

"Icebreaker" (1st Speech) given at Oak Hill Toastmasters International, Austin, TX on 6 Nov 2003:

My name is Stephanie Spencer.
I would like to open with a favorite quote from the poet Robert Browning which inspired me to join Toastmasters. He wrote, "A man's reach should exceed his grasp or what's a heaven for?"
Here is my reach tonight:
My earthly life began in New Orleans, Louisiana where my family lived in the Vieux Carre section of the French Quarter. It was all very picturesque, but I only have this on hearsay as we moved to Mobile, Alabama when I was 3 years old. Growing up in the South was a genteel experience, with life moving at a slow pace. Many times I remember sitting on the front porch in the cool of a summer evening having neighborhood conversations and watching fireflies - only we called them lightnin' bugs! I enjoyed my school years, did well and for that I am grateful to many excellent teachers. I went to parochial schools and was taught by the Sisters of Mercy and the Sisters of Loretto. Upon graduation, I came to Texas to attend the University of Houston, where I majored in English with a minor in Journalism. My dream was to become a real-life Brenda Starr, the heroine of a Sunday paper cartoon. She was portrayed as a dynamic, ace newspaper reporter whose life was filled with adventure. This was quite a contrast to my more introverted personality, yet it was a life attitude I had always wanted to emulate. However, I never completed my degree because I fell in love with a native Texan and was married in 1968. We were blessed with two daughters who were both born in the month of March, yet 10 years apart. Cindy was born in 1970 and Michele in 1980. Almost 10 years after that (in 1989) we had a wonderful grandson, Dylan. I often joked that every 10 years there was a baby in my life! My husband and I divorced after 17 1/2 years of marriage, neither of us ever remarried and he passed away in 2000. I moved to Austin, Texas and have been working for the Secretary of State of Texas. I am currently a Revenue Processor/Receptionist and work in the Corporations Section. I enjoy my job, but enjoy even more the fact that I will be retiring in 5 1/2 years. Then, I plan to move back to Louisiana (this time to Lafayette where my eldest daughter lives). I will have come full circle.
My interests include studying sacred Scriptures, specifically, The Bible and The Book of Mormon, a ministry to feed the homeless that I do once a month in conjunction with a neighborhood Methodist Church, attending LDS single adult socials, family antiques, a dollhouse and a nun and bride doll collection. I also enjoy 3 pets: a miniature dachshund named Perkins, a gray tabby cat named Buddy and a yellow tabby cat named Lyle.
I will close with another favorite quote, this time from Amelia Earhart. She said, "Courage is the price that Life exacts for granting peace".
Addendum: On August 19, 2009, I was blessed with a beautiful granddaughter named Madison. After Retirement, I lived in Lafayette, LA from August 2008 to March 2013. From then to May 2014, I lived with my youngest daughter, Michele, and her family in Buda, TX. I am now, once again, living independently in Austin, TX.