A Brief History
Celebrating Over 50 Years of Goddard Toastmasters
A Brief History of Goddard Toastmasters
Our official charter date is January 17, 1972 during the term of Toastmasters International President Russell G. Herron. The club has served the Goddard community for more than 50 years and continues to build on a long tradition of leadership and communication excellence. As with any new Toastmasters Club, the drive for a club at Goddard began with a small group of Goddard people seriously interested in the educational and communication opportunities offered by the Toastmasters International organization. A new group reaches charter status only through the hard work of its organizers who come from the potential new club and from the membership of an established Toastmasters Club. For Goddard the assistance came from nearby Agricultural Research Center (ARC) Toastmasters. Gary Heinz of ARC was our club’s sponsor; he ran the first few meetings, came as a guest almost every meeting while organizing, and oversaw the first Goddard elections. Goddard Toastmasters officially came into existence in 1972 under Area Governor Sam Carney of the USDA.
Early on Goddard management recognized Toastmasters as an important training activity. At first this support was in the form of meeting space and equipment. In May, 1974 William Hocking, who then was the President of Goddard Toastmasters, began the process of having Toastmasters recognized as an official training activity at Goddard. The 1975 President, Doris Anne Martin, continued this process which ended successfully that summer in recognition for the Fiscal Year of 1976.
Until 1992 our club year was the calendar year, so the officers served January 1 to December 31. In 1992 Toastmasters International changed the club year to the current July 1 to June 30.
Goddard Toastmasters Presidents
The table below combines the legacy Goddard Toastmasters history list with officer records available through Toastmasters.org Club Central.
| Year | President | Year | President | Year | President |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | Gilbert Bullock | 1992-1993 | Carol Bleile | 2013-2014 | James Peachey |
| 1973 | Carroll Horne | 1993-1994 | Karen (Keene) Pham | 2014-2015 | Esther Woodward |
| 1974 | William M. Hocking | 1994-1995 | Maureen Armbruster | 2015-2016 | Michael Rilee |
| 1975 | Doris Anne Martin | 1995-1996 | Michael Parrish | 2016-2017 | Nicolaas Du Toit |
| 1976 | ? | 1996-1997 | Jeff Bolognese | 2017-2018 | Michael Rilee |
| 1977 | Patrick Melia | 1997-1998 | Martha O’Bryan | 2018-2019 | Esther Woodward |
| 1978 | Nina Chaney | 1998-1999 | Bill Pullen | 2019-2020 | Michael Rilee |
| 1979 | Regina Cody | 1999-2000 | Ashok Ambardekar | 2020-2021 | Dylan Baker |
| 1980 | Harry Cyphers | 2000-2001 | Jeff Bolognese | 2021-2022 | Joseph Warren |
| 1981 | Chris Scherer | 2001-2002 | Michael K. Heney | 2022-2023 | Nancy Carney |
| 1982 | Tim Ray | 2002-2003 | Bigyani Das | 2023-2024 | Suyash Bhattarai |
| 1983 | Robert Grigsby | 2003-2004 | Michael L. Rilee | 2024-2025 | Dylan Baker |
| 1984 | Tom Ratliff | 2004-2005 | Jane Liu | 2025-2026 | Ginger Butcher |
| 1985 | Paul McCeney | 2005-2006 | David Schultz | ||
| 1986 | Paul McCeney | 2006-2007 | Bigyani Das | ||
| 1987 | Robert Grigsby | 2007-2008 | Marilyn Mack | ||
| 1988 | Jean Resau | 2008-2009 | Michael K. Heney | ||
| 1989 | Jim McLean | 2009-2010 | Charles Gatebe | ||
| 1990 | Jim McLean | 2010-2011 | James Peachey | ||
| 1991 | Otero Tinker | 2011-2012 | Ronald Jones | ||
| 1992 * | Carol Bleile | 2012-2013 | Esther Woodward |
* Jan. 1-June 30
Compiled by:
Regina J. Cody
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 691
Source: migrated from legacy GSFC Toastmasters site. President records from 2002–2014 were checked against Toastmasters.org Club Central officer history, and records from 2015–2026 were supplemented using Toastmasters.org.
Page last updated: 2026-06-04
Updated by: Laura D. Vega
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 667