CRESTVIEW — A 92-year-old World War II veteran has achieved Toastmasters International's top communication recognition.
William Oneby — who has completed 40 speeches in his five years as a Crestview Toastmasters member — recently gave the speech that put him over the top. The talk, which had to be between an hour and a half and two-and-a-half hours in length, qualified him for the Advanced Communicator Gold level. “I gave them a life story and it probably only took a little over an hour and a half,” Oneby said with a chuckle.
Twice-monthly Toastmasters Club meetings — which help members improve their public speaking skills — last an hour, so members went to Oneby’s home to hear his major speech. “I was amazed that people were not bored,” he said. “I was a teacher of night school and I discovered I could give a lecture for 15 minutes, and then beyond that I’d be putting people to sleep; but when I told them my life story, they didn’t go to sleep. It sort of woke them up.”
Distinguished Toastmaster Kathy Morrow, a past president of Crestview's club, said Oneby's speeches have inspired her.
"We've all learned so much from him," she said. "His speeches have been about growing up poor, working hard throughout his life, his various jobs throughout his life, his experiences during World War II and getting an education after the war.
"When I hit a slump, I asked Bill to mentor me through three speeches to get me going again. We discussed each of my speeches and he helped me to get back on track. His achievement shows the level of dedication he has for completing a task.
"Bill wanted gold, and he got it."
Oneby attributes his interest in public speaking and storytelling to his grandfather. “I was born in a small town in Wisconsin called Chippewa Falls, and my grandfather used to sit me on his lap and tell me about his gold prospecting days, which I didn’t understand,” he said. “But since he had me on his lap talking all the time, I learned the English language pretty quickly. I learned the stories even if I didn’t understand them.”
Oneby said he enjoys Toastmasters, which meets at 6 p.m. the second and fourth Tuesdays at Destiny Worship Center on Stillwell Boulevard. "You get to mix in with other people who are trying to learn public speaking," he said. "Public speaking is a lot of fun, and it’s somewhat of a necessity to learning.
"Nobody can speak for you. Even Donald Trump.”
During his one-and-a-half-hour speech, Bill Oneby related this joke he learned as a soldier in the World War II European theater.
“Adolf Hitler went for a ride in the country with his chauffeur. The chauffeur hit and killed a farmer’s dog, so Adolf told him to go tell the farmer what happened. The chauffeur came out of the farmhouse with lots of fruits and vegetables. Adolf said, ‘What happened?’ The chauffeur said, ‘I went up to the farmer and I said, ‘Heil Hitler! The dog is dead,’ and he gave me all these fruits and vegetables.’”
A WORLD WAR II JOKE
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview nonagenarian reaches top Toastmasters tier