BPW Isle City of Alameda Business Vernadene Tolman leg comments

Vernadene Tolman conference comments:

Vernadene writes:

National Conference July 1981 was in San Francisco.

I joined Washington Township BPW (Fremont) in 1978. It was an up-and-coming BPW and I believe Margaret and Pauline were all their members ID Instructors. They had come to Fremont for an ID class for the group before I joined, so I drove into Oakland for my ID class; They taught and there were members from 3 other BPWs in the class. What a great way to meet others in the District.

Gertrude Paskowski was Bay Valley District President. One of the reasons I joined BPW in the beginning was because I thought you had to be a member in order to take ID. I was at a low spot (self-esteem-wise) in my life and felt the ID class would help build self confidence. Mary McGlasson, a member of Washington Township, went with me to the Oakland classes and never mentioned ID involved speeches, nor a speak-off. I really razzed her about that later after I found out what it involved - Ha!

I won the District Speak-off in Oakland at the Spring Conference held at the Claremont Hotel. It was all such a blur.

I then went to the State Individual Development Speak-off on Thursday, May 17, 1979 in the San Francisco Hilton Hotel. I remember Pauline and Margaret accompanied me as did Mary McGlasson. Also, Pat Long (Bobbi's aunt) was there and in one of my pictures at the cocktail party on Thurs. evening. It was a wonderful week-end. There were 12 participants. They held a Thurs. evening reception and a Fri. luncheon as guests of the Federation. We were also invited to our meet our National Representative in the President's suite, where I got to shake Juli Ari's hand (have the picture to prove it).

Boy, my head was in the clouds. Not only was I in unfamiliar territory, but those other 11 working working women were such lovely, informed people. Since I spoke as one of the first ones, I was able to sit through each of their speeches. They were all so accomplished and very gracious and friendly. It was such an honor to be included.

We had been informed that the State winner should be prepared to go to National, so even though I did not win, I decided to go anyway. It was in Boston and that was my first National. Juli Ari of California was running for National President from CA and we had a large group attending and singing and cheering her on.

That was the beginning of Margaret, Pauline, Mary McGlasson, E. Mary Conduit and my adventures renting cars and visiting other areas and other states before and after National Conferences. Boston was our well-remembered city with potholes (which Margaret stepped into and broke her shoulder the very first day) resulting in a trip to the hospital and the raw egg incident later at Sturbridge Village that we all laugh with Pauline about.

1980-81 State Conference was held at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim. Orval Winters was CA State President.

1981-82 I was President of Washington Township and our National was held in Omaha. The "old gang", with the exception of E. Mary Conduit who was unable to attend, rented our usual car and started across Iowa after Boys Town to find the Amana Colonies. Somewhere in the middle of nowhere Pauline, always our driver, called out, "White Cheer - there really is a White Cheer!" and around we turned on the highway and took off for a tiny town where someone Pauline had worked with at the post office had come from. We had fun taking pictures with Pauline having T-shirts printed with "White Cheer" to prove we'd been there.

Everywhere we went we took Pauline's picture in front of some Post Office.

Dr. Dorothy Ford and another women had the official BPW travel agency and after that Conference several of us took a bus trip through the Black Hills, Deadwood, the famous (?) Wall Drug Store in the middle of "wherever", the "Corn Palace" and Mt. Rushmore. Pat Long was my roommate. Jeri Salina was on that trip also. The trip continued to Salt Lake City, but I had to leave for an emergency in TX after Mt. Rushmore.

(Oh yes, the year I was Pres. of Washington Township was the 1st year BPW decided to let men join. We recruited the largest number of men members within the District.)

1981-82 National was in San Francisco again. I attended early to register and for workshops but my mother passed away before the main conference started and I retrned to TX.

1982-83 I was appointed Bay Valley District Corresponding Secretary by President June Brown, and

1983-84 was elected District Recording Secretary.

I attended International Congress in July of 1983 in Washington, D.C.

My husband died in April of 1983 and business problems prevented me from completing that term of office. I moved from CA in the spring and transferred my membership to Isle City for the first time in 1983.

I returned in 1985, lived in Alameda for a short time and worked for Chevron in S.F. When I was transferred to Bishop Ranch by Chevron I moved to Pleasanton and transferred my membership to Livermore where I remained a member until 1994 or '95. I moved to the Chicago area since in 1992 after taking an early retirement package from Chevron.

It's remarkable how many fond memories I have of those years and traveling with BPW and the many friendships you form over the years. I could literally go on and on.

Vernadene

Two-Day Conferences:

Let me begin by saying I have not participated in the shorter conferences held today. These are only some of my memories from times past.

We always looked forward to BPW Conferences, whether they were District, State or National. They all offered further learning about BPW, wonderful workshops, plus good times with friends we didn't see daily and meeting many new ones.

As a new BPW member my very first District meeting was in Livermore and Mary McGlasson announced we had to make a 9:00 workshop the next morning. I remember saying "A.M.?" aghast . (I'm a night person.) I replied "I can't possible make it". But, of course she dragged me along and my very first workshop was on Financial Planning. My eyes and mind instantly became alert. I don't think I missed a single word and I was "Hooked". Not only on BPW Workshops but on Financial Planning. It started an a life-long interest that, once I retired, became a full time study.

Attending National was always a special time for me. There were always at least 4 of us, Pauline Reynolds (the driver), Margaret Seaman, Pat Long and myself (the map reader, who arrived the weekend prior to the Conference. We would rent a car and visit as many places as we could. The weekend before Boston's conference was an experience. Ask Margaret about Boston's potholes (Pauline went to rent a car) - -a broken shoulder -- a hospital experience -- ice bag and a raw egg (not necessarily in that order)! But nothing deterred us; we used the entire weekend driving to see how many states we could visit. WOW! We were exhausted! Dare I mention the "pretty peculiar accommodations" we had for sleep that night? There are some "Quiz" questions contained herein.

But back to the BPW experience. What a week for programs! I, as a newcomer, was able to go listen to the ID speakers from each state competing for the National title. This was of special interest to me since I had been fortunate enough to participated at State. Each young woman had so much to offer; I was glad not to be in the position of the judges having to select only one of those most deserving candidates.

There were so many workshops offered throughout the week when we were not in session. We gained BPW expertise and were able to further personal education in may fields. One I remember was in Time Management led by Dr. Dorothy Ford. But there were also other specific workshops for individual employment specialties. It was continuing education classes with high qualified leaders. All this for no extra fees beyond registration. What wonderful opportunities.

We were also given the opportunity to actively participate in our BPW organization. I remember being extremely frustrated at a long drawn out discussion one day when Margaret or Pauline encouraged me to stand up, get in line and "Move the Previous Question".

Also, when in Boston, we had a California candidate for National President, Julie Arie, so we had additional participation by singing "California Here I Come" on stage with special words written just for Julie. We also learned about delegates, quorums, and just how very important voting is to the outcome of elections.

At this time BPW had an endorsed Travel Agency (Dr. Dorothy Ford and Marilyn deRose - two BPW women). After our National in Omaha, Pat Long and I were able to participate in a bus trip through the Dakotas and on to Salt Lake City. Many combined our conferences with vacations which in turn formed additional BPW friendships with other members we might have never met. I personally believe all these expediences made for a stronger BPW.

I can't remember for sure but BPW National was in Cleveland (or somewhere - maybe someone will remember). It was shortly after my husband's death. I didn't attend National; however, I flew there to join the group going down to 16th International Congress of Business & Professional Women in Washington, D.C. in July 1983

Again, I roomed with Pat Long until we got to Washington. We had a three-day tour of the Pennsylvania Dutch country, a place I had long wanted to visit. This time I was walking to dinner reading about the Penn. "hexes" and I fell into a hole in the sidewalk. I remember Jeri Salina turning around and saying, "It's broken" (the ankle) but I didn't think so and continued to dinner. Pat Long, a retired nurse, didn't think so either and advised sitting with ice on it, but, of course, I couldn't miss any of the "get together's" in others' rooms.

Each day as we proceeded by bus my foot got larger and larger and I'd buy one size larger moccasin to wear on that foot only.

The first day of International I put on a pair of dress shoes and hobbled down for the Opening Ceremony and heard "Red Cross Station" in the back. After shooting back there I was sent immediately to the hospital "somewhere". Spent most of the day and came back by wheelchair in a cast up the leg. Jeri Salina said, "Didn't I tell you?" By this time Harriet Mosbaugh was my roommate. She pushed me into the afternoon cocktail party and we both collapsed afterwards and slept through the rest of the night's program, dinner and all.

It was like 98 degree weather and 98 degree humidity so the cast didn't dry for 3 days!

I have two newspaper articles about that conference. First let me preface this. We were invited to a pre-set tour of the White House. There were approx. 1200 members from 67 countries waiting to enter (according to this newspaper). Harriet and I were on a bus at a special entrance for handicapped, because of me, waiting authorization to come on. The rest of the group heard the tour had been cancelled - "a fluke" in White House scheduling, they were told. The heat was unbearable. Two of the women had heat strokes. Luckily we weren't standing outside.

The next day Pres. Reagan scheduled a special meeting to apologize to the group. I was wheeled up to the front of the group. Pres. Regan came "lopping" out on the stage with a big smile and proceeded to apologize for the fiasco the previous day by saying something like, "One of my secretaries mixed it up", expecting a big laugh. Then he made his now-famous remark that "If it wasn't for women, us men would still be walking around in skin suits and carrying clubs".

All these women from around the world were stone cold silent! His speechwriters just covered their faces. Reagan didn't have a clue. We were furious he'd blame it on a "woman" on his staff. At that point I wished I weren't up so close.

Later I was speaking with a member of Parliament in one of the African countries. She was incensed. She couldn't understand a country like ours having such a President. It was a most embarrassing moment. A woman from Australia was horrified at his remark.

The aftermath was chants of "We Will Remember in November". The business women vowed their support for women's rights and denounced Reagan. It was fun just to be a part of the incident in retrospect. I have to admit I don't remember all of this -- thank goodness for newspapers.

Later we went to New York and were supposed to have a special United Nations Day tribute to our organization, which also didn't come through. However, it was a very good experience in spite of everything. To be a participant of the entire process. June Brown was my roommate for this later part of the trip.

Vernadene

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