Susanne Nickerson was a longtime member of District 25. She joined Toastmasters in August 2004. She recently passed away.
Susanne was a member of multiple clubs including Truckin’ Toastmasters and Top of Texas. She was employed by Peterbilt in Denton which was part of PACCAR. She moved to Washington state in 2014 to work for Kenworth which is also part of PACCAR.
She served as Area 52 Governor (now Director) in the 2009-2010 Toastmaster year. She filled the role of District 25 Chief Judge in the 2010-2011 Toastmasters year. Susanne and her husband Larry Nickerson received their DTMs together at the fall 2014 District 25 conference.
From Cindy Hinckley, DTM, PDD 2015-2016:
I was blessed to know Susanne Nickerson in several roles but it was as a member of Top of Texas Toastmasters that I discovered the true joy of Susanne in her speeches and stories. She was such a loving and caring person. When Susanne and her husband Larry moved to Washington state for her job, we missed both of them so much. We were delighted when they joined us for our club’s 20th Anniversary Celebration on Zoom in February, 2022. Even though they had been gone for so long, everyone felt we were still family.
From Jodie Sanders, DTM, PDD 2016-2017:
My first encounter with Susanne Nickerson was when she trained me as a contest judge in 2010. Even though I was the only person who showed up for the session, she did not cut it short but covered everything. I’ve repeated judges training several times since then but hers was the best, concise but thorough. I’ve often thought that her being an engineer had something to do with it! I got to know her better when I joined Top of Texas. You knew she was honest and forthright when she spoke with you. Without any fuss, she always upheld the core values of Toastmasters.
From Diana Patton, DTM, PDG 2011-2012:
I have so many fond memories of Susanne including several phone calls after she moved to Bellevue, Washington in 2014. When I served as Lt Governor Education & Training (now Program Quality Director) in 2010-2011, Susanne served as the District Chief Judge. She identified a major opportunity in the way Area and Division contest scheduling was handled. The changes she proposed were implemented. They greatly improved the efficiencies of contests and reduced the need for traveling long distances between contests by District leadership on Saturdays during contest season. It was a dramatic change that improved the process.
She was an amazing woman. I was blessed to have met her, worked with her and shared lots of nice phone conversations during the last couple years of her life.
It’s wonderful when people like Susanne come into your life and also make an impact on so many people.
