Dr.Ralph C. Smedley (February 22, 1878  September 11, 1965), the founder of Toastmasters International, a non profit organizartion, was born in Waverly, Illinois, a city twenty miles southwest of Springfield. He remained in Illinois most of his youth. Toastmasters was the brainchild of Ralph C. Smedley. In 1903, after graduating from Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois, Smedley took a job as director of education for the local Young Men's Christian Association.