Bob had his laryngectomy in July of 1992 at Harper Hospital in Detroit, Michigan. His speech is through a TEP. He and his wife Linda moved to Florida in 1996 and in August of this year they will celebrate their 43rd wedding anniversary.

Their daughter and granddaughter live in Orlando. Their son died from cancer 13 years ago at the age of 23. Bob reactivated the Space Coast New Voice Club in 1998 and has been the President since. He has attended 4 FLA and 2 IAL conventions. He continues to be a guest speaker for the Cancer Society speaking to schools and various other organizations. In October of 2006 Bob was awarded the Courage Award by the Brevard County unit of the American Cancer Society.

Paul was born in Cleveland, Ohio on May 3, 1942. He moved to Fort Myers, Florida in 2001. He had a total laryngectomy in January of 2004 in Fort Myers. He and his wife, Karen, have been married 20 years and between them have four children and five grandchildren. Paul retired in May of 2008 from his job as a residential remodeler. He is an active member of the local Fort Myers laryngectomy club and has attended and supported the FLA since he has been in Florida.

Ken was Born in North Tonawanda, Ny in 1945. After serving 4 years in the US Navy he attended college for 3 years. He worked as a journeyman pipe-fitter/welder, millwright and maintenance superintendent in the oil ceramic and paper industries for over 35 years. He has been married to Sandy for 30 years, they have four children, six grand children, and one grandchild, and one great grandchild.

Ken had his laryngectomee at Mt. St Mary's Hospital in Lewiston, NY in 1998 and speaks with a TEP. He was active in the NuVoice Club of Buffalo until relocating to Reading, PA for work. He was active with the ACS Relay For Life in NY and PA. In PA he was the team captain for his church for 2 years. Retiring in 2007 he moved to Zephyrhills, Fl and has been active with the Relay for Life in Wesley Chapel for the past 2 years. Currently he serves as President of the Chatterbox Club at Moffiff Cancer Center in Tampa, Fl. Ken is active in his church and believes God has given him time to help others, through his endeavors.

Annette Miller is the outpatient manager at the West Florida Rehabilitation Institute, West Florida Hospital/Healthcare in Pensacola, FL from 1989 to the present. She was a graduate of the FLA Voice Institute in 1989 and has been a staff member of the Voice Institute and the Head and Neck Cancer Rehabilitation Course having served the FLA for 19 years.

He was born in Chicago Illinois on March 25, 1938, and moved to Florida in 1985. Married to Wini going on 48 years and the proud parents of two loving girls and a son Bruce who we lost in a tragic accident in October of 2005.

Earl spent most of his working days in the food industry, starting out as a stock-boy in a local grocer. From there he went to work for Swift & Company for a number of years, before becoming a home delivery Milk Man. From there he went into the Industrial Catering Business were he went from a route driver, up the ranks to General Manager. At the time he went into partnership with his former Boss, running a corporation with over 100 employees. They had 36 Lunch Wagons that went from Construction site to Car Dealers, to small factories. This grew into a complete Vending Line for midsize factories, and also included a number of in house Cafeterias through out the Chicago Area. Once he sold his investment and came to Florida, he spent over 14 years with 7-Eleven stores through out the Ft. Lauderdale. Fl. area.

He became a Laryngectomee in 1988 and continued working for 7-Eleven until his retirement. His Church has now become his greatest passion, along with his activities with A.C.S., the F.L.A. and the New Voice Club of Broward County. His greatest concern since given a second chance at life is to help others overcome anything that might get in the way of doing what his Lord has in store for the remaining years. He has received the American Cancer Association’s 1998 Courage Award, Southeast Region, the JC Penny Golden Rule Award, the FLA’s Hall of Fame in 2002 and the prestigious Jerry Hough Memorial Service Award in 2006 and a past President of the F.L.A.

Dr. Searl received his Master’s (1991) and PhD degrees (1999) in speech-language pathology from the University of Kansas. Currently he is an Associate Professor in the Hearing and Speech Department at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, KS. Dr Searl’s primary interests are in the areas of voice disorders, head and neck cancers, swallowing disorders and the impact of clefts of the palate on speech. His research interests are focused on physiological, acoustic and perceptual features of alaryngeal speech. Additional research focuses on articulatory movements in normal speakers and those with various types of neurological diseases. Dr Searl also serves as the director of the voice institute for the International Association of Laryngectomees.

Maggie, a retired Social Worker, was born in Revere, Massachusetts on December 29, 1943 and was raised in another suburb of Boston called Melrose. She has lived in several New England states and Tennessee before moving to Florida in 1986.

She had her laryngectomy in April, 2001 at Monroe Regional Medical Center in Ocala, Florida. Later, she went to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas and underwent further rehabilitation to be able to talk hands free using the Barton-Mayo button with the TEP. Maggie resurrected the Nu Voice Club of Ocala in December, 2002 and was its President and Secretary until February, 2007. She remains as the ACS local laryngectomee support contact for North Central Florida and personal contact person for laryngectomees/families in her local area including pre and post op visits, loan closet items, education activities as well as anti-smoking efforts.

Charlie is past President of the FLA and the Treasure Coast Club. He is currently the loan custodian /contact for Treasure Coast. He has been a regular attendee of the FLA Annual Meetings and is an active participant in local anti-tobacco school presentations. He continues to serve the laryngectomee community in a variety of endeavors. He is an FLA Hall of Fame honoree for 2006.

Butch was born July 1, 1940 in Montezuma, IN and raised in Silverwood, IN. He spent 6 years in the US Army, 2 of which was in Germany. After leaving military service he operated a charter bus out of the Chicago area throughout the US. Later he started driving semi-trucks hauling OJ from Florida to multiple US cities.

He continued driving and owning his own truck until diagnosed with cancer of the larynx on Feb. 15, 2000. Initial treatment consisted of 62 treatments of radiation between March and April of 2000. However, the radiation was not successful so a total laryngectomy was performed on July 20, 2000. He had smoked since he was 15 and was smoking 3 packs a day when he first got the bad news. He lives in Plant city (winter strawberry capital of the world) with Martha, his bride of 31 years. They have 4 sons, 1 daughter and lost one son to cancer at age 41.

They have 5 grandchildren, 2 great grandchildren and in their words, “they are the delight of our life”. Butch speaks with an Electro Larynx.and continues to find projects that keep him busy, but the one he enjoys most is taking care of flowers & plants in the yard. Butch gives strong credit to the dedicated efforts of caregiver’s and states “Without Martha I fully believe I would be dead right now”, and adds, “ The Golden Years are really golden!”

Born in Russell Springs, Kentucky, grew up in Indiana and moved to Florida in 1969. She is currently a Speech Language Pathologist with Morton Plant Mease Healthcare, Clearwater, FL.

She received her BS degree in Speech Pathology from Purdue University and her MS Degree in Speech Pathology from the University of South Florida. She has been involved with FLA programs for 20 years and has 23 years experience with laryngectomees. Married to Charlie Blair since 1997. She was a co-director of the former FLA Voice Institute, is a certified voice instructor for the IAL and has served on the faculty of the IAL Voice Institute. She is an FLA Hall of Fame honoree for 1995 and is the current webmaster of the FLA Website.

Linda Smiley born and raised in Detroit Michigan attended Mackenzie High School a few years behind Bob who also went there. She worked for Ford Motor Company in their computer department. She met Bob in November of 1963; their first date was in January 1964, engaged by February of that year and married in August of that same year. She continued to work till their son Jason was born in 1970 hence her second career started when she decided to be a stay at home MOM. Their daughter was born 4 years later.

Jason was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 1979, and left blind as the tumor was so large it cut off blood supply to the optic nerve. Linda spent many hours encouraging, guiding and teaching Jason life’s lessons and how to manage and survive thru it all. She learned Braille, so she could help Jason be an accomplished student. He graduated in 1988 with a 3.9 grade point where he went on to Henry Ford Community College. Linda also attended with Jason and they had some classes together. In 1993, Jason died from his cancer after a brave 14 year battle. He received his Associate Degree in Business Administration posthumously. Linda received the same degree graduating in 1995 summa cum laude and was inducted into the Phi Theta Kappa, honors fraternity.

Linda was very active in Lioness Club in Michigan and now is a Lion with the North Brevard Lions Club. "I do this for Jason and for myself; the Lions were the only organization that helped us." Since moving to Florida, Linda is working on her third career as a Real Estate Agent while working for a Property Management Company in Cape Canaveral.

However, the most important role in her life is being supportive to her husband Bob in all of his endeavors, being a great MOM to Shannon, and the best Grandmother ever to Bailey.

Charlie was born May 11, 1935 in Madison, Alabama, attended High School in Thomson, GA., received BCE degree from Georgia Institute of Technology in 1961, served briefly in US Army Corps of Engineers as 2nd Lt. and entered the civilian workforce as an engineer with the Federal Aviation Administration-Airports Division in 1963.

He moved to Orlando, Florida in the fall of 1992 and had his laryngectomy in Atlanta, GA on March 24, 1993. His cancer was a sarcoma, not typically caused by smoking. He initially used the electro larynx and now speaks with a TEP. Retired from civil service in 1998 and presently lives in Largo, Florida with his wife of 10 years, Nancy Blair, MS-CCC-SLP. Their combined family includes 6 grown children and 7 grandchildren. He is past VP of the GOLF laryngectomee club, current President of the Suncoast New Voice Club and previous FLA President 1999 -2002. He is the present editor of the FLA NEWS. He has attended all FLA Annual Meetings since 1993, including 2 sessions of the FLA Voice Institute as a VIP in 1994.