Opening Comments
Laura: “Welcome everyone, to this celebration of Dr. Jeannine Sandstrom!
Thank you for being here today for the Lifetime Achievement Award ceremony honoring our dear colleague and friend, Jeannine. We will be recording today’s session.
I’m Laura Berman Fortgang, your emcee for today’s event.
In Hollywood, when a supremely talented professional reaches a pinnacle of performance and achievement that deserves honoring, they are presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Last year we presented this award to Dr. Bill Bergquist.
Today’s ceremony allows us to express our heartfelt gratitude to Jeannine as we honor her with a Lifetime Achievement Award. It’s a joy to see so many dear friends and colleagues from all over the world gathered here today in Jeannine’s honor. The Library of Professional Coaching is delighted to recognize the enduring impact of Dr. Jeannine Sandstrom’s lifetime of service to people throughout the world through her contributions to the coaching profession, leadership development and community development. Her work has impacted and touched so many people around the world, and today you will hear all about her impact.
And, like any good awards show, we have some entertainment!”
SONG: Laura sings opening to “Jeannine” to tune of Mame song
AGENDA:
Laura: “Here’s how today’s ceremony will unfold: Beginning shortly, and throughout our time together, we will invite people to share stories, memories, or appreciative words about the impact Jeannine has had in the world.
We will share some of the written comments that have been submitted for Jeannine by those who could not be here today.
We will present Jeannine with the award.
Jeannine will have the opportunity to say whatever she wants to say to all of us.
We will open it up to any additional informal comments afterwards.
After today’s event, we will be creating a special segment on the Library of Professional Coaching for Jeannine’s award that will include the video of this session, so if you need to leave early, that’s not a problem. Once it’s posted on the Library of Professional Coaching you will be able to comment on the site directly, and we invite your comments there as well.
I’ll ask that we keep our comments brief to allow time for as many people as possible to share their thoughts. I’m sure we could all speak at length about our dear Jeannine, but we will do our best to manage our time as best we can so we have time for everyone.”
Lyrics to the original song:
A collaboration between Bill Berquist and Laura Berman Fortgang to the tune of MAME
Anne Miller
November 9, 2022 at 12:13 am
“I have known Jeannine since we had the coaching meeting in Santa Fe many years ago. She and I connected right away on deep seated concerns we both shared. Since then we have kept up a regular dialogue. I want to add that I appreciate her intelligence, her humility, how she opens herself for connection and shows resourcefulness in life and work. If I read her bio, I can talk myself into being intimidated but then when I am with Jeannine, I feel like she creates the space for me to be my best self. And I love that she is an adventurer in life and when she meets any setback, she turns it into what is possible.”
Michael and Gale Lewis
November 14, 2022 at 3:45 pm
I have known Jeannine (whom I lovingly call Neanie) for my entire life. She met my family while attending Texas A&M, and my father worked for the same university. She’d often come by our home whenever we had extra goulash – although that didn’t happen as often as we probably would have liked. As I’m told, none of us had more than two nickels to rub together at that time. Still, she and Art have been family since I was born, and most people don’t know she’s even my Godmother! She is by far and away the kindest person I know and has always supported my entire family and me. I will never forget that she provided the invocation and both my son’s Eagle Scout ceremony and my retirement ceremony. Let’s say she will be there during the most critical times.
My favorite story: my mother still lives in a little town in Arkansas called Rudy. Actually, she lives more than five miles outside Rudy, deep in the Ozark Mountains. Neanie would often love her visits to Arkansas because she could truly “unplug” from the world. That was possible because my mother – to this day – still doesn’t have cell reception at her house and only recently got wifi! You often find Neanie pulling weeds from a garden or piddling in the yard. It was, and still is, a way for her to unplug from the digital world. Congratulations, Neanie, you deserve this award and many more. We love you and are genuinely proud. Art and my Dad are smiling.