Good-bye Dear Friend

 There is a season, turn, turn, turn.

The home of PowerSpeaking, Inc. for 23 glorious years faces the wrecking ball. They are tearing down this building to put up a multi-story office complex. Turns out, PSI is growing and also changing, now serving clients world-wide, virtually. Within the bricks there are rich memories of the trainers, and staff, and tens of thousands of students who changed their lives here. This is my remembrance to those wonderful years gone by.

To see even more, click here to read my blog post, “Saying Goodbye to 24 years of my life”

The massive wrecking balls
Hit brick walls to knock ’em down.

Trainers who came here to work and play
Will forever stay in our memories.

Substance style and staging, Robert and Jerry
Will steer our ferry to PowerSpeaking in the sky

Best we can do is hold hands, celebrate
years gone by, breathe deep and cry, cry, cry.

Former PowerSpeaking World Headquarters, December 3, 2022

I was standing by my window
On one cold and cloudy day
When I saw that hearse come rolling
For to carry my mother away

I said to that undertaker

Undertaker please drive slow
For this lady you are carrying
Lord, I hate to see her go

Oh, I followed close behind her
Tried to hold up and be brave
But I could not hide my sorrow
When they laid her in the grave

I went back home Lord, my home was lonesome
Missed my mother, she was gone
All of my brothers, sisters crying
What a home so sad and lone

Will the circle be unbroken
By and by, Lord, by and by
There’s a better home a-waiting
In the sky, Lord, in the sky

1996

From this valley they say you are going,
We will miss your bright eyes and sweet smile,
For they say you are taking the sunshine
Which has brightened our pathways a while.

His mother told him “someday you will be a manAnd you will be the leader of a big old bandMany people coming from miles aroundTo hear you play your music when the sun go downMaybe someday your name will be in lightsSaying “Johnny B. Goode tonight”

Another workshop to help you see
the greater speaker that you can be
 
With lectures fun and variety,
and best of all, the networking is free.
 
So all aboard hang onto your hat
As experts will tell you just where it’s at.

I’ll never know, what makes the rain to fallI’ll never know, what makes the grass so tallI only know, there ain’t no love at allWithout a song

You are my sunshineMy only sunshineYou make me happy When skies are grayYou’ll never know, dearHow much I love youPlease don’t take My sunshine away
 
The other night, dearAs I lay sleepingI dreamed I held you In my armsWhen I awoke, dearI was mistakenSo I hung my head and I cried
Amazing grace how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now I’m found
Was blind but now I see
‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed

Wop bop a loo bop a lop bam bom

7 thoughts on “Good-bye Dear Friend

  1. Pamela E. Evans says:

    It must be so sad to say goodbye to the PowerSpeaking home. I’ve walked through those doors more than once for training and personal visits. Hang on to the wonderful memories! I shall!

  2. Meribeth Germino says:

    What an era- those years of attending workshops and visiting you and Mary in the PowerSpeaking offices! A special place indeed…. Glad to know it still lives on virtually!

  3. David Binder says:

    End of a glorious era, for sure. I always felt welcomed and loved when I walked through the doors. Thank you for allowing me to share in the history.

  4. Mary Warren says:

    Remember when the business was in your basement and John started calling it the international headquarters? Now it IS international. Part of the many wondrous variations of PowerSpeaking. Surely of note, besides the enormous benefits to your customers, is your staff retention. Almost 35 years for John. Amazing!

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