Chapter 48. About the Author

Jan 4, 2003

John Twelker, born 6 March, 1937, earned his Bachelor of Arts degree at San Diego State College in 1958, graduating with Distinction in Speech Arts (with emphasis in Speech Pathology), and several years later his Master of Arts degree in Speech Pathology at the University of California at Los Angeles, with minors in Psychology, Life Science and Education. Upon completing his course work in 1961, he celebrated by getting married.

Mr. Twelker worked one year in Los Angeles County as a teacher at the Secondary Level in the fields of Oral Communication, Remedial Reading, and English for Non-English Speaking; then in 1962, he and his wife moved to Santa Maria, California where he served as a north county rural school Speech Therapist for the Santa Barbara County Superintendent of Schools Office. He also taught an Adult Education class at the Alan Hancock Community College. In 1964, the family moved to Santa Barbara, where he continued working with the Santa Barbara County Superintendent of Schools Office. He also taught an Adult Education class at the Santa Barbara Community College and the University of California at Santa Barbara.

In those days, Speech Therapists in the public school system carried over about 50% of their case load each year. Mr. Twelker wondered if maybe he could find ways to improve the success rate and he began visiting with professionals in related fields in the Santa Barbara area. One group of medical doctors specializing in various aspects of Psychiatry were impressed with his project and offered him training at the Santa Barbara Psychiatric Clinic. He joined the staff as a certified Speech Pathologist and later, after completion of training, added Clinical Counseling and Licensed Marriage, Family and Child Counseling services. Mr. Twelker is indebted to the staff of the Santa Barbara Psychiatric Clinic for their help and support. Later on, the clinic's other Clinical Counselor and Licensed Marriage, Family and Child Counselor, Mr. Raymond Dutcher, left the clinic to enter private practice and Mr.Twelker chose to leave with him. Mr. Twelker is indebted to Mr. Dutcher for helping him become aware of many of the principles contained in Stress Reduction Through Honesty in Communication.

While in Santa Barbara County, the Twelker family was blessed with the birth of two sons and one daughter. In the Winter of 1969, Mr. Twelker resigned from the public schools, closed his private practice, and moved the family to the Southwest Missouri Ozarks in order to raise their children in a more natural environment. Mr. Twelker returned to the public schools and did Speech Therapy and Counseling for five years. During the last year, he started to supplement his income by working part-time distributing Shaklee Products, but the business grew rapidly and he became a successful Sales Leader and Missouri's first Shaklee Coordinator at which time he resigned from the public school system.

In April, 1979, Mr. Twelker moved to Central Oregon, where he continued as a Sales Leader with Shaklee. He re-entered the counseling field in 1983 at the urging of a close friend, Dr. Richard Brouse, of Portland, Oregon. For several years, he maintained a small private practice and was a Stress Counselor and Consultant with Dr. Richard Brouse, D.C., Sunnyside Health Center, Portland, Oregon, and Dr. Sharell Tracy, D.C., Tracy Chiropractic Clinic, Eugene, Oregon. It was during these years that Mr. Twelker wrote and published "Stress Reduction Through Honesty in Communication", which is now out of print.

In February, 1987, Mr. Twelker retired from his counseling practice and moved to Oahu, Hawaii where he continued as Sales Leader with Shaklee and also began competing in local windsurfing events. In 1988, he earned a Gold Medal in the Grand Masters Division and 5th Overall at the World Corporate Games Windsurfing Event on San Francisco Bay. In 1990, he took 2nd in Course Racing, 2nd in Slalom Racing, and 2nd Overall in the Grand Masters Division, US Windsurfing National Championships also on San Francisco Bay. At that time he volunteered as U.S. Windsurfing's Pacific Regional Coordinator for Oahu. In 1990, he accepted a National Directorship with the United States Windsurfing Association and joined the Executive Committee (a position he held until 1997). For several years, Mr. Twelker served as Event Coordinator and Race Director for the Hawaii Amateur Windsurfing Association, holding two events a month year around and two or three major week long regattas each summer. He taught himself computer programming and learned Paradox Application Language (DOS) and later, Microsoft Access Basic (Windows). He was part of a three man team who designed and wrote the world's only comprehensive windsurfing event management software for amateur windsurfing associations. Mr. Twelker's windsurfing website continues to receive hundreds of hits a month and his comprehensive Race Committee Help Articles are still regarded by many as the finest articles of their kind in the world.

In July of 1992, Mr. Twelker retired from Shaklee Corporation after 21 years of continuous Sales Leader status, and moved to Maui and bought an old Hawaiian home in UpCountry. In 1995, the AMERICAN WINDSURFER magazine published a condensed version of an article by Mr. Twelker entitled "Behavioristic Windsurfing", with a foreward by American Windsurfing Industries Inc. Executive Director Scott See. In 1996, the United States Windsurfing Association honored Mr. Twelker with the "Windsurfer of the Year" Award in the "Greatest Contributor" category. At the same time, the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association honored him with their "Heroes Award" for the State of Hawaii in recognition of outstanding volunteer work done in local area sports. He retired from the U.S. Windsurfing Executive Committee and Board of Directors in 1997 after seven years of continuous volunteer service.

Mr. Twelker continues in active retirement and for the past 7 years, has been extensively remodeling his Makawao home in UpCountry Maui in between his frequent trips to the Mainland to visit his two sons and one daughter, and three grandchildren. With the remodeling nearly completed, he decided to develop an online version of Stress Reduction Through Honesty in Communication. This project is a work in progress. Mr. Twelker believes that Stress Reduction Through Honesty in Communication should be freely available to all people everywhere and that the internet is a wonderful opportunity to effectively reach far more people than would ever be possible through a private practice .

Next: Exercises to Increase Awareness