Our Story
How the Memory Medallion Began

In August 1999, Glenn R. Toothman Jr. returned from a visit to his parents’ graves, disturbed by the thought that no others would truly have an opportunity to know much about the lives of his departed parents.  Their gravestones reflected only their date of birth and date of death, with an insignificant little dash between. He knew the “dash” did not justly portray their lives.  His son, Glenn R. III, who practiced law with the elder Mr. Toothman, internalized his father’s concern for a solution.

Within months, Glenn R. Toothman III envisioned a reader device attached to a portable computer which, when touched against a small round “coin” mounted to a headstone would tell the life story of the dearly departed.  Mr. Toothman identified a one-wire technology, which fit the exact technical and aesthetic profile of the "coin" device Mr. Toothman envisioned. From that technology, Mr. Toothman developed the Memory Medallion. Formal Patent application for the Memory Medallion was made on January 19, 2000 and Memory Medallion, Inc. has since been awarded Patent Pending status.

Worldwide Interest

Mr. Toothman made a simple presentation to a local genealogy society in his hometown of Waynesburg, Pennsylvania in March 2000, which lead to worldwide interest in the Medallion.  During his talk, he demonstrated Medallions displaying pictures and the life stories of several of the illustrious Judges from the past two hundred years of this small rural community. Subsequent to that meeting, Mr. Toothman provided demonstrations to two local reporters, which resulted in front-page stories. The Associated Press quickly picked up these stories and spread them over the wire service.  Immediately calls came in from around the globe and Mr. Toothman’s invention was in newspapers across the world. BBC London, RKL Germany, KGU Honolulu, CBS Radio New York, to name a few, all called and conducted interviews. Next came television crews of ABC, FOX and CNN Headline News finding their way to this small town to report the virtues of how Mr. Toothman’s innovative new technology has found a way to uniquely preserve the memories of persons, places and things that have gone before and until now, had generally been forgotten. 

Glenn Toothman Jr.'s Story

The Memory Medallion has come a long way since this first dream of Mr. Toothman’s and is now ready for you to create lasting memories that will keep into the next generation.