I have to re-post a rant related to this subject:
The Tammy Faye thing was just a joke, we all know Jimmie is buried under the end zone of the Giants stadium.
On the sad reality side, though, was a sister that I knew in an adjoining congregation many years ago. She was an outstandingly attractive lady, but she was getting up into late 40 - early 50 age. So, she goes out secretively to have a face lift. During the operation, the anaesthesiologist somehow botches the job, and lets her go without oxygen long enough to put her basically brain dead like the Terri Shiavo case. Now, next of kin was a JW and of course they cannot let her go, so starts a long vigil in the vegetative state. What was even more sad was the often-repeated comment by many of the elders "see - this all happened because of this sister's vanity"...using this tragedy as a lesson to beat up on the women in their congregations on makeup and appearance.
Another disgusting case I personally knew of was a very beautiful late 30's new convert who was platinum blond from when she started coming to the hall for about a year. She then shows up in a jet black full wig, and naturally gets hammered for it. She goes into a crying fit, and pulls it off right in front of the elder jerks, to show them that she is all the way bald. The platinum blond was also a wig; she was undergoing chemo-therapy for cancer and she thought the black would be LESS flashy than the blond. She had actually started coming to the meetings because of her condition (to please husband who was sort of an inactive witness guy) and because she knew she did not have much time left. She passed away about a year or so later. I wonder if the pig that did this ever feels guilty over it.
Done ranting...James