Hey! I was at the same Pasadena and Ventura Fairgrounds assemblys as well. The Watts circuit ones too. That was the first time I remember being told to not be afraid even though we were white, the great J would protect us. heehe, pretty silly, but made little me feel special at the time.
In '58 we drove a caravan of about 6 cars and 24 people from LA to New York and back for the 8 day assembly at, I think it was Wrigley Field then. Anyone remember how excited everyone was whenever a car went by with the W mag pasted in their windows?
People were falling over sick at all of them as I remember. I thought I was going to sweat to death and my legs were going to fall off from having to sit on bleachers that cut across my calves. No getting up till intermission was allowed as we might just miss a big announcement or something, so like a good little girl I just sat there thinking I would be deserving of everlasting and perfect life for it all. My family was long suffering and did not bring their own refreshments.
Silly me...
'63 Convention - Rose Bowl fiasco
by Gregor 41 Replies latest jw friends
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hopelesslystained
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DaCheech
Giants stadium in 1983.... it rained 3 out of 4 days straight. I tried hiding under the mezzanines, many were not so lucky
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Dagney
Anyone remember how excited everyone was whenever a car went by with the W mag pasted in their windows?
LOL. Yes, or looked for the bumper stickers and counted how many you saw on the way.
I went by train with my mom to NY in 1958. I don't remember anything but the elevator in the building we stayed. But, I have thought, nobody would do that anymore. Traveling alone across country with a toddler, coast to coast. No reservations, just showed up at "Rooming".
Oh...remember "Rooming"? I remember working local territories and asking householders if they could put delegates up in their homes. And some did. We stayed with non-JW families in Vancouver and San Francisco.
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zev
while i wasnt at the '63 i was at a number of 8 day assemblies over the years from then on.
they were some long @$$ days let me tell ya.
i'm sure glad i don't have to sit through any of that anymore. -
garybuss
The trip from little hell was in 1956 I beleive. We drove from South Dakota to the assembly at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles. My parents, my aunt and uncle, and my brother and I all mashed into a 1953 Chevy 6 banger. We slept in a homemade camper my dad made in the back yard from a two wheel trailer frame and masonite bent over a laminated wood frame and painted with house paint.
The beds were straw-tick bunks and the straw stuck through the bed sheet that held it. Plus the straw had a moldy smell. We suffered through 3 weeks of that. It would'a made a Beverly-hillbilly outing look like a scientist expedition. -
jayhawk1
Gary, I'm beginning to believe Armageddon Okies is closer to a true story than a work of fiction.
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hopelesslystained
Back to the '63 Rose Bowl. That was the only convention I actually worked at. I was the change person in a food booth. The sellers would state the cost of the items and the amount they would hand us, then we would calculate change and state it and hand it back. Pretty serious work for a 13yr old.
I also played the piano and the violin at the time and remember oogling and wishing for the day I would be invited to play in the orchestra and not just the local KH.
Such an aspiring company girl I worked at being, till I listened to my gut feelings of warning. -
garybuss
The next year, 1957 we went to Denver assembly and that's the one I was baptized at because my salvation by family merit had expired due to the onset of puberty. This time we didn't have aunt and uncle along and it went a teeny bit better.
The next year was the trip from hell to end all hell trips. New York 1858! Back in the 1953 Chevy with aunt and uncle and without the trailer to sleep in. So we slept in the car sitting up all the way out there and all the way back. It just sucked.
The brothers in rooming for all their hard work and careful planning, got us a roach pit hotel and my mother and dad had a huge fight over it. She refused to stay there. My dad went out on his own and found a better place. I say "better" place by using the barest minimum standards possible and still be able to use the word "better". It was a pit . . . different. -
cruzanheart
Alright, I'm going to have to scan the program and post it. I found it! And guess who was listed under "Convention Personnel" as "Public Relations"? Are you ready [drum roll please]: T. JARACZ!!! Yes, the same one and only. He was a C.O. back in those days and just as obnoxious as he is now.
Nina
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Athanasius
Yes, I remember the 63 Rose Bowl Convention, an exhausting 8 days. It started around 9:00 AM on Sunday September 1 and ended at 10:00 PM Sunday September 8. Knorr had the Concluding Comments, but the way he kept rambling on and on I thought it might go on into the early morning hours of September 9 making it a 9 day Convention. I remember the heat, cold, dust, rain, and how miserable it was having to sit on stadium seats without a back.
I was in High School in 1963 and my classes started on Tuesday the 10th. Since we lived in Northern California the drive home was over 500 miles. Thus a grueling day of travel. Not the best way to start the school year.