I remembers skating parties at least once a month, volleyball at the park, Get-togethers where everyone would play bible charades and sing kingdoms songs, Going to the river to swim with the whole congregation after the Sunday meeting, Spending the afternoon at the lake eating watermelon and water skiing. It was a great upbringing! Also, I dont want to leave out the strong feelings of Eliteness that i had even as a child, of having the truth. As the years went by and we hit 1995, people quit getting together as much. They quit singing kingdom songs as much. The old timers that were the pillars of the congregation and getting the young ones together started to get old and started dying off. Before i left for good a couple of years ago, get-together were virtually non-existant in my hall and in the halls I was familiar with. Of course some people would get together occassionally but nothing like the ones I remembered all through the 80's. There was no more love and no more togetherness, only clicks remained:( I remembered when we remodeled our kingdom hall, we built a big rock and concrete sign out front that said, "kingdom Hall of Jw's" Inside this sign there was a space that we buried bibles, songbooks, and as many publications as we could stuff, because very soon the great tribulation would be upon us and the government would take all of our bibles and literature. We wrapped all this literature in ziploc bags and then we placed those ziploc bags in other ziploc bags. We did this routine several times. This was in 1979 or 1980. Then not long before i left we remodeled the hall and tore down the sign. All the literature that we were going to trick the government with, was eaten up with decay and mold:( Time is going to fast to spend you life chasing the gold at the end of the rainbow!
Remember how great the get-togethers were in the 1980's??
by PaNiCAtTaCk 31 Replies latest jw friends
-
-
Spectre
That made me think of my step-dad remodelling an old duplex that we lived in back in 1974. He made all sorts of secret compartments for the "literature". I wonder what the people thought when they tore that place down about 10 years ago?
-
OUTLAW
This is a cool Thread!!..Are you a Dub Kid??..50`s 60`s 70`s,90`s.2,000`s,,We all have a connection..Do you "Remember When"??..LOL!!...OUTLAW
-
MeneMene
I was a teenager through the 60s. The JW kids were still allowed to have great parties w/ dancing. Oh, was there some wonderful songs for slow dancing then! My mom stayed at one as a chaperone and fussed at me on the way home for dancing too close to a gorgeous new brother that had moved into the area. (It was worth the fuss. :)
Some of the cooler JW adults had get togethers for the teenagers. They would have a pool table and music in the rec room in their basements. You could usually count on a sip of beer or mixed drink. There was always a pretty good crowd at the ones I went to.
Eventually in the later 60s some of the parties started getting a little too wild. I missed the finale where several kids got in trouble & they wouldn't let us have any more parties.
Seems like we went to a lot of weddings during the 60s and 70s. It was fun to dress up in long evening dresses.
I do remember going to several roller skating parties - but only remember a couple times during the summer several of us teenagers met at a lake for swimming. -
Bonnie_Clyde
I was also a teenager in the early 60's, even late 50's, and we did have wonderful parties. Smooth music (not even rock and roll), some close dancing, even an occasional New Year's Eve party, although we didn't call it that. I was even instrumental in organizing some congregation picnics at the park. We didn't mind if a worldly relative or friend showed up (after all we could witness to them). There were roller skating parties. In our area, the elders squashed that because there was some "immorality" that went on in the parking lot. This may also have been because of directives from the Society.
One time a bunch of us rented a cabin at the lake for several days during the summer and just had fun. I was part of the "in" crowd and we were always getting together for something--sometimes even to study the WT. We had good clean fun--at least it was clean according to the standards back then. Porneia wasn't so clearly defined.
I believe the 70's and 80's were pretty good too. Don't remember when the crackdowns began, but we do have to keep a "clean" organization.
Assemblies were more fun, too. We could volunteer in different departments especially the cafeteria. In those days I felt very close with my brothers and sisters. We even had an orchestra, which I was part of, and it was fun getting together prior to the assembly to practice. Later, the circuit overseer said we had to stop because practicing took too much time. Besides canned music was now available. Hey--we were all accomplished musicians. It wasn't like we had to learn the instrument first.
-
Cellist
In the early 80's our congregation would rent a hall at least once a year. It was in the country with lots of room for baseball, soccer, frisbee, horshoes, etc. That was for the afternoon, then there was a potluck dinner inside with live music and dancing in the evening. It was alot of fun. Individual JWs who had the room hosted barbeques and parties also.
Towards the end of the 80's the WTS started clamping down and "discouraging" large gatherings. They worked very hard to strip the JWs of all personality. Control, control, control. They wound up with a dead, lifeless bunch of congregations.
Cellist -
Bumble Bee
I remember the parties. In the winter the cong would have a big pot luck supper - rent the local community hall, put on skits, have dancing (there was one brother that could dance like you couldn't believe!), play musical chairs etc. In the summer we'd have the same thing at the local park. We got together for skating, tobogganing, went on trips to the museum, science centre, zoos etc.
In the late '80's we had several dances a year, either in a rented school gym, or a back yard in the summer (Kim Mitchell's Patio Lanterns song comes to mind). It was at one of these dances that I met my hubby.
Ah, the good ole days!!
BB
-
owenfieldreams
We used to have skating parties once a month. They were so popular, folks from the surrounding congs would come also. Good, clean fun for all, good chance to fellowship, no one got in trouble or anything like that, but after about a year we got a new stuffshirt CO named Gobitas that came in and basically started a crackdown on all virtually all social gatherings,saying that too many from surrounding congregations were not going to their bookstudies so that they could attend our skate get togethers. And that was the end of it. Best as I recall, that man left a path of destruction in his wake. He was probably the most hardcore travelling servant I ever encountered during my 30+ yrs in the org.
-
HappyDad
Yeah..........get togethers in the 1980's were nice! I was an elder at the time.
At that time, my daughter was a teenager and there were skating parties here in the Pittsburgh area. There would be all ages from many different congregations laughing and having a good time. There would be get togethers at homes for the related age groups and it was a way for young and old to meet their fellow "brothers and sisters" in a casual setting where one could actually be a REAL peson with views. It was especially good for our kids because..........remember............they couldn't/shouldn't/wouldn't have WORLDLY association. And they might even meet their future marriage mate. My kid met and would up marrying the "asshole" of all times. (divorced him within 3 years)
Then I guess the Bastards of Brooklyn got wind that it's "slaves" were smiling and laughing and learning to interact with others of the human race. Ohhhhhhhhhh........shit! That had to stop. So here comes Kenneth Alms.......a CO who didn't have a personality at all...........armed with the authority from the BOB (Bastards of Brooklyn) to wreak havoc and spread the disease of unhappiness to all in his Fiefdom. His lack of personality was evident as soon as you looked at him. He had the kind of face that never would.....or couldn't smile. The BOB wanted every "slave" to look like Ken.....unable to smile. He was on a mission along with the DO at that time. I think the DO then was Raftopholous (spelling) .......to do away with anything that made the "slaves" happy. They could high five each other because they succeeded in creating a doom and gloom atmosphere for the young ones and many of their parents. Me and my late wife included!
So what could the young ones now do for fun? Well...................it seems that after this.........they had to go to places where 99% of those in attendance were WORLDLY! And eventually a lot of the kids with half a brain came to the conclusion that the JW religion was a product of WHACKY and EVIL old men who lived off the fat of the land so to speak. Men who couldn't or wouldn't consider actual work for a living but sucked their life blood out of blind followers of a manipulative organization. (can you say CULT?)
Needless to say.........many are no longer a part of the BS anymore.
Hooray for freedom...........
HappyDad
-
Stephanus
Interesting how short sighted the leadership was about all this stuff. To them, the social life of the friends was superfluous, an impediment ot "the Work". But in reality, it was the glue that held the structure together.