Do you know Vasil "Bill" Sekela?

DubNoMo

Vasil "Bill" Sekela was a CO back in the '70s and as I mentioned on another thread here "He was a pint-sized emperor and a veritable human tornado. Every congregation he passed through was a scene of devastation afterwards." Anybody heard of him?

FairMind

No and from what you said I'm glad of it.

AK - Jeff

Yep - he was CO here in the 70's too.

He tried to remove me as MS for no particular reason that I can recall.

Wonder if he is still alive?

Jeff

AK - Jeff

I remember him showing a slideshow of his relatives in Poland? or Hungary? can't recall. His relatives were truly underground Jw's, in a place where it could mean your life.

I don't recall much else of his visits though.

Jeff

wings

I know his brother Paul....never met Bill...

flipper

Well yes ! I knew Bill Sekela in the late 1960's he served as a " newer " circuit overseer in the Central Valley area Southern San Joaquin Valley area where I lived with my elder dad and mom as a boy of about 9 or 10 years old ! And yes - what you say was true. He was very aggressive , opinionated , and what he said went , or servants were made to hit the road. I do remember he had a sexy , petite wife named Cindi, I believe. I was only 10- still she impressed me more than him. She was very nice ! He and his wife actually stayed with my mom and dad and me at our house while visiting our congregation - as my dad was city overseer at the time. So- that's about all I know, don't know what happened to him after he left

AudeSapere

There was a Bro Sekela that co-conducted my pioneer school in Woodland Hills California in the mid-80's.

I think it was Paul.

Sorry. Don't think I know the other one.

-Aude.

uninformed

We had Bill Sekela in the mid 70's in Aurora, MO. He liked me so I didn't notice that he was an asshole.

Funny how perspective is shaded by being on the 'in' with someone.

I am sure that he is as bad as has been mentioned though, just not to me.

Brant

Bonnie_Clyde

At one of Sekela's visits, we had a slide presentation of all the congregations in the circuit who had either built new halls or had beautifully remodeled theirs. Then a couple slides of our hall and how we needed to bring it up the Society's standards. There was nothing wrong with our hall, it was neat a clean and well landscaped--just wasn't "state of the art." Shame!... We ended up with a new hall within a year.

I remember hearing that he was harsh, just don't recall the details.

DubNoMo

Here are a few remembrances of Vasil "Bill" Sekela...

Sekela was an interesting character. He was a masterful public speaker as well as an outstanding door-to-door preacher. He was also totally self-absorbed and I suspect had something of a Napoleonic complex. He was about the same height as the emperor.

On his first visit to the congregation my wife and I went out in service with him and his wife and afterward extended the hospitality of our modest home for lunch. I was somewhat surprised to see how he acted at the house. The women went into the kitchen while he and I sat in easy chairs in the living room. I was eager to make friends but he didn't seem to be much interested in conversation. After three or four minutes, to my surprise, he took off his shoes and draped one leg over the arm of the chair while reaching into his book bag for a Watchtower which he began to read. I didn't know what to do so, for a minute or two, I just sat there. Then I retrieved a Watchtower for myself and began to study it. I didn't know whether to congratulate myself on having provided a congenial, comfortable environment for him or to just regard him as another self-centered jerk. Later on I learned that jerk was the appropriate choice.

For some years I had patronized a barber who was an elder in another congregation. During my haircut one day he related that Sekela had just concluded his visit and had created quite a stir in his congregation.

They were having their elders meeting when something came up about one of the elder's wives. Sekela immediately made the observation that the woman had a "Jezebelian personality." The elders were shocked because at that point they knew he had never even met the sister. As my barber explained, if you lined up five sisters against the wall he couldn't tell which one was her.

As I went on my way I was somewhat skeptical about the story, feeling it had probably been exaggerated. A few weeks later it was my congregation's turn to host the CO and the exact same set of circumstances prevailed. At our elders meeting a sister's name was mentioned and Sekela immediately declared that she was problematic because she had a "Jezebelian personality." We were likewise shocked because we knew, again, that he had never met the woman. Judging matters on the basis of hearsay turned out to be an ongoing Sekela trait.

Sekela assisted in igniting a firestorm in our congregation that nearly brought it down. After many months of contentious disputes and strife I bid my farewell. For a long time afterward I held considerable bitterness towards Sekela but today I consider him to be a benefactor. Had it not been for his dishonorable behind-the-scenes maneuvering, assisted by his merry band of congregational liars, and his misrepresentations to the Borg things might have gotten straightened out and I might have had the misfortune to spend the rest of my life as a Witchtower slave.

Thanks, Bill, for helping me see the truth about "The Truth!"

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Do you know Vasil "Bill" Sekela?

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