Warren Schroeder from Bethel on Freddy, Kline and the apostate books! (page 14)

Dogpatch

Hi JWdaughter, and thank you!

Otisbarker: Hey man, I'm used to it. :-)) Good to see ya here.

Hi Frank Toth,

Sorry we don't talk more, but good to see you post here as well.

Randy

Watchtower World

Mulan

Kory Tideman (pronounced TEED a mun), a very talented musician who played mandolin, and Kenner Dull, who played guitar. We had a lot of fun together. At the time, bluegrass was hot and we were heavily influenced by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's recently-released two-album set called "Will the Circle be Unbroken" One time we tried to learn to play that song ("Circle") by sitting back to back in a circle (four of us), with our arms sort crossed, each of us plucking one instrument with our right hand, and fingering another instrument with our left hand. For example, I would sit with Jim on my left and Kory on my right, and Kenner behind me. I would hold my banjo to my left and pick it while Jim fingered it. Meanwhile, Kory would hold his mandolin to his left and pick it with his right hand, while I fingered it with my left. It was crazy and we never had enough time to get it down well enough to perform in public, but we had a lot of laughs practicing it.

Kory is one of our closest friends...............still plays guitar and mandolin.............by the way, he mastered that song.

OtisBarker:

Before we came along, no one used pocket protectors. We started the trend. We basically defined what "nerds" were. Silicon Valley stole it from us. Just like the WTS, we were major trend setters! Also just a bit delusional! :-)

Warren:

I remember Billy and the Blacks. I drove his grandma to the New York assemblies a few times in their big Lincoln, but I never got to know any of them that well. Shortly after that, I got married and was busy with other things like secret Bible studies and learning how to print with offset presses.

I don't know how much I have changed since my Bethel days. I sometimes feel that I am pretty much the same basic person. But as my wife reminded me, at Bethel we were in an unrealistic environment. I had a lot to learn about life in the real world. I also had a lot to learn about true friendship (BTW, I wrote a song with that title, which I sang at Stan and Julie Weigel's wedding). I found that most of my friendships were not as solid as I thought they were. But I have no bad feelings about the JWs who shunned me. That religious perspective really inclines one toward mental illness, and I simply regard them as having a form of illness. I do not think I ever really had any enemies among them.

JWDaughter:

My heart breaks for you, my dear! It must have been so confusing and difficult for a young person to be encouraged to study regularly, then when you do, you get DA'd without a clue as to what was going on. And at such a young age! At least we were adults when it happened. I hope you have healed, and have met wonderful people who love you and have helped you understand what happened, and that you have freed yourself by forgiving those who did this bad thing, and have moved on.

Tom

Tom Cabeen

Mulan,

Thanks for the update. If you can, give Kory my best. Probably the best thing he ever did for his musicianship was to play with people who played better than me! I sure liked him, and have nothing but great memories of the time we spent together.

Tom

owenfieldreams

Tom,

I've enjoyed reading the experiences of you and Randy over the years on the 'net. You both give a lot of insight and true perspective into what went on in Brooklyn back in the late 70s/early 80's. Btw, do you have much or any contact with Peter Gregerson? Is he still around, and what's he up to these days?

Owen

wschroeder

Taking a walk down memory lane at Bethel...,

Do you remember, soon after arriving at Bethel, someone asking you to "moon Manhattan"?

Did you ever have to deal with the Bethel "scourge"? I did, and on 2 occasions. The second time didn't scare the hell out of me like the first.

Warren

Tom Cabeen

Hi Owen,

Yes, Peter and I are great friends. I see him at least once a year, and we talk on the phone every few months. He is a wonderful man, whom I deeply respect. He has a wonderful family as well. I know nearly all of them. Peter and Janet still live in Rainbow City, Alabama.

Tom

Tom Cabeen

Hi Warren,

Never heard of either one of them. That must of been for new boys, Warren. I was already a "heavy" when you got there. :-) Maybe someone else remembers.

Tom

wschroeder

For the newboy physical Doc Dixon would open the curtain on the west side and let the light in, and then ask you to Moon Manhattan, so he could finish the anal examination.

The "scourge" was the severe Jock Rash that you got from newly washed underwear. My roommates John Sullivan and Peter ?, who worked in laundry, called it the Bethel scourge. I did not bring it up as regular conversation, but I thought that it part of normal events for Bethelites.

The first time I saw Doc Dixon with the rash, that covered about a good portion of my inner leg and testicle area, I was embarrassed due to what they might think.. out of sight of others. He took a 10-second look and told me it was jock itch/rash and came from the laundry. He gave me a tube of medicated ointment, which cleared it up pretty quickly. At a later date the rash showed up again, but this time I simply told the nurse at the front I had jock rash and she handed me a tube of the ointment and I was on my way. It was the last time the problem showed itself.

I never had this before Bethel, and never since my last breakout while there.

Warren

wschroeder

Tom says: Never heard of either one of them. That must of been for new boys, Warren. I was already a "heavy" when you got there. :-) Maybe someone else remembers.

Yes, you were a Bethel heavy when I got there. We could feel your thunderous steps all the way to the Building 4 electrical office.... then I learned it was just the paper rolls getting dropped. :-)

Warren

Warren Schroeder from Bethel on Freddy, Kline and the apostate books!

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