My wife and I drove from Danville, Illinois to Shreveport, LA in a 1947 Chrysler club coupe. We stayed in a private home (Catholic lady), for $3/person/night that local JWs had procurred ($30 for 5 nights), we ate most of our meals at the assembly, too. Gasoline was about 32 cents a gallon (pre-1973/4 oil embargo) and a McDonalds hamburger/fries/Coke was around 60 cents. I remember cashing my last $20 travelers check in Arkansas to buy gasoline and lunch. I didn't have a credit card ( and most working class did not have one), so it was a relief that thanks to Jehoobah, we made it home with a few bucks to spare. I was sure naive when it came to knowing anything about the WT history, but the JWs sure knew how to prepare hot lunches and sling the hash fast- no cold hoagies for lunch back then. I even remember them taking trays of hot tacos into the convention area and selling them to you in your seats.- a whopping 10 cents for a a taco back then.
A History lesson: A six day WT assembly cost us $100 in 1972
by moshe 7 Replies latest jw friends
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Mr. Falcon
moshe, the WTBS always takes flak from local vendors and merchants when they try to rent a convention hall or stadium. The vendors want to sell to the JWs but obviously, this will not do. So, do you think that if vendors didn't make such a stink and never gave the WTBS any heat, could you see the Society returning to the pay for food arrangements from the past?
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james_woods
My 1972 assembly (Houston Astrodome) probably cost me about $500 or so because a buddy and I stayed in a nice hotel on the beach in Galveston, played some golf, and ate out at nice restaurants.
I had a new 1972 Porsche 911T - it cost me about $9,300 off the dealers floor, list price. That same car (an equivalent new 911) is over $90,000 today.
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moshe
could you see the Society returning to the pay for food arrangements from the past?
I doubt it- IMO, JWs wouldn't want to do that kind of service work anymore.
James- I remember looking at a new VW Beetle around that time- they were $1895 to $1995.- not an approved JW service car, either.
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james_woods
Moshe - what I was thinking was that if you applied the 10-to-1 ratio for a VW or a Porsche to your assembly budget: A very frugal trip to a convention today might cost $1000 instead of your $100,
That is a pretty significant chunk of change considering what little a person gets out of a JW assembly.
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moshe
Based on my wage back then- that $100 was a little less than what I took home after taxes my paycheck.
The big thing I got out of the assembly was the drama, Did you know the human heart really is the seat of human emotion?? - forget what the doctors say- it's not in your brain it's in your heart. I believe that "new light" dimmed out rather quickly. And yes, this did crimp my budget, we were living paycheck to paycheck until I was able to get into a union apprenticeship a few months later.
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james_woods
Did you know the human heart really is the seat of human emotion??
Oh yes - I had to create the fiberglass sculptures of the heart and brain for that part. I told the guy who gave that talk that it was not medically possible and that I didn't believe it.
He told me that when he had sex with is wife that his heart beat faster, so that proved it to him.
I kid you not.
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moshe
Wow, James- don't you feel special that you had a part in making WT history? --as I recall, there were flashing lights inside the fiberglass heart and brain, just to make sure you understood when the heart was thinking and when the brain was thinking.