For newer ones on the board, here's some background information about the Proclaimers along with some misc. anecdotes:
Long-time Bethelite, Karl Adams, former "Manager" of the Writing Dept. from the 1950s until the late 1970s, working directly under Overseer of Writing, Lyman Swingle, compiled the Proclaimers book. It was a replacement for Jehovah's Witnesses In The Divine Purpose, written by John Wischuk who, I was told, made many mistakes in the book.
There were others who were assigned chapters in Proclaimers like David Iannelli and Richard Abrahamson. I was Karl's researcher, but worked with Iannelli too on Chapter 1 of Proclaimers. Karl lost his managerial position in Writing when the Ray Franz situation came to a head. Swingle was told he lost control of his "boys" and so was transferred to head the "Treasurer's Office" where he did little. Karl had made some enemies as manager, mostly because he was such an uncompromising and tough man to work with. Consequently, most of the staff were pleased to see him demoted to just a senior writer at that time.
Karl put together, Make Sure of all Things, most Yearbooks, except when he was working on huge projects such as compiling Insight, Volumes 1 & 2, based on the old AID book. Fifty people worked under Karl on Insight.
Don (president of the WT Pennsylvania Corp.) and Joel (Service Dept. Committee member) Adams, were Karl's brothers. Both were tall and handsome as young men and Knorr's favorites. Karl was small and thin, but scholarly and Knorr liked that. Karl had hopes of being made WT president one-day led on by Knorr, but Fred Franz was put in instead, much to Karl's disappointment. Knorr was his protector and once he was gone, Karl was put in his place by people like Klein, etc. There was lots of intrigue behind closed-doors at WT headquarters, mainly because long-time male residents were seeking the three P's: power, position, and prominence.
Karl seemed to me to mentally live in La La land or in a fantasy world, and from dealing with him daily I thought he was a bit unstable. As a young man at Bethel, he had been jilted in the 1950s? so he married on the rebound to a very nice new JW who lived in Manhattan. She had a nervous breakdown after a few years in Bethel. Both of them mentally escaped to a private world of their own making to endure Bethel life. Bobbie, his wife, an aspiring writer when she became a JW, wanted out of Bethel, but couldn't get out of there. She was very nice to me but seemed like a lost soul. Both Karl and Bobbie are deceased.
Barbara
