OG- Will do on the photos, just need to know how to scan them and post them. My mother liked MacMillan, said he had a good sense of humor.
My Family's Bible Student History
by designs 25 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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AnnOMaly
Fascinating! Would love to see the photos!
Scan and save on hard drive; register on imageshack or photobucket or similar; upload; enter link in your post - the 'tree' icon above your reply box brings up a mini-window where you can c&p the link to your imageshack or photobucket pic and hey presto!
Any trouble, email and let me know.
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designs
1960 was the pivitol year for our family in terms of the Wt. and JW religion. Everything thing changed with two phone calls from my uncle. The first call came just as my brother and I were getting ready to leave for school. Grandma had been taken to the hospital and something was seriously wrong, stroke heart attack we didn't know. My mother sat at the kitchen table and was sobbing, my brother and I didn't leave for school, we stayed at home trying to be of comfort and find out what was happening. An hour or two later the second call came in from my uncle and it was the sad news that this sweet grandmother who would smoother us in hugs and made the best chicken dinners ever was gone.
It was shortly after that, that summer I think that a JW sister and a young school age guy, Albert, came to our house in the door to door work. My mother was ready to return to the religion she had left in 1930. A Bible Study was started during the daytime when my Dad was at work. He was very much against the Witnesses, he was a Veteran and a conservative and nothing the JWs had to offer appealed to him in any sense.
For the first time I saw my Dad yell at my mother who tried to explain what she was going through and why she wanted to study with these people. To my Dad we had a religion or enough church as he thought was necessary and this was to much. Sometimes the yelling would start as we were all were laying in our beds, they must have started talking lying in bed together and things got intense. Sometimes the arguments carried out into the hallway that seperated our bedrooms. One time there was the threat of physical violence. My brother and I thought they would divorce.
Slowly over time, between 1960 and 1964, we transitioned between the community church we had been attending and going to the Kingdom Hall. The Kingdom Hall was very different than what we had known. But I saw a few people I recognized from school. And at the first Circuit Assembly I attended with my mother I saw a few others from classes I took. The local Kingdom Hall had about 30 young people all in Junior High School and in the Circuit that stretched from Huntington Beach out to Buena Park north to Downey and east to the South Bay area and Redondo Beach there were hundreds of young people my age. The was the attraction, the early hook, friendships, more than I had ever had through school or church.
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LoisLane looking for Superman
Tinker...You have a PM from me.
Just Lois
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LoisLane looking for Superman
Designs...I really appreciate knowing your Grandparents history. I, like everyone else, look forward to seeing your old photos.
What wonderful Grandparents you had. (((((Hugs))))).
Just Lois
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designs
Thanks Lois, they were special, well we all probably think our grandparents were special. The old photos with the sisters in their giant hats from that era 1890s to 1920 are great and the brothers tried to have these dignified poses in theirs. On looking at the photo of the big man with Knorr he looks an awful lot like the Mexican painter Diego Rivera, anybody want to guess.
Ann- thanks for the instructions, I sent an email to my son, the tech guy, to help out (its a wonder I am not still using a rotory dial phone and a TV with rabbit ears).
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cofty
Fascinating thread Designs thanks.
I wonder of any of the pictures would be of interest to the researchers of the history book Old Goat posted about yesterday.
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designs
1928-1930 must have been soul searching years for my mother. She was in High School in a not to large town. Looking at my uncle's graduation class photo, 1929, there were maybe 150 in his class so High School in total may have only had 600. I remember her speaking about how embarrassed she would get bringing girlfriends home from school and grandpa John would have put up some Banner on the the roof of the house Blazing some warning to the Churches. She must have planned her exit during High School. In the summer of 1930 she did a very bold thing for a young woman and especially in a religious home, she tried out for a Beauty Contest and won! She was Miss Oldsmobile and rode in the town Parade.
Through the Depression she held several jobs, first was at Woolworth's working the Candy counter. Her boss told her she could sample the chocolates but that in a short while she would have her fill and not want 'samples' anymore, never happened, a true chocoholic all her life. Next was the start of a career that she would enjoy her whole life, fashion design and sewing. She took a job with the Singer Sewing Machine company and worked her way up to teaching sewing and dress making. We had a bedroom at our home converted to her Studio and she had clients coming over for fittings all the time I lived at home. She made most of the clothes my brother and I wore especially casual and dress shirts and even whole suits and sports coats. It wasn't until Junior High School I started working myself doing house painting and yard work and would buy my own clothes and cars. My Dad was strict about work, we had chores to do and got $1 a week. When I went from Elementary School to Junior High my Dad held up a dollar bill and said 'this is the last dollar you'll ever see from me Get A Job' and I did and worked all through school and the summers.
Sometime around 1940 mother and dad met and I have to ask my older cousin just when and where. My Dad was recently divorced from his first wife, I have two half sisters. I know that to date my dad would take the electric Blue Train from Los Angeles to San Bernardino and meet my mother. They were married on a hot July 5th 1941 in San Bernardino. There is a great photograph of the grandparents from both sides, my brother's brother 'Bill' who worked for Disney, my future half sisters, cousins, aunts and friends. The War had started and there were cerfews and blackouts on the West Coast. The drove up to Santa Barbara for their Honeymoon with the lights off at night (years later my wife and I would stay at the same Hotel on our Honeymoon).
Everything must have seemed just the way my mother dreamed about her life turning out, married, a chance to have a family and career. Dad at 36 thought he was to old for the War but a letter from the War Department changed their plans. Drafted into the Navy he went through boot camp in San Diego and then was shipped to the War in the Pacific. He was head electrician on a Destroyer, they were torpedoed, they lost a lot of crew, young guys that looked up to my Dad as the 'old man' on board ship. He never got over losing all of those young guys many of whom were teenagers. He was in Japan for the final surrender of the Japanese and he won a trip home in a poker game with 2 pairs ( I have the winning hand of cards in the family album).
Home after the War mom and dad wanted to start a family and soon my older brother was born and a couple of years later I came along. The new life seemed to be taking shape but as I would learn years later my mother had a soft spot for the religion of her youth despite its many faults. During those great visits with my grandmother and grandfather with me sitting in grandma's lap being smothered in her hugs (she had great 'bossoms' the kind where you had to take a deep breath like you were going under water when she hugged you) mom and grandma would talk about their beliefs and I guess it was just a matter of time until mom wanted what she considered her spiritual home.
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PaintedToeNail
What wonderful reminences. I wish I could and listen to you tell these stories!
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Band on the Run
Do they have a traveling phonograph with the JW sermons? I saw some on eBay. Growing up with former Bible Students was fascinating for me. My family was Dutch Reformed. I still don't know why they converted. They were deacons in a prominent Dutch church in New Jersey. No one thought furutre generations would care. Well, I do. Maybe my nephew will someday.
Family members who stayed with the Dutch Reformed Church prospered and had big homes. One ran for governor of New Jersey and almost won. The family business was funeral homes. Within the Bible Student members, Rutherford's ascension to the throne split the family into almost violent factions. Some remained with the Bible Students. They did well by our standards. The Witness side kept getting lower and lower class. Each generation is more downtrodden and passive. Except for me!
Hearing about birthday and Christmas celebrations, the cross and crown, confirmed with my own eyes made a huge impact on me. It completely confused me. I've told when I was bored one day I decided to open my great uncle's books. The illustrations terrorized me and I screeched for my mom's support. She was very matter of facts explaining. I was shaking and crying. Sadly, no one close to our KH had any institutional knowledge.
I never realized how much my mom made the Witness crap easier to bear. My defenses were always up.
How many Bible Students/JW families do you think still exist within the Witnesses? I guess our families are the true sheep in a bad sense.