I heard it was unlike anything ever heard in a local congregation. They even got a Bethelite to come sing the woman's praises.
COBE's Mom Dies And "Eulogy" Was All About Praising Her And It Went For Over An Hour!
by minimus 14 Replies latest jw friends
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label licker
see it to believe it
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minimus
U gotta be prominent to get a JW eulogy, you know?
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Gopher
Yes apparently if you have the right connections, they will set aside the canned outline and give an actual memorial talk about the person.
This happened with one out of my two JW grandmothers.
Grandmother #1 (memorial service in 2006 in a funeral home) was loyal to the organization for 60 years but had changed halls in the final few years and never pioneered. Still she was a memorable individual.Grandmother #2 (memorial service in 2008 at the Kingdom Hall) was a pioneer until the end - and helped established this small congregation in south central Minnesota around 1950. She was known by all in the circuit and held up as a fine example (as in "if she can pioneer, you can too").
Guess which grandmother got the flowery talk with warm remembrances, and which one had the talk where the presiding overseer delivering the memorial talk didn't even seem to know her? -
minimus
I've seen that happen before, Gopher.
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Apognophos
Yes, I've seen this happen at a distinguished elder's funeral. It was nothing like the normal sales pitch outline.
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Joliette
Wow! Usually it is a pitch sale. I guess they pick and choose.
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suavojr
They like to take Ecclesiastes 7:1 to a new level and promote the WT way of living as the only satisfying method. How depressing!
"A good name is better than precious oil; and the day of death, than the day of one's birth."
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Band on the Run
I would imagine you need close ties to a Bethel hotshot. Sometimes my family arranged for one and other times the local brothers were used. I prefered the Bethel brothers. Word spread through the hall that they were Bethelites. Our status improved. There were personal elements to the life story. It lasted longer than two minutes. Granted, most of the highlights involved the Witnesses but that was the deceased's life. The KH crowd was impressed that my great aunt went to prison for the Truth.
We decided to stay very local when my father died. Decades at Bethel, public lectures in large venues, etc. summed up and disposed of in a minute.
Even if you grow up with JW funerals, a little kid could remember the actual person more than the WT funeral talks do. Strangers are incensed. Many a big family argument was triggered by the JW funeral talk, given so any stray newcomers might hear the Kingdom message.
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blondie
In this area, the more money from the individual or the family, the longer and more detailed the eulogy.