Hello my name is nick amoroso son of Thomas charlas Amoroso and Sherrie Amoroso. I recieved news of my fathers untimely death Thursday Sept. 19. I am not sure who reads these forums but if you are from the northwest of the U.S. and have been in the truth for a conciderable amount of time you will know my father. For those of you that do not know him I feel obligated to tell you his story.
Born April 24 1952 Thomas Charlas Amoroso was raised Cathalic and participated in local choir's in Pittsburg Pn. After school he went on to inlist in the Air Force where he served 2 years and picked up on many bad habbits. One of these habbits, Drugs, took over his life and he was chasing the next high in a red VW van across the U.S. Involved in such incidents as Wounded Knee and other events that describe his rebelious attitude.
This brings us to 1975 when his van broke down in Ashton Idaho a small town in south east Idaho. His situation was grim and he had no means of fixing his wreck. When my Uncle came driving up the road and offered help. Gratefull my father was and accepted. He later was introduced to my mother, Sherrie Neindorf and as my mother and father described it, it was love at first site.
2 years later they marry and move to Eugene Oregon where I, Nick Amoroso was conceived. Now during this time my father is introduced to the truth. He becomes facinated with it and accepts it with full heart and soul. He thankfully relizes how important it is that everyone around him knows of this happiness he has found.(especially his wife and children) He is a pioneering elder and tells people of the truth whenever he can. Whether it be at his job falling "the big trees" where he spent 11 years or door to door. With our mother and father's help my brother (Tony Amoroso) and I are practicing door to door precentation of the Awake magazine and Watchtower, from our garage door.
Life close to Jehovah was perfect. We had great family structure and we put all our love and trust in Jehovah and our close group of friends that belonged to congregations across the Northwest of the states.
Our mother felt tired of being a house wife and was approached with a job. With her younger years slipping by she chose to take it. It is easy to say that our mom put our lifely hood in jeoperdy with this job, but that is not fare.
After falling timber in the heavy woods of oregon's coast line my father would come home and send our mother off to work as a coctail waitress at a western bar. He would have to take care of one 7 year old and one 5 year old. This included dinner and getting us to bed. Our mothers fasination with country dancing became compulsive as did my fathers jealosy. As you can see the fall away from the truth had began. This is a time period of my life that I look back on with regret.
My fathers old habbits came back to him in the form of comfort. It began by putting us to bed and going over to the neihbors house and smoking marijuana. Later this developed into his old personal favorite cocaine. He had become lost and for this he lost everything. Family, so called freinds, most important god. Our mother picked Tony and I up from this scene that she put into motion and moved us to Twin Falls Idaho. Our father sunk deeper and deeper into his drug craze. He purchased a Kawasaki strees bike and later wrecked going up to Crater lake in central Oregon. Without a helmet he slid into a rock and left him in a coma for 7 long and aganazing months. He woke to find that his memory had been lost and with it his family and his religion had turned its back on him. He was alone to deal with his disability.
He was stuck in a home where after futher investigation illeaglly dosed there patients and held on to the majority of there social security money. He was in a over dosed drug house for 8 years. Without any recolection of, "what happened" or a chance to recover. This is so hard for me to remember. He was a vegetable because nobody cared for him anymore. He had been disfellowshiped, an outcast. his 12 years in the truth, all his friends, all the valuable information that he passed to so many had been forgotten because he acted as an earthly human being that has sinned. It is in this time that a church or congregation should hold open there arms and welcome back. Take that special effort that is so desparetly needed to put the truth back into somebody's eye.
Whether it be the congregations falt or the polotics of our worldly place of worship, my father had been forgotten. He lived with his diability for 15 years and he gained a portion of his memory back and he again reached out to Jehovah and Jehovah embraced him. My father's life had become meaningful and he was attending 2 or 3 times a week for 8-9 months at a local kingdom hall in Bend Oregon. His only goal in life was to be able to go door to door and speak the truth again.
You have to understand my father had been alone for 12 years. Alone, nobody his own family because of there cathalic beliefs and Italian background had turned there back on him. Alone, wife and kids forget him. His most charished love had turned its back on him. Alone he had nobody. Through his and Jehovahs will he was re-introduced to the truth. All he wanted was to be given a chance to be accepted and spread the word of god again. This chance was shot down by the coldness of the elders that attend Bend Oregon's congregation.
My fathers disablility included a slured speach and a patch over his left eye. These where physical differences that people could not look past. The congregation of Bend was ashamed of the handicapped man that had been disfellowshiped 10 years ago. My father again lost hope and sunk into a very deep depresion. He stopped taking the medication that his mind relied on and suck further into a depressed state.
September 17 2002 our father committed suicide.