My strange Bethel courtship started with me trying to meet Mike Stillman's sister, Even though he worked in the ink room next to my elevator, we were not good friends, he was just a little to "country" for me........and on the self-righteous side too. They say "There is nothing more dangerous in combat then a new guy with a map!".........Well, there was nothing more dangerous at Bethel then a self-righteous new boy.
Anyway one beautiful Saturday morning, in 1972, we were walking to the factory, Mike happen to be walking with me, and he happen to say "God........I would give anything to get out of this city on a day like today"..........I said "Well....... I have a car and no place to go.........You have a place to go and NO car"...He wasn't quite sure of me, but.............next thing I knew, It's him and me and 4 of his nerdy friends driving to Rhode Island.
Needless to say, it was a great weekend and Debbie who had just turned 19 was happy that her brother finally brought someone home with him, who wasn't a complete hillbilly, like his other friends.
She lived in Newport Rhode Island with her mother, Elaine and step father, Ben Reagan. They had just moved to Rhode Island from Louisiana. One of the reasons was, they wouldn't make Ben an elder down there. So they moved to "help" the local brothers out and help themselves in a position of power. At the time R.I had the worst ratio of JWs to normal people in the USA.
Ben was a real winner..........Looked and acted like "Gomer Pyle".......only dumber. He would walk around and say things like "Your fat, I'm fat.....we’re all fat" or "I know one thing about Debbie.....she is tired" He would say that about 30 times a day. He would e pat everyone's on the head, like a small child.......I'm not sure what all that meant? He was definitely three clams shy of a clam bake.
Of course a year later, they had made this mental giant an elder.........I'll never forget the day he gets this phone call. (I'm sitting in the living room with him) from some poor black sister, from his KH, who was crying her eyes out (because her worldly husband had just beat the shit out of her) and he said to her. Swear to god....... "Well........you must have done something REALLY wrong for him to get so mad............Just have another beer and forget the WHOLE THING!"...............I just sat there, I couldn't believe it........This guy couldn't pour sand out of boot if the directions were written on the heel. Leading the flock of God.
So, holy spirit puts these guys in power?
Her mother Elaine, another winner..............Major Hypochondriac......I think she was allergic to everything including air. Naturally she was the one who brought the JW teachings into the family. The crazy ones usually do.
Debbie who loved her real father, would get her face slapped anytime she brought his name was up and why? He left her psycho bitch mother back in the 50's and married another woman.......he was of course DFed. It was his only way out.
After we got married in 1974..........We got some "New Light......Yes the light got brighter" and the society said, you could NOW have limited contact with disfellowshipped ones.
By the way the term "The light gets brighter." really means we were wrong about something. So we are changing our option about it.
For the whole religion thing to work.......It HAS to be impossible for the society or any church to be wrong, and the reason for that is,...... IF it is wrong about ONE thing, it COULD be wrong about something else, RIGHT? So where, would you draw the line? So the "light gets brighter" stuff works really well.
Oh by the way,..... I do the same thing now.......If I hurt someone or if I'm wrong about something.............I NEVER say "I"M SORRY"........I say "OPPPss.......my light just got brighter!".......but people think, I'm strange when I say that.......I wonder why?
Anyway we decided to drive to California to see her real Dad after we got married. She hadn't seen him in about 10 years............Both her and her brother wrote him a letter, when they were kids, saying they had NO desire to see he ever again! That was their mother's idea, sweet women that she is. So Debbie was so excited to see her real Dad who she loved so much.He really was a sweet person. I say WAS, because a few years later after "The LIGHT got brighter once again" in 1979............the society said we are going back to the "old way"(or the old light which was not the new light in 1974) of dealing with DFed ones, by shunning them.
All this light stuff is very confusing isn’t it?
So one day in the 1980's Bob call us and wanted to come up for a visit, to see us and his grand kids (my children)..........I said "come on up Bob, we would love to see you!"..........Debbie grabbed the phone out of my hand and told him "That he wasn't welcome NOW and that he couldn't come anymore for visits." We and his son’s family were the only family he had so….. A few years later one morning, we got the phone call.
Robert Stillman with no family to love him, BLEW his brains out with a 38 special. Yes one more casualty of the Watch Bible and truck society .........”By their love you will know them.”
That "new light" is funny stuff............sometimes it gets brighter then DARK again...........then bright again, but one thing that new light is, it is NEVER never.............wrong!
RIGHT?
So now you know about my two wonderful future in-laws.
NB