I met John when I was nine. My mother had me enroll in the Ministry School at the Webster, NY hall back in 1958. "Hall" was an upstairs apartment gutted to make a gathering place. There was no air conditioning & the building was on Main St. The meetings were stifling hot & the evening meetings were even worse. As sleepy as I was, I would always perk up when John was on stage. He was an articulate man who new the value of entertainment in education. As the school conductor, he was a valued teacher & mentor as my father had no interest in any religion. I remember him telling my mother that there was no need for college as " the end was near". He and his wife Marceil had no children for the same reason. They were invited into the circuit work & I didn't see him for years. They lived in a small trailer & were assigned all over the US. As they got older, a brother in the Palmyra, NY congregation donated some land & we all volunteered to build them a home. I was happy to see him again & was by this time an elder. He was appointed as the presiding overseer & we shared a lot of time together. During one of the CO's visits, I was questioned about not studying with my college age daughter. I thought the issue was dead but received the surprise of my life when the CO recommended my deletion. John had known about this all week & didn't even give me a heads up. I was told I could appeal, but I was out. That was the beginning of my path out. I stayed PIMO for a number of years watching John get older & weaker. All he had was the love of his life, Marceil. I was always so jealous of that relationship. On a trip from her sister's home down south, she fell ill. She died in a hospital on the way home. I had never seen a love like that. Had never seen the consequences of losing the love of one's life. John fell apart. Alone, he would look at me & start crying. They would play a favorite song at the hall & he would quietly sob. He suffered every day until his death. The memorial was held at the assembly hall. It was packed. I look back in retrospect & wonder what he felt as all his convictions died in front of his eyes. All those I knew, all so sure they were going to live forever are gone. All personal stories, all lost like "tears in rain".
John Caister; A Personal Story
by mrquik 3 Replies latest jw experiences
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hybridous
I remember him. I knew him much later in his life - never knew his first wife, but I did know the second.
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fulltimestudent
mrquik: All those I knew, all so sure they were going to live forever are gone. All personal stories, all lost like "tears in rain".
What bloody fools we were, believing in and holding onto this forlorn hope of "living forever in the restored paradise."
I'm in much the same boat, only difference is that I lost my family when I was chucked out, At that point more than 40 years of my life went down the sewer - but that is ;likely where it belonged.
(Anyway the next 30 years have been an improvement)
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WingCommander
He sounded nice and all, right up until you got to the part where he didn't even give you a head's up about your impending deletion. Here, you helped build this guy's HOME, and THAT is the courtesy he gave you? I'd have burnt the place down while they were at a meeting. No kids, yet lectures people about having them, not sending them to college, etc? What a WT stooge! I'd have "Noped" it right out of there after my "deletion." F*ck those ungrateful assholes!