My Most Memorable Circuit & District Overseers (page 4)

stan livedeath

still wondering21 minutes agoDoes anyone remember John Blaney

Or--as my young daughter called him--brother blimey.

Phizzy

Yup, John Blaney was one hell of a character, who came over as sincere, but full of fun. There are many stories about him, some I would estimate to be apocryphal, but maybe not ?

He ended up in the London Bethel, with dementia, but played tricks on the lads tasked with looking after him ! He never lost his sense of fun !.

He started out his adult J.W life as a young man on a bicycle, with his literature strapped on the back, cycling in to parts of England where no J.W's were ! In the 1920's I think. He certainly had done his time as a preacher !

DNCall

I had contact with Angelo Manera over most of his traveling years. At first, he was impossible. At Circuit Assemblies he would go in the hallways, lobbies and even outside the facility looking for young people during the program. He would grab young brothers by their sideburns and drag them back in. Over the thirty or so years that I knew him, he mellowed considerably. That's why you hear good and bad reviews of him.

John Paluso retired and is living near his daughter in Idaho, I believe. I served on the same body of elders in Santa Monica and we were very close to him and his wife, Nancy. He was also the chairman of the committee that disfellowshipped my wife and me. (We blew off going to the meeting.) A few weeks later I'm shopping and I hear my name called out. It's John. He runs up to me and gives me a big hug. To me there was nothing unusual about that but in hindsight I realize that he has lived with acute cognitive dissonance his whole life.

wannaexit

My most memorable was Wayne Johnson. He was so stuck up and made a whole bunch of rules for other to follow. A real ass. I heard he was later removed from his lofty DO throne. He served in Canada and particularly in Ontario

Phizzy

Going back to Big Jim Buckingham, a couple or three of memories have come back to me, one favourable , one maybe not so much !

My first sight of him was when he arrived at our family business to pick up a car we were lending him, as there was no Circuit car then, this is the late 1960's.

I saw Big Jim and his wife get off the 'bus, and thought "That is definitely them !", J.W's are always identifiable by their strange garb, no matter what year it is.

We were lending Jim a nearly new red Mini, the original, tiny, Mini, seeing him squeeze his large frame in to that was fun !

Another memory was him doing his Congo visit a month and half after I stopped Regular Pioneering, he took me aside and had a word about the fact that while pioneering I had done 110 hours or so a month, the month after I stopped, I reported just one Hour, he kindly asked me to get a bit more regular. I didn't argue, but could have pointed out I went straight back to working 5 and a half days of hard work and long hours.

The other , now I realise, unfavourable memory was a talk he gave stressing the imminence of 1975, I clearly remember him gesturing expressively how Jehovah's judgement would come down on the Wicked " Swish, Swish, Swish" in that year, just about 6 years away then.

A couple of years after '75 an Elder asked if I still had the notes I had taken of that Talk, so he could use them in a Letter he was writing to the Org. about that 1975 debacle, I had taken Notes with it all in, but sadly, had disposed of them by then.

Apart from that, Jim was a good guy IMO.

BluesBrother

I heard Jim Buckingham once at a Circuit Ass. He must have stood in because he was not our normal C/o. He was certainly a force.

John Blaney is well remembered around here. John Blaney stories are often bandied around .... who knows if they are all completely true? A real character of the kind they don’t have today.

blondie

That was Bud Lyman....wife Winnie...became a jw in his 40's, daughter killed in car accident. He was a nice guy but they ground him down and he left the CO work to be closer to his granddaughter.

I remember he asked the elders from the platform how many knew the young ones (19 and younger) in their congregation....their names and greeted them at the meeting. After talking to the children before the meeting, he had their names down and he interviewed them on stage. They were comfortable right away with him and his wife. He stressed that the elders and other older jws take the time at each meeting to get to know younger ones, especially their own children.

But he wasn't able to stand up to the administration in a couple of cases that ended up being swept under the rug....it haunted him.

Diogenesister

Uncle Punk the old days they were more 'Christian' in their manner. Then later, probably about 1980s(?) they became obnoxious company men.

😞Very much so. Also became very competitive. Nevermind 'Clone Wars' try 'Elderrrrr Warz'

MD they have the monopoly on using God's name "Jehovah", which is actually a laughable transliteration that mixes the Hebrew Tetragrammaton with the vowels of the Hebrew "Adoni".

When witnesses lecture Jewish people about the 'correct' use of God's 'name' their reaction is pure horror....

vienne

blondie,

Can you add details to Lyman's difficulties?

St George of England

I never met or knew Jim Buckingham. However his younger brother, Ted was our CO along with his wife Joyce. I have a congregation photo taken when he was visiting, that must have been mid 1950's. A really tall guy, he towered over the rest of the congregation. His life story is in the June 1, 2005 WT.

George

My Most Memorable Circuit & District Overseers

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