Governing Body Stories (page 3)

William Penwell

Grant Suiter dedicated the assembly hall in our area. That was about 30 years ago. I recall he did a tour of the facilities. I was a food volunteer and as i recall he spoke to myself and a friend of mine. He seemed like a very friendly sort what I remember.

Also at a DC some 30 years ago the guest GB speaker happened to be Leo Greenless. I remember meeting him after the convention and being all in awe of him. He was wearing a pea green pair of pants, white sport coat and white shoes. I read somewhere on here that some years later he was removed as a GB member due to the fact that he had a thing for young boys or something like that.

Will

SadElder

Oh my GB members. Over the years we've met and entertained many, some even staying in our home.

Nathan Knorr - a pompous twit.

Dan Sydlik - not your ordinary GB member. Will actually stick his neck out for Bethelites he thinks have been wronged. He is moody. But his quick wit is often mistaken for grumpiness.

Ted "the Boss" Jaracz - dangerous. Don't trust him as far as I can throw a Mann press. Wants to be in control all the time. Head of the Bethel CIA the service department. Unkind, lacking in fellow feeling.

Jack Barr - a true gentleman. A great people person. Goes out of his way to make people feel comfortable.

Burt Schroeder - out there. Not quite sure if, even in his younger days, he's all there at times. Lovely wife - Charlotte - a true gem.

Barber - comes up with some really funny one liners. But he's been past it for a long time.

Fred Franz - loved fishing. Burt Schroeder once caught a fish hook in Fred's scalp. Not serious, Fred thought it was funny. Fred used to come to breakfast and eat a spoonful of honey in a cup of hot water... that's it. I always expected him to bring out a locust or two.

Lyman Swingle- what a mouth on him. Had the capability of cussing like a sailor. He once told us this story about Bethelites

40 years ago you could tell a new boy (new Bethelite) to go jump off the top of the 117 building and he'd do it.

20 years ago the would ask "Do I have to?" and then go do it.

Now they say "show me a scripture."

George Gangas - I don't need a television I see visions in my head.

As we remember more stories we'll try and post them

hillbilly

Don Adams was who it was.... Bethel Tour about 1977.... I got to eat lunch at his table...nice enough fellow.

BTW that trip convinced me NOT to sign up....what a prison!

DFWnonJW

Ted "the Boss" Jaracz - dangerous. Don't trust him as far as I can throw a Mann press. Wants to be in control all the time. Head of the Bethel CIA the service department. Unkind, lacking in fellow feeling.

Just curious which one is really "The Boss"...Jaracz or Springsteen?

I've been told by my mother that Jaracz visited our house back in the ... well it was awhile back... in CA. I can just imagine that that may have had some impact on his demeanor and determination to be in control. See, my brother and I were little sometimes and I'll just bet we did something that day. Yikes, maybe it was him that put the whammy on us!

I've seen the name Quackenbush bantered about on here from time to time. Not sure if it's the same Quackenbush we knew back then or if he became a GBmember but I suppose a big name somebody nonetheless. Had a quite lovely daughter(s) as I recall Another "annointed" brother named Black also in CA had the old 78rpm records of Rutherford. He loaned 'em to my mom... (chuckle, chuckle) We moved and she still has them! My brother has put them onto CD's. Interesting crap ain't it?

Farkel

hillary,

: : Swingle bowed his head and slowly shook it back and forth, and muttered, "oh, shit."

: There you go! I heard that he actually said, "Hoe spit".

Your information comes from the bound volumes. Mine comes from the loose copies printed BEFORE redacting!

You know as well as I do that Lyman was earthy, but crude. I wouldn't doubt for a moment he said what my sister said he said.

Farkel

metatron

The thing you gotta know is that some GB members were obvious Nazis while others managed to be half-way human

most of the time.

Knorr was the most negative, dictatorial person I've ever known in person. Obsessed with rants about sex - even the friends

started complaining about it, at one point.

Gangas - a goofy old man, always trying to impress people with what ( little) he knew about Greek or anything else.

Sydlik? I worked with him a bit. Good sense of humor and Marina ( wife) was totally hot! ( everybody noticed that!)

Probably "shafted" enough thru the years to know he had to whore himself to survive in his position. Probably hates

Jaracz ( God, who wouldn't?)

Fred Franz - an eccentric with a dry sense of humor. Used to sit naked in the 124 steamroom and pontificate with

Bethelites about various scriptures. He was the oracle, no doubt. Beyond the lovable appearance, he could be cold

in supporting Knorr ( as with "shafting" the three Freds - i.e. former circuit overseers who attempted a degree of reform

back then).

After years of dealing with these guys, I concluded the organization was led by holy spirit!!!

Why?

Because collectively, they DIDN'T impress me as being that smart, wise, or "with it". So, I thought God must be

running things 'cause these guys aren't that bright.

I failed to discern their ability to cover stuff up - as well as the eagerness ( me included) of the average Witness

to deceive themeselves.

metatron

ozziepost

I also was at the Bethel breakfast table when I heard one of the new GB members -- Lett? -- counsel Bethelites that they should not speak with their disfellowshipped family members. At the time he said this the WT website said that "disfellowshipping does not break family ties" or something to that effect. They have since changed the wording of that. That was supposed to be the trip to Bethel which was going to save my faith. Didn't work.

This is where the WTS is so dumb! If they wanted to get people back into "the Organisation", they certainly go about it the wrong way. It seems to me that, unintentionally maybe, but they do their level best to dissuade people from coming back. As the former dubs look in from the outside, what on earth would attract them to go back to the KH?

Ozzie

DFWnonJW

I failed to discern their ability to cover stuff up - as well as the eagerness ( me included) of the average Witness to deceive themeselves.

reminds me of a quote I ran across years ago while reading a book on illusionists...

"Mundus vult decipi, decipiatur ergo"
(The world wants to be decieved, decieve it)

Seems that the WT is quite proficient at the art of illusion themselves.

cyber-sista

We had a few of them as special speakers at assemblies I attended over the years. I remember have a few close encounters with a couple of them briefly shaking hands or something of that sort, but nothing too personal.. A couple of things that stand out for me is that they were all very long winded and at the end of one very long assembly day the final speaker (the GB member with the English accent) went overtime about 45 minutes and in my evil little heart I thought to myself that I just wanted it to end. My back hurt and I was getting real aggravated that he just kept droning on and on. I thought it was a bit disrepectful as the brothers were always counceled to not go overtime, but I guess he felt he had the right and of course nobody said anything except to comment on what an excellent talk it was (My mind thought boring talk, but my JW counterpart mind had to program excellent talk!).

The other GB member who stood out was the one who wore the fancy looking shoes and suit. He was dressed to the hilt and had a very pompous expression on his face and didn't smile, but had a scowling expression on his face. (My mind said I don't like this guy, but my JW counterpart mind said he had the right to be an asshole because he was one of the annointed--sometimes even my JW counterpart mind rebelled when I tried to program it)

Dino

Oh how I used to revere those crotchety old farts.

Where do I begin? In the early 60's at the international convention in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena my parents took us kids to meet the "bigwigs". I remember Knorr talking with them while Fred Franz was kneeling to talk to us.

As a young kid in the 60's, Milton Henschel let me touch his nose after I said it looked funny (I didnt know at the time that it was a souvenir from a trip to Liberia!).

On another occasion my mother introduced me to Leo Greenlees and boy am I glad she didnt leave my side!

Others I have met--John Groh, Karl Klein (marshmallow mouth), John Booth, Carey Barber, Albert Schroeder, John Barr, George Gangas (terrible speaker, almost as bad as Klein) and Grant Suiter.

Other recollections:

Lloyd Barry seemed very kind. My sister and I and met him at a WT annual meeting in the early 90's. He asked where I was from and when I told him (Texas), in his best Australian drawl, he wanted to know EXACTLY what the spiritual condition of the brothers was like down there.

Dan Sydlik, school yard bully.

IMHO Lyman Swingle seemed the most like a regular guy. My sister and her husband said that he drove like a bat out of hell and could cuss worse than a New York cabbie (she was horrified but my brother-in-law howled with laughter!) Read the Wall Street Journal everyday. Lyman also loved children, he was very kind to mine.

Ted Jaracz seemed the coldest of them all. After shaking his hand I wanted to go wash it even though I didnt know why at the time.

In retrospect, my collective feelings about the whole bunch is that I always came away with a sense of not measuring up spiritually.

Dino

Governing Body Stories

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