GB member Dan Sydlik's Exile

Black Man

I was talking to an ex-Bethelite who was at the 'big house' in the late 60s and early 70s and he mentioned that Daniel Sydlik was exiled (asked to leave bethel) for a couple years when he married his wife (who at the time was very young and very much his junior). According to this ex-bethelite, his marriage was somewhat controversial and they didn't want it to stumble anyone at the time, so he still stayed in the NYC area, but just not in Bethel? Of course, this was when they had the corporation director format and before they officially adopted the Governing Body structure. But has anyone else ever heard of this story?

ljwtiamb

Yep, it's true (though for a short while).

They went to a congregation in Bedford-Stuyvesant, a poor area in Brooklyn.

The basic feeling around town was that Marina (his new wife) did not fit in with the other gb wives. They had all been WWII trained pioneers, women who served as elders (company servants) while their men did time in prison for neutrality issues.

However, Dan was always somewhat of the rebel gb. Plus Marina's family had mucho dinero and influence in the european jw community. So, it was a strategic move for them to have a son-in-law in such a high station. It really helped her brother when he served in the london bethel to have a brother-in-law on the gb.

A very similar thing happened when Schroeder's son, Judah Ben, got married.

tijkmo

no i heard that he told her he wasnt going to marry her unless she went through gilead..and then promptly arranged for her to attend...when she graduated she married him and so her assignment was to be with him.......

i also know of a couple who had been applying for gilead for years and who got accepted but it was oversubscribed for some reason so they got postponed to the next one by which time the wife was over the age limit and so they were told they couldnt go...the term devastated doesnt begin to describe how they felt...so no sarcy comments about them being better off...you didnt want to go ..they did

Flash

they didn't want it to stumble anyone

I am sooooo sick of this life paralyzing vomit!!!

ljwtiamb

Flash:

You are soooooooooooo right!

I know for sure that it had to do with the older gb wives. They just could not stand a hot young babe coming right in at their level. I used to talk to Dan himself about it.

Just think. GB wife is the top level in this org for a woman. It simply does not get any better. So how does it look when 'just anybody' can reach their status. Especially, someone considered a hot, young babe. And believe me Marina Sydlik was a nice looking woman in her younger days (even for a Brit - just kidding).

I don't mean to take away from her either. She is really a sweetheart of a person, not just nice looking. At first a bit shy of all the extra attention from being married to a gb. But if you get to know her, she is really easy going and down to earth.

toreador

Any one got a pic of her?

new boy

I was there. They never left. They got married in 1971

And she was hot blue eyes dark hair a real know out!!!

AlanF

Don't know about Sydlik, but I heard that for awhile, Judah Ben Schroeder was relegated to the Bethel kitchen to teach him humility. I have no actual idea of the time scale, though, but I thought it was when he reached adulthood. He was married many years later, I thought. I also heard that many Bethelites considered him a kind of usurper, not due to his own inner strengths, failings or personality, but simply because he was GB member Albert Schroeder's son. So no matter what the poor guy did, he was doomed by the jealousy of other Bethelites. So it wouldn't surprise me if Sydlik and his wife were subjected to the same kind of pettiness.

AlanF

EvilForce

I thought they just put him out on the road instead. Going to all the various district conventions, special days, etc....for 2 or 3 years. Maybe they thought it would teach him humility....

Mary

I heard that for awhile, Judah Ben Schroeder was relegated to the Bethel kitchen to teach him humility

My god, are these people all 10 years old??!! I hope he spit in the other GB's breakfast plate every morning.

GB member Dan Sydlik's Exile

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