It's 98 degrees, put on your suit and go to Yankee Stadium

by IronGland 51 Replies latest jw friends

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  talesin

  I remember the 8-day convention in Buffalo, hmmm, maybe 70/71? What a hellhole! We couldn't leave the convention grounds as it was in the worst neighbourhood, and were askeered the whole time we were there. What a waste of our family vacations! I have to say, though, my parents always took the whole 2 weeks, and we made a trip out of it. That year, we went to Niagara Falls, then on the way back dipped down to Boston for a family visit on the way home.

  I know I was at Yankee Stadium in the early 60s, but have no memory of it at all, as I was just a tyke.

  Uggh,,, pantyhose in the heat, and the big fashion show! I'm thinking Montreal, Olympic Stadium in the late 70s, the last DC I ever attended. We hooked off a couple days, me and my buddy, Ran, and went sight-seeing. Rode my first roller-coaster, EVER!

  t
• 

  talesin

  DL76

  After rereading your post, I had a memory of Yankee Stadium .... we were sitting in the bleachers,,, BAKING. It's this tot's only remembrance of that torturous 8 days.

  Danny,,, same for us with the dog thing. Sickening, isn't it?

  tal
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  Carol

  Talesin, you were probably one of the little ankle biters around Yankee Stadium that all of us Teenagers thought were so yucky!!Oh the panty hose......yeh we wore those, but when I first started going, we wore panty girdles with garters and stockings. Panty hose were a blessing after that! We also wore heels....I never wore anything less than 2 1/2 inch heels and usually 3 inch heels. I can remember the first DC we went to at Yankee Stadium, my brothers and I had our picture on the front of one of the New York papers, because my mother had brought clear plastic sheets (8X8) and put over the four of us like a tent when it rained....which it always did for at least two of the days we were there and we were so little at the time she couldn't keep us dry under umbrellas! I think she still has the newspaper!

  Those were the days (NOT)!
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  Outaservice

  EIGHT DAY ASSEMBLIES SUCH AS ATLANTA IN THE 60'S. HOTTER THAN HELL! (IS HELL HOT?) NINE IN THE MORNING TO NINE AT NIGHT. OF COURSE, GET UP AT 6 AM EACH DAY TO GO DOWN AND SAVE SEATS. AFTER THE PROGRAM, HEAD TO A NICE RESTAURANT FOR A LATE NIGHT BIG DINNER, UGG..... AND THEN TO THE MOTEL TO TAKE A SWIM. IN BED BY 12:30 OR SO, AND THEN WAKE UP AT 5:00 AM AND START ALL OVER.

  I'D REALLY LIKE TO SEE THEM TRY AND PULL THAT TYPE OF THING OFF AGAIN! I DON'T THINK THEY COULD DO IT!

  CAN'T REMEMBER ONE TALK TO THIS DAY!

  I WAS 'NUTS'!

  OUTASERVICE

  PS 'HANDICAP PARKING' USED TO BE CALLED 'ADMINISTRATION PARKING'!
• 

  orangefatcat

  Talesin, are you remember the War Memorial Stadium in Buffalo in 1969 eight day convention. That stadium was filty dirty until the witnesses cleaned it up. And yes it was in a very dangerous area of Buffalo. All the stores where barred. And the streets were dirty.

  I hated those 8day conventions. from early to dusk.

  I recall in the 38 years of being a JW that the hottest summer assembly we had was in Toronto in the Maple Leaf Gardens. The air outside was over 100 degrees and the air was so bad. Inside the stadium the temperature and body heat and absoultely no AC that with in five minutes of entering that stadium you were a drown rat. You couldn't breath. It was dispicable. I am grateful for one thing we were staying at the Carlton Hotel right beside the MLG so I would just have to leave and go to my room and cool down as Ihave asthma and just couldn't function. the yr was 1991, My sister was baptized there.

  Wow the things we did. But like most of you we did it because we thought we were pleasing Jehovah.

  Well enough with this I'm hot just thinking about it'

  Love Orangefatcat
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  talesin

  Carol, my mom has told me she kept me on a leash the whole time! You know, a body harness with a leash attached, like people have for their dogs. She was afraid I would get lost in NYC I guess, being the precocious little ankle-biter I was! lol!

  OFC, yes, that would be it! Uggh, I did not enjoy that convention at all, we couldn't leave the stadium at all, ever. All I remember is concrete everywhere, and scary looking dudes, and lots of JW security on the perimeters.

  tal

  of the *I hate this childhood-destroying cult* class
• 

  kazar

  I was at the 1958 assembly at Yankee Stadium. It was so blasted hot I couldn't stand it sitting in the bleachers. I got very sunburned. However, I was fortunate that my father lived in New York and he would drop me off at the stadium and pick me up afterward. My father actually drove from New York to Baltimore, picked up me and my sister who wanted to visit him. After the assembly was over he drove us back to Baltimore. It was such a kindness on his part because he detested Jehovah's Witnesses and insisted it was a fad with me and I would grow out of it. Of course after the meeting was over, my father took me and my sister to the bars and got drunk, took cases of beer home and my sister got drunk and I got tipsy. That was the best part of the whole experience. As a matter of fact I have a picture of me, my sister and father taken at one of the bars we visited but none of the assembly.

  Englishman said he was at the assembly then also. Bet we saw each oher. Small world if we did.
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  Makena1

  Although my first international convention was Nuremberg in 1955 - Yankee Stadium in 1958 I remember it vaguely - heck I was only 3 1/2 years old! Mostly remember riding the subway to the venue. My dear departed mother had me, my 1 1/2 year old brother, and was pregnant with my sister. Fortunately, my grandmother, and several aunts and uncles were there to help corral us kids while dad was on the program, and interpreting at the Lithuanian contingent.

  We drove there and back from Indiana. Dad had to quit his job to attend. It's amazing what indoctrination will do.

  After experiencing several more years of 8 day assemblies, taking notes, volunteering in food service, playing in the assembly orchestra, helping with rooming, and cleaning up afterwards - no wonder I had no patience in later years for those that complained about sitting on hard bleachers for 3 day assemblies in an AC stadium. WIMPS!!!! lol
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  Insomniac

  I can't remember much about the assembly programs themselves. The dramas were sort of entertaining, in an amateurish kind of way. I really only went to check out the honeys- all those cute janitors in their cheap suits and Flanders moustaches, yummy!
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  blondie

  When I was younger, the brothers only wore their suitcoats when giving a talk, acting as chairman, as an attendant, in some official public capacity, etc. When working in food service, the brothers wore short sleeve shirts and ties with dress slacks/shoes. I also saw brothers who did not wear suitcoats in service on very hot days. This happened after the people at the doors wondered if only dogs and Englishmen and JWs went out in the noon day sun.

  Blondie