I was 9 in 1975. I remember it well and I remember thinking that something huge was supposed to happen in 1975 (and then, maybe a little later, dates might be off). Well, I was a kid. I only heard what I heard at the meetings. My mom claims to this day that she didn't "believe" 1975 was it. I do know that she got my dad to go to meetings for a short while, but he flat out stopped very very soon. Anyway, all my expectations and then disappointment regarding 1975 were purely WT/KH/JW induced. I was a little kid. I don't claim to know all the excitement, but I do know that I had a total persecution complex. I was ready for it, baby! I read up on holocaust accounts and accounts of those escaping from brutal regimes. This was more when I was about ages 9-11 and it REALLLY had to be soon (remember the Eve theory?). I had a bunker attitude back then, honestly. I saw signs up about trespassers being prosecuted (persecuted in my doofy kid head) and wondered why they would do that just because you walked in someones yard. I went out in FS a lot and there were a LOT of JWs in my area, even then. I thought the signs were to keep JWs away. Anyway. My 9 year old brain was not doing independent math. I was buying what they were selling.
My mom is a JW and an aunt recently came back (about the 3rd or 4th time with drugs and alcohol featuring greatly in the in-between times) and is pioneering along with her very compliant husband (that she dragged into the mess.) All the cousins (except the one that murdered her cheating JW husband and his JW mistress in her bed) are out. My uncle is dead, all his kids and 3 ex wives (all JWs while married to him and divorcing him) are out. There were dozens of more distant cousins, but all are out now or dead(murdered!). Oh wait. The one that accidentally killed his baby brother on a hunting trip is still in. Forgot him. I have a lot of whacky and nutty relatives on my mom's side. That the freakiest seem to be JWs might just be because they are, but that leaves a lot of nuts in the rest of the bowl.