"Some regulars in the van on meeting night were.....Harold Dies, Judy Martin, Mark Quazell (sp?), Rueben Barraza and his sister Anita, Peter Coconis, Buster Hicks (yes, that was his real name), Tim Smith, John Hill, John Shirey."
Mark Questel, my first roommate in Bethel when I landed in 79. He worked in the Service Dept and had already heard of my arrival and made sure I was in his 4-man Towers room. I didn't even know him, but his parents and my parents were friends in St. Louis, and things were arranged without my knowledge. Still didn't keep me out a job in the bindery. He got married about a year later and stayed with his wife.
Warren
wschroeder
JoinedPosts by wschroeder
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Warren Schroeder from Bethel on Freddy, Kline and the apostate books!
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Warren Schroeder from Bethel on Freddy, Kline and the apostate books!
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"Barnes Notes" were banned? .... Why would they ban those? ... Were the "Barnes Notes" in the Bethel library?"
As I remember, the first sermons to the "family" were the determination that apostates (or at least "the apostates") were avid readers of bible commentaries. Of course, these were not written by the FDS, and not approved and published by our organizational mother feeding us at the proper time, and were therefore considered part of false religion. You can take it from there to what extent they would and did carry such reasoning.
The Writing Dept library in 124 used to be open to Bethelites and had a wealth of old books, including Russell and WT originals, and the soon to be scorned commentaries. When the big hammer fell in 1980 the library was closed and moved from 124 down the hill to the 30 offices. It was Writing Dept access only after that.
When Adams and Booth questioned me in my first inquisition, they questioned whether I read commentaries, and I replied yes. They then asked where I got them. Although I had my own small collection by that time, I did not reveal it and I told them that I had found and read them in the 124 library... which was true to some small extent. It was Ciro Alicino that still remained a good source of "contraband" books for me for a few more months.... wrapped in brown paper.
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Warren Schroeder from Bethel on Freddy, Kline and the apostate books!
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"...and several pieces of pizza, what was the name of the pizza place by Cadman Plaza?"
FASCATI's
Pizza by the slice... New York's cheapest health food.
Oh.... and then there was PIZZA NIGHT!!! One event more dangerous than the cereal boxtop sprints. All extremities, especially fingers, had to be tucked in tightly and within sight.
I was lucky enough to have Steve Lupo as my roommate. Our 4 man room had enough for an army and we didn't have to suffer the humiliation of those other beggars (baggers) in the dining rooms.
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Warren Schroeder from Bethel on Freddy, Kline and the apostate books!
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" On the most efficient use of yer $14 at Bethel, pretty cool. That's a good topic: how Bethelites save $$$. C/mon Greg, Warren, Barb, what is yer best $$$ story? Don't have one myself offhand.
Randy "
Greg and I have a family history and not much changed when he reached Bethel. Greg still has all his Bethel allowance money to this day!!! Just ask him... it's how he put his kids through college :-)
I tried my damn best to spend mine the first day. A half-gallon of Breyers Strawberry Ice Cream, and a Pint of Haagen-Danz Rum Raisin, from the commissary. I could do both in one sitting. Then off to the deli to find a couple of the most expensive foreign beers I might stumble upon. Fortunately, on payday, you didn't have to feel as guilty about not sharing with your roommate(s) because we were all doing the same thing.... hedonists that we were.
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Warren Schroeder from Bethel on Freddy, Kline and the apostate books!
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TOM says: You may be thinking of Wynne Warren, rather than Wendy. The description you gave of her sounds right. She was then engaged to, and later married, a Bethelite named Warren Pake. She was pretty good friends with my wife and I (Gloria worked in the Computer Department for the last couple of years we were there. Wynne was from the midwest, St Louis if I remember right. Later, they left Bethel and moved out West, maybe Arizona, not sure about that. She was a pistol.
Wynne Warren.... Ummm!!
Yes, she was from St. Louis. I knew her before we arrived at Bethel... she some months before me. We were supposed to meet for a double date set up by her roommate, the daughter of the inventor and founder of the Rug Doctor business. I couldn't make it, so my pioneer roommate and another flunky made the appointment. It was a disaster... from the girls' point of view. My pioneer partner became totally enamored with her. He thought he was the smartest person in the world, and was relentless in his efforts to show off how big of a peanut he was. She was a tall, young, intelligent woman, and a manager at IBM. She had little patience for his chauvinism and arrogance, and she generally got the upper hand of their cajones competition which went on for a while. They never dated again. Wynne and I got along fine but never actually made another time to date. We lived 70 miles apart.
It didn't matter much to try again, both Wynne and myself soon got our invites to Bethel, and it was her St. Louis roommate that made all the moves for my attention from that point.
She married Warren Pake.... a really nice guy as I remember him. I always wondered what their relationship was really like. She was very smart but could also be mean about it. I often wondered if he was really up to the task. They left Bethel before me as I remember and I only recall her as unhappy at the end. Anyway, I wish the best for them... wherever they landed.
Tom, you mentioned Arizona. You know, the brother that came in with his family (wife, kids and all) to ensure that the new IBM 370's went and stayed online was from IBM in Arizona. I wonder if she took a job back at IBM with this connection now well established?
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Warren Schroeder from Bethel on Freddy, Kline and the apostate books!
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The new christian ministry.... mastering Copy/Paste. I think Luke and Matthew would have appreciated your skills when they plagarized Mark.
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Warren Schroeder from Bethel on Freddy, Kline and the apostate books!
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Well then, here, you might truly enjoy these photo's I 'stumbled' upon:
...some link...
sKallyI missed the pics ... where are they?
I did find one of Jesus getting married standing next to his pregnant wife.
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Warren Schroeder from Bethel on Freddy, Kline and the apostate books!
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"I think you guys need to name names. Why do they need protecting? If that kind of activity really happened it needs to be publicized."
When I wore diapers in Bethel, it was very reassuring to know that Randy never would give away my name. Whoever said it was womens underwear was lying!!! -
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Warren Schroeder from Bethel on Freddy, Kline and the apostate books!
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Who is the barber?
Can't name the barber.... sorry. There was at least one gay bethelite clearance event that took its toll on the factory barber shop personnel one year. Apparently, the dismissed group was large enough to warrant a cozy manly talk by Dan Sydlik (he always came across as the bethel stud, the robust man with the beautiful young wife) to several hundred of us about the dangers of giving backrubs and how it leads to intimate same sex relationships.
Obviously, the bethel elders listened to the testimony of the recently dismissed backrub party crowd, and with their combined wisdom figured out that masturbation and backrubs can lead to homosexuality. Bethel brothers be forewarned.... it can happen to you!
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Warren Schroeder from Bethel on Freddy, Kline and the apostate books!
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Personally, I did not suffer greatly in my Bethel experience, although there were some rough patches. Greg had gone ahead by a few years and prepared a house for me. I was already considered a token Bethelite because of frequent visits on weekends (yes, I could afford to fly up for the weekend and buy all the beer). As Greg mentioned, Bert Schroeder accepted him as a second son, and I also benefited by simple proximity besides being a namesake.
Back in Missouri, I was sick of pioneering and was totally depressed, even though my business was doing quite well. I was beginning to tire of my pioneer partners in the congregation and was ready for a complete overhaul emotionally/intellectually/spiritually. Bethel was perfect for me. New York was energetic and I was soon accepted into a group of liberal intellectuals/scholars right from the start.
My newboy instructor was R. Lengtat. Because of Greg, RL later let me participate in a bible study in his room which included my brother and his roommate. He was always wary of me because of my newfound enthusiasm for fresh ideas, which he thought would find their way back to himself through the wrong channels.
I was actually reading the Bible for the first time in my life and now the questions started. I was a raised a JW and had never deliberately read whole books of the Bible. Every new Bethelite is required to read the Bible cover to cover in his first year. This requirement would be the start of some eye-opening information and would soon change my world view as a JW. Did I mention I was developing a collection of Bible commentaries by worldly authors? My biggest supplier of these books was Ciro Alicino. But not too much time would pass when being a liberal thinking JW was not fun any more. There were the thought police, and then the requirements of the religion were becoming difficult to manage with my new beliefs about christianity. I was beginning a non-doctrinal phase.
I finally left Bethel and my next move to becoming an inactive and invisible JW was not a difficult decision, and actually not too hard to do living in NYC. A couple address changes and you're free of the elder calls/visits. Now all the impositions of guilt by others would go away.... and they did.
Warren
