Ignorant Judgemental CO's and DO's

by Scully 58 Replies latest jw friends

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  RunningMan

  Freepeace and Quotes: Wow, small world. I also knew Jack Danley. He served in Western Canada in the mid-70s, and stayed at my parents house more than once. He had a voice that could surely call back persons from the dead. No one would sit in the front rows.

  I can recall one incident when his wife planned a special event for their host family (not us). She gave a list of ingredients to the sister, and then cooked a meal of chinese food for them. That was actually rather nice. After the meal, she itemized the cost of the food, telling them how much this would have cost in a restaurant. I think she was fishing for a contribution. She never got one.
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  TMS

  Room 215:

  I did exactly that at the elders' meeting with the CO which proved to be my last ever, when I reacted to an order from him, (Floyd Adams, by the way), to ``back off and contact the Society'' whenever a JW facing a judicial committee threatens to bring in a lawyer.

  Raising my hand, I asked him whether a true shepherd would be expected to lay down his life for the sheep. Taking the bait, he replied in the affirmative. ``Then, if we're contemplating the removal of an immoral or dangerous person from our midst, why should we be deterred by any threat of a lawsuit? And if we were to lose any of our financial or other material assets in such a lawsuit, would we not regard it as suffering a loss for righteousness sake. Why should our fear of losing our material goods deter us from protecting the little sheep in our charge?

  Much like the stereotypical dumbfounded clergymen of Watchtower lore, Adams turned beet red, and stammered something about ``well, that comes down from the District Overseer.''

  
  Just a tiny little episode that mirrors what Room 215 shared:

  Gerald Grizzle, District Overseer, was handling his portion of the meeting with the elders at the circuit assembly. He was discussing the need to honor the sensibilities of church people in our communities with respect to our dress and grooming.(This was in the 70's, just after the pants suit fiasco.) Grizzle said we should pay attention to how the parishioners dress for church in our area and dress accordingly. He was really stretching to find some sort of leverage on dress and grooming the Bible didn't necessarily provide.

  Danny N., a younger elder, raised his hand and was recognized by Grizzle: "With all due respect, Brother Grizzle, SINCE WHEN do we allow Christendom to dictate OUR standards?"

  Grizzle was visibly annoyed by that question and mumbled something about following precisely an outline from the "slave". All the power went out of his delivery and I recall he turned the meeting over to the CO rather abruptly.

  TMS
• 

  Kismet

  Wow...all these names from the past... shudder

  Jack Danley - an abrasive man to be sure. I saw him during some softer moments in dealing with people but he comes from da Judge's school of thought...beat em over the head until they get it!!. Many humourous memories of his voice squeaking away when he got excited on the platform... The best one was when he was talking about service and the need for publishers to be sure to put in some time each month "because of all bro (squeak)thers.. (squeaking again) irregularity is not a pretty thought!"

  Scully I am racking my brain trying to think of who that trailer toting CO was. I know Pasternak served your area for a while... Wasn't Johnson the DO there too? Zenny is a good man. I know all his family very well too.

  I got to know most of the DO's pretty ewll and not one of them ever really impressed me much.

  Ernie Pandachuk was one of the good ones. As was George & Alice Krushelnicki (da Krusher).

  ahh nothing funnier than people sometimes.

  Kismet
• 

  Scully

  Kismet,

  The CO who had a travel trailer was Grant Sonmore. He was also the one reputed to be the "most expensive" CO ever in the congregations where I knew him.

  Oh yeah, and Wayne Johnson..... what a piece of work! A totally judgemental and self-righteous pr!ck.... He was the one I to whom I was referring in the first post at the beginning of this thread!

  Love, Scully
• 

  Moxy

  danley: remember famous talking about "fiiiive minutes" -- the length of time it takes to commit immorality and lose your eternal life. he would belabor the fiiive minutes with fingers stretched out to illustrate. his poor wife...

  wayne johnson: hard to take, but his wife grace was a babe for a mature woman! i once shocked my friend by seeing him come up behind me at an assembly while i happened to be mentioning something about him and saying right to him, 'hey, speak of the devil.' (i think i also shocked the PO once by remarking at how attractive grace was.)

  ernie & emily pandechuk: i agree, they were nice. just like sweet grandparents.

  my favourite though was lawrence "larry" thompson. very experienced and a great speaker. now looking back i cringe at some of the logistical nightmares he would use to prove points but at the time it was such a very entertaining and inspiring experience to listen to him.

  mox
• 

  William Penwell

  As far as I am concerned the CO and DO are nothing but a bunch of cheep free loading bastards that if they had to, could never hold down a day to day job, like the rest of us suckers have to do.

  Will

  "I am quite sure now that often, very often, in matters concerning religion and politics a man's reasoning powers are not above the monkey's."
  Mark Twain
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  mrs rocky2

  Hungry4life: I had a similar experience with the hot water, but it was the CO. We lived in a tiny apartment, no dining table, just a bar so you could see the stove from where we were eating. I heard the tea kettle start to boil, but didn't let it whistle. He made me dump the tea out and re-boil the water until the whistle screamed. Also, he criticized the meal I prepared - teriyaki chicken, including the backs, and rice (can't remember what else I served). We were extremely poor at the time. So we didn't waste anything. There were plenty of other pieces of chicken, I didn't insist he eat the backs - my hubbie was glad to eat backs, wings, whatever was left over after our guests were served. He implied by his comments that I insulted him by serving him rice. Being of a mixed Asian background rice is a staple in my diet. Needless to say, we didn't invite them back.
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  frankiespeakin

  Scully,

  I can just picture it in my mind. That was great you really told him to mind his own business. Priceless!
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  joenobody

  I vaguely recall Wayne Johnson, but can't remember any particular experiences. I remember my brother saying good things about Zenny Pasternak. The real piece of work of David Wells. He was probably the cockiest CO I ever met. I guess his dad was a big-wig in the area and when Wells Jr. got assigned to the circuit it was a bit of a homecoming tour of duty for him. Excellent speaker and never boring to listen to, he definitely put every elder on edge. I can remember some of the old-timers like being a little uneasy with him and not sure what he was going to come up with. As to the comment early in this thread about a CO who said anyone watching the Simpsons was stupid, Wells recounted a Simpsons episode in one of his talks (about Lisa and Bart hugging the TV, and how it raised them) which let me know he wasn't a humourless stiff. We had them over to dinner and he was gracious, but all they could do was talk about pioneering etc as per usual and how good a life it was etc. He definitely wanted people sucking up to him and it kinda made me sick when a few of my friends rally went overboard with their personality transformation when he was around. I will also give Wells credit for this - he was a straight-shooter. He let you know if he liked you or not and he didn't hide his agenda.
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  battman

  I will always remember the time I was striving, brown nosing, for more privledges and Bros. Clayton Peace was visiting. My first chance to showcase my "talents" was working door to door with him. As we approached a door he said that this would be "his door". During the conversation with the householder I was struck with what I thought would be a helpful comment and joined in the discussion. The HH seemed satisfied with "our" presentation but as we walked away from the door C.P. said to me with an icy tone "I thought that was 'my' door".

  Later we were hosting Bro & Sis Peace for lunch. My wife left her Mac computer on the kitchen counter where it normally sat. I suggested that before their visit she discreetly hide it. My ever so subservient mate said NO that would be "dishonest". Well, when Bro. P entered our house he immediately spotted the computer but to my surprise was very interested in seeing how it worked. Unkown to my wife the last person to use the Mac was my younger daughter who changed the incorrect alert to a Fart sound. Needless to say Bro. P made plently of wrong choices and every time received a Bronx Cheer for his efforts. I truely thought that I would die laughing. I am still chuckling and that was many years ago.

  Battman