bethelite kills self because of guilt 10/31/73 (page 2)

Tallyman

There to our surprize, they were taking the stiff body of James Olsen out of the bushs. Tom Combs {overseer of 4th job press} said "he MUST have done something REALLY bad to have killed himself!"

Yes, Jim Olson (spelled with an 'o', not an 'e', just for the record)
"did something REALLY bad"... he CAME TO BETHEL!

I knew Jim Olson. He was the LAST kid who should ever have come to the Big House. He was of very delicate constitution, small and frail
to boot. A very sensitive young man. We came in together in May of 1973 as "new boys".

I left the city for Watchtower Farms in late September of 1973,
and a couple of months later, word came down that Jim had jumped
off a building, killing himself. Before I knew ANY details,
I just knew the pressure, the horrible stress of Bethel slavery,
had gotten to him.

It tore me up.

The Thursday before Oct. 30th I saw him on my elevator, fighting back the tears, "whats wrong?" I asked. He said "he just couldn't take in any more and left bethel a week ago,{A.W.O.L} went home---------and told his parents. They said "You are a reproach to us the family, and the organization---- and you wiil be going back!" They called Max Larsen {the factory overseer} and begged for another chance for their son. -----------Well after 2 hours in Max's office telling him what a disapointment he was to his family, he left, the loneliest person on the planet. With another chance? "well you only got 3 years 6 months left".

Wanna hear something even sicker?

Less than 6 months later, a new boy shows up at the Farm
assigned to my department, magazine subscriptions, except to foreign,
not domestic... and his name was Marvin Olson.

Marvin was the younger brother of Jim Olson.
He was chunky, of sturdier stock than his older brother Jim,
and it wasn't long before we realized that Marvin Olson
had been SENT to Bethel, as a "replacement" for his fallen brother,
to "save" the family's theocratic reputation, to restore their
besmirched "honor" that had shamed the parents when Jim Olson
jumped off that building in Brooklyn.

Ohh, Marvin did just great.
He kissed ass. Played Bethel Politics, and climbed the ladder.
Of course, Marvin was under CONSIDERABLE pressure to perform well,
and he did NOT disappoint his "loving" parents...

Jim Olson, R.I.P.

LOve, Tom Talley

dungbeetle

You guys should send this story to the Oregonian.

and add this or something like it:

this is how I explain it--very simply:

When your car is broken, you take it to an auto mechanic and not to a carpenter.

When your washing machine is broken, you call in an appliance repairperson and not the Catholic priest.

When confronted with someone who is exhibiting symptoms of depressions, bi-polar disorder or other mental illness, Watchtower elders call in the literature, meetings and filed service instead of a physician and mental health professional.

And we all know why.

so you see, everyone can imagine how expulsion'shunning(or the threat of it)can affect a HEALTHY individual---imagine the effect on someone suffering from undiagnosed and untreated clinical depression or worse...and that's how the Bryants and the Longos and the Freemans and the Stovalls happen.

Or a James Olsen ...may they ALL rest in peace and never be forgotten.

metatron

Few of you will ever understand what Bethel was like in the 1970's.
You just had to be there to fully appreciate the negative,
harsh sweatshop atmosphere of the place.

The lying bastards who ran the place knew they had slaves
they could abuse and mistreat. It wasn't just the shame of
not making your four years that drove brothers to stay at
Bethel - some even after losing all faith in God or the Watchtower!

During the 70's, the draft was on and getting a deferment
was very difficult for many brothers, especially in conservative
areas. If you left, "before your four years" were up, they refused
to let you regular pioneer - which meant that the Society put
you in jeopardy for a prison sentence - for draft evasion
(unless you wanted to risk dying in Vietnam).

Years at Bethel took an emotional toll on me. After I left,
I still had dreams about waking up there - with prison bars
on the windows. I guess I continued "in the truth" by putting
it all out of my mind. I can't tell you how awful it was it for
me and countless other brothers who hated waking up every
morning in that place - the depression, the nervous breakdowns,
and the brothers who cranked out millions of books - for an
organization they despised. Ask veterans of that era about
how Bethelites would commonly reply to "how long you 'been here?"
with answers that sounded like a prison sentence - "two years,
three months, fourteen days ...." - it really used to irritate
Knorr!

When I post on this board, perhaps in obsession, I can feel
the horror of those years compelling me - even thou they are
long past.

The final lesson? Never, never, never, never, never, never,
never, never, never, never place your life and wellbeing
in the control of the Watchtower Society.

never

metatron

Satanus

Met

In which bethel were you?

SS

happy man

Tallyman.
What a coinsdidens, i was on watchtower farm on a visit 1973, so perhaps we hade seen ech other, only one day , it was a stopp on the tripp to niagara falls, but i stoppd inn the farm dont want to see niagara, soething i regrett, my biggest memori was the smell of piggs...

joelbear

Tally,

You were at the farm in subscriptions? Small world. I was at the farm in subscriptions in 1978. I worked a graphotype machine until I was dismissed in December of that year.

Tom Talley? Were you still around in 1978. Could this be our chance to bond?

I can't remember hardly any of the names of the people I worked with in there. I lived in E building.

My dismissal process was not fun. I was terrified of being sent home in disgrace. It was very perfunctory and businesslike. I remember the guy that drove me to the airport basically just dropping me at the curb and saying, seeya, even though I wasn't disfellowshipped and so was still his "brother".

Oh well

Joel

Tallyman

Tallyman.
What a coinsdidens, i was on watchtower farm on a visit 1973 [...] soething i regrett, my biggest memori was the smell of piggs...

Ohhh, Hoppy mon.. dat no guud.

What hoppen ?

Go se jehuvva farm, yah, an whot make you think most of?

PEG Sheat! POoo!

Whot Hoppened fine jehuvva kindgum werk?

Yu no oponed eyse?

Onlee sniff-snif?

~ ~ POooo ~ ~

Bangalore

Quite a shocking story.

Bangalore

Gustv Cintrn

Terrible story in which many are to blame.

1973 was still very dark everywhere when it came to issues of depression. Many of these such stories in all different settings.

Sad.

GC

sparky1

This story needs to be told and retold many times over. Marvin Olson was my roommate for a time at Watchtower Farms. This is not some made up and contrived story. The Olson brothers came from a 'very theocratic family'. In fact, their grandfather had been a Circuit Overseer. The mother struck me as a real cold BITCH and the father was sort of a 'milquetoast'. Poor Jimmy never had a chance being born into such a family. Many 'theocratic' families sacrifice their children on the 'altar' of full time service for the prestige, prominence and accolades to be gained in the eyes of other witnesses. We should never let the memory of such 'sacrificed' ones go unhonored. Thanks Bangalore for 'bumping' this thread. I have been looking for it for a long time!

(As a side note: I think that I remember joelbear at Watchtower Farms. If he is who I think he is, he had guts. He was being chewed out by that complete a-hole Alan Flowers once and when 'Brother' Flowers was finished joelbear said to him: Thanks Mister Flowers and walked away!)

bethelite kills self because of guilt 10/31/73

Share this