Name the CO's you can recall..... favorites? (page 18)

coffee_black

Andy Wagner... (my uncle but that was many years ago...he died in 1964)

Paul Havilan (Close friends with my parents)

George Karamalis (tried to get my Dad to step down because I attended college...my Dad won)

Belfiore (hated me)

Blue (can't remember his first name)

Lyle Reusch

Steven Lett

Alan Hood...but not as a CO... he was in our cong. before he became one...unimpressive except for the accent...

That's amazing... in for 38 years, and that's all I can think of at the moment...

Coffee

frozen one

I could not remember any names but one. Then another popped to mind.

I remember the Sovereigns. Rufus and Gathel maybe? Ring any bells? Rufus knew how to make pizzas. This was back in the mid to late 60's. Being a little kid I was awe struck that someone could throw pizza dough in the air. If he had stayed in the pizza business he might have been a multi-millionaire. I thought they were nice people but then again what does a first grader notice about people.

The other one was Jerry Burgess. He was a nice enough guy, but sadly he was the CO that gave me the "why waste your time going to college" speech. His little chat played a big part in my dropping out of school. While he probably meant well it doesn't stop me from hoping he is living his twilight years in a run down mobile home and greeting shoppers at Wal-Mart to make ends meet. About the only grudge against someone I've kept.

I do recall what several of the CO's looked like and a couple bits of their life stories. One of them was supposedly a minor league baseball player who was offered a major league contract about the same time he started studying with the JW's. He turned down the contract and lived happily ever after. The end.

merfi

Gary and Barbara Holmes. They stayed with us the years that they visited. Really nice couple who had raised kids, therefore understood those of us with kids too. Sense of humor and seems to have a thinking streak -- so hopefully someday he'll see the 'light'

Paul Mosji (sp?) The one that is still CO in my old congregation. I don't know much about him. He didn't reply to my letter I wrote saying our elders are hurting the flock. Might have something to do with the copy of my 1200 word DA letter I also included...

Scott something or other. Seemed nice on the outside, but had a creepy feeling vibe about him.

AK - Jeff

I scanned all 8 pages and was surprised that no one mentioned (sorry if I missed it) Floyd Kite. He was probably by far the most animated CO.

I met Floyd Kite after he left the CO/DO work. He was in management for Trim-Line [ an all witness auto trim business], and he came to speak at the Trim-Line seminar in Indianapolis. One of his main line of thinking was to be careful not to try and make too much money since 'Armageddon was right over the horizon.' That must of have been about 1978 or so.

Jeff

Seeker4

Wow - recognize so many of the names on this thread:

Tom and Marion Chin - She was a friend since childhood. Tom seemed like a nice guy, but I have no idea how they were as COs.

Walden and MaryLou Chin - Also knew from childhood. I'll bet he was a real dickhead. Arrogant company man.

Ray Hayes - Out of the work now, but one of the best. Had really serious doubts about the WTS, which we shared one day after I'd left. Ray once told a fellow elder and myself that the best thing we could do to help him out as CO was to help him teach the friends that not everything they hear from the platform is straight from the mouth of Jehovah! A real good guy.

Roger Inselman - Nice wife. He was kind of a stiff jerk.

Frank Bartell - Little Caesar.

Frank Hans - A great guy. Retired now to Texas. His wife was the rough one.

Don Mendenhall - A good friend. Told me once how much he'd wanted to go to college.

Dennis Raftopoulos - Would plagarize anything he thought sounded clever and present it in his talks as original. Next thing I know I'd hear the same thing on some Christian radio broadcast! I used to read all the verses for him when he gave his talks - to save his voice.

Henry Caspar - I taught a pioneer school with him. Pretty straight laced.

Wade Payne - Completely lived up to his last name.

Paul Illingworth - I worked as his assistant at many a district convention. He was in the writing department at Bethel for some time. He left Bethel because I think he got tired of dealing with Bethel politics. He liked getting into Greek word meanings. I liked his wife.

Sam Herd - My last DO, and one of my elder school instructors. Liked to play the good ol boy.

Clayton Peace - One of the most disliked men I've ever met. Surprisingly, when I was about 12, he took a liking to me and took me with him in service all the time. Surprising, because he disliked kids. Treated his wife like shit.

George and Neva Krysinowski - One of my first COs from back in the early 1960s. I'm guessing at his first name, but they were wonderful. My family, including my very young, pre-teen self, balled our eyes out when they left the circuit. I think I had a pre-adolescent crush on her. She was the fastest typist I've ever seen. Beautiful and nice.

Terry and Sherry Barnes - Terry became a close friend. Out of the work due to his health, but he was a real good guy.

John Peterson - Cool wife. He was arrogant and inflated with his own importance. I understand he has left the Witnesses.

John Crispin - A long time family friend. His wife, Mella (?), was a lot of fun. John seemed a good guy.

Scott Cunningham - Not in the work long, but a friend.

George Kraynak - Don't remember anything about him.

Nick Parfomchuck - An elder from my circuit that was made a CO. Always wondered how good he was. Had two cool daughters!

Don Amy - I liked him.

Richard Leighton - He was another elder from my circuit that went into CO work. He was a strange one. Anyone have any info on him?

Charles Henry - This name goes way back. Not many personal memories, but I've known him from forever.

This is nowhere near a complete list, but this thread has brought back many memories. In the Witness world, these people can have an incredible influence on you, especially if you were an elder, pioneer or "reaching out."

Thanks for the thread.

S4

uninformed

Valiant Boy,

They guy was a total ass to do that to you. What a jerk:

I never had Lynn Godfrey as CO, but he and Douglas Mercier were my pioneer school instructors. They were both nice, but Godfrey struck me as a bit uncomfortable being in a position of authority.
and since I see someone else who liked CR "Dick" Jones, I'll explain why I had a problem with him. Once, myself, Sister Jones and a local pioneer sister were in service in a rural area and had car problems. I am not at all mechanically inclined and I did not know how to fix the problem, so we had to call the pio sister's husband. He and Dick came to pick us up. Dick gave me a VERY hard time about not knowing how work on the car and referred to me as "sister". It really pissed me off and embarrassed me. So I never really cared for him after that. Also he liked to play basketball with some of the other young guys in the congregation. I was not very good at sports either so he gave me a really hard time about that. He also made it a point to let me know that he had seen "homos" in the organization before and they always got find out. I was sixteen at the time and a regular and trying my hardest to live in accordance with what I thought was the truth. To have someone pick up on the fact that I was perhaps struggling with that issue and then, instead of helpiing me or encouraging me, use it as a reason to ridicule me was just really crappy and mean spirited.

I thought of another that wasn't mentioned here:

Fred Lanier-------He and his wife Betty (?) stayed with us every visit. At least one or two nights of his visit he and I would drink a Fift of Jack Daniels, with grape juice. He claimed that the grape juice protected him from the hangover.

In the mornings, early, he would get up and suck salt water up his nose to keep his sinuses clear.

He was quite a guy, and a lot of fun. Don't remember anything bad about him.

Thanks, Lo-ruhamah. Dave Schroeder.

Fanghorn, you are so right in your assesments of the ones you mentioned that I knew.

Brant

Matty

We also had an Indian guy as CO at one time, can't recall his name though. I think he had been adopted by British parents when he was young.

That would be Ray Shah.

wonderwoman

I'm trying my hardest to remember any of them...the only one I can remember is Gary and Regina Wells. I absolutely loved them I wanted them to be my parents.

Name the CO's you can recall..... favorites?

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