Just found out today that an old friend who was still a JW had died last week. I don't know how/why yet.
Me, my brother, mother, and father were at a new hall and we hadn't really broken into the clique yet. One day, shortly after my mother had died, there was a big group of the youth going to Six Flags. We decided to tag along. Brandon was the only one to show up out of over a dozen people in our age group who intended to go.
It started off as polite talk with what were basically strangers. At some point during that day, we found out we both drank and it changed our whole social life. We wound up getting a bit smashed and meeting/making out with some worldly girls. But back at the congregation, we were suddenly in the clique because we were "cool" and not straight laced.
Well, that lasted for a while until some people got a little out of control, got a conscience, and decided to confess and play all righteous from then on. Well, not us.
Brandon always came to us when he wanted to escape from that goody-two-shoes bit and then he went back to being righteous and snubbing us. And the circle continued.
Brandon had his own weaknesses like alcoholism and more than a couple drunk driving charges (thank goodness nobody was ever hurt). But I think he also blamed us for a lot of that. Or his parents had convinced him we were to blame.
The last time I saw him was at his wedding. We came unexpectedly (we had stopped attending, but it was kind of an open congregation invite). We gave him a gift and wished him well. He was trembling when we walked up to congratulate him. That was probably 15-20 years ago.
It's sad to hear he's gone. He's the first person I have called a close friend that has died.
The poor guy's life has been rough. His marriage failed. He had some sort of disease that had him walking with braces and apparently (from what I'm hearing now) was eating up his internal organs. Too bad he also had to live as a Witness. He would have been so much happier being free. Although if they controlled his drinking that was a good thing.
I'm really sad to see him go.