Anyone remember Joe Swearinger, I think his wife was Debbie. I hear they are in the Carolinas now. They were in Arizonia at one time, maybe 10 years ago. They worked the Georgia circuit around 4-5 years ago.
Circuit & District Overseers That You Remember On The East Coast
by minimus 55 Replies latest members private
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minimus
In the late 70s I remember a CO from the Boston/ Roxbury area. He was a very sharply dressed black man. His wife also was well dressed and I remember they had a big car, a Caddy, I believe. He was a very good speaker. I heard he left the "Truth" and went with another woman.
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Gram
Bill and Lorraine Humphrey?
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truthsetsonefree
I can't believe that I can't remember his name!
Minimus: That shows how far you've come.
Mike Emilio I knew before he became a CO. He's from NYC. Hurst's wife passed away a few years ago.
Isaac
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Dismembered
Hey Min,
Is it true that dirt bag Angelacos gave you a spiritual whoopin?
Dismembered
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Sunspot
We moved away from MA the year after I was baptized (1972) and I just don't recall the names of any CO's from that year.
The only name I recognize from these posts is Humer. I thought he was okay...his wife seemed very nice. Both personable folks.
From central NY I remember Arthur Stevens. He was boring and his talks were worse. An old stern cut and dried JW with a a wife to match. I literally PRAYED that I wouldn't be chosen to "work with them". I was uncomfortable with both of them and shuddered when either of them was around
I remember Tony DiCenti....I had mixed feelings about. He was quite a character! He could be rather overwhelming, as was his wife.
John and Ann Adams....nice folks. We had a get-together in a local State Park here before they left, and they just were so down-to-earth. I like that in people, especially those that others put on a pedestal.
Ray Guizdowski.....I liked him....many didn't. I actually enjoyed an afternoon "working" with him. He was quite funny in a car group and had lots of interesting and humorous stories to share.
hugs,
Annie
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minimus
Dis, that Angelacos was not a nice man. He was full of poop.
Gram, Humphrey?? to be honest I don't remember the name just that he was a very magnetic type of guy that had presence. I remember I left a wedding in Brewer Maine, drove all the way down to near the Cape but not that far, and it had to be around 1978. I believe the Hall had an elder named DeKofski that took care of the public talks.
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Seeker4
Ah, lots of memories here! I'd forgotten some of the names, so thanks for the reminders.
John and Mella Casino were old friends going way back. They've stayed over the house many times. My ex-wife told me John was quite upset when he heard I'd left the Witnesses.
Ray Hayes - the best CO ever. He had more doubts about the WTS than I did! He absolutely knows "the truth about the Truth!" and is very discouraged over the course of the WTS. An elder in CA the last I talked with him.
Paul Illingworth - I was his assistant at many a DConvention in the Chairman's Office. Very bright, full of himself, left Bethel Writing because I think he was sick of Bethel politics. Essentially made up his own talks for the assemblies and conventions. Told a story about meeting donald Trump and witnessing to him in a chairlift skiing!
Frank Bartel - A pretty good guy.
Frank Hans - Another good friend. Unlike many another traveling brother, Frank and his wife took me and my wife out to a great, and expensive, dinner one night. I taught a Pioneer School with Frank, and I have great memories of him. I hear he's gone blind now and is in Texas.
Roger Insellman - Seriously a company man and not well liked at all. Roger was a bit of a prig. A big prig.
Tom Chin or Walden Chin - I knew them both well, and they married very close friends of mine from my wife's congregation, so saw a lot of them over the years. Walden is totally full of himself and rides the CO/DO glory train for all it's worth. Likes his money. They'd been Bethelites. Not related to each other, but both Chinese. I've seldom seen a good comment about either here online.
Henry Casper - I taught a Pioneer School with Henry. An OK guy, but a complete company man without an original thought. His wife had been a talented ballerina before becoming a Witness, I mean on a huge scale. Too bad for her she had to leave it all behind. I liked his brother in Maine a lot, and that Caspar's wife (Barbara?) and I got along well as she had always wanted to be a writer and we talked about that a lot when we saw each other at a DC. She was quite beautiful.
Wade Paine - our CO the year after I'd stepped down as an elder. A pain in the ass, for sure. Arrogant and demeaning.
Arnie Schneider - The CO when I stepped down. Met with me the next night to try to get me to change my mind, but I refused. Probably a good guy.
Angelo Catanzaro - I knew him when he was a teenaged CO - yep!! Too much power too young. Bright, but ambitoius, and a company man. I worked with him a lot a decade or two later.
Clayton Peace - Perhaps the most hated CO I ever knew. I was about 12 when he served our congregation, and I was one of the few kids he actually liked. I have a vague memory of sitting with him during one of the sessions at the International Convention at Yankee Stadium in the early 60s. Treated his wife like shit.
Sam Herd - Had him as DO and an Elder School instructor. Not the sharpest tool in the shed, but probably thinks he is. I've heard talks since then he's given that are just embarrassing for the ignorance he comes out with. I've heard that some are so bad they've been the tipping point for some troubled elders to quit.
Dennis Raftopolis - A friend. I used to read the scriptures for him when he was our district overseer and gave talks at the CAssemblies. It saved his voice. Never heard a story from another religion that he wouldn't plagarize as his own. Did a mean John Wayne impersonation. I've worked with him in service many times, and he'd never hesitate to place three or four books on any calls you took him on! When in a talk at a convention I expressed the idea that many older ones were discouraged to have grown old in this system and to have lived far longer past when they thought the New System would be here. He confided to me later that that was true of himself and his wife. Has died now, I think.
Don Mendenhall - Another friend, and a huge influence on me as a young elder and Pioneer. He once told me privately that he was saddened by his not being able to get a college education.
Terry Barnes - A very close friend with whom I had many a conversation about issues, both when he was my CO and later when he was an elder in the same circuit. He loaned me his Pioneer School instruction book when I was teaching Pioneer School where his congregation was the host, and I took every one of his notes from it and copied them into my book! He was a talented teacher and a former missionary in Africa. That's where he'd gotten ill. I saw him a few years ago when I was in Burlington, VT. He was quite upset and had a long talk with my wife when he found I'd left the Witnesses.
There are a couple of others there that I can't remember the names, but thanks for the memories!
S4
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NotBlind
DO Sam Herd - Everybody seemed to enjoy his talks, of course that was 25 years ago.
DO Joseph Howard - About 20 years ago, he had a sister on the Ministry School at the Circuit Assembly in tears from the critical harsh 'counsel' he gave. Not well-liked in the district.
DO Joseph Wengert - Grandfatherly figure, seemed nice enough. Never met him personally.
DO Louis Beda - I think they had a cat. Don't remember much else about the guy.
DO Bob Hartman - It seemed like he was in Alaska for a time and talked about how cold is was (-30 degrees) and they STILL went out in service.
DO Steve Konjevich - Seemed nice enough, and I remember he always wanted his lunches at the Kingdom Hall. Made a big deal about people's ethnicity and nationalities.
DO Wallace Goff - Was a MTS instructor, and rarely showed up to circuit assemblies. Pretty personable guy, though.
CO Melvin Branam - Nice guy, always had time for people. Spent time with families and encouraged children. Liked to sit in the back of the Kingdom hall so he could talk to people. Probably my all-time favorite CO.
CO Robert Wickers - Seemed a little full of himself. Not the best speaker.
CO Michael Swanson - Seemed very intelligent. Didn't say much, but he was very perceptive.
CO Stanley Coberly - Former missionary who was sent home from Honduras after getting malaria. Single CO. Nice enough guy, but not much of a speaker. Not the most memorable CO.
CO Arnie Erickson - They were from Minnesota. Still had a motorhome years after the other CO's were forced to give theirs up. Older couple - I think his wife's name was Rusty or something like that.
CO Stephen Miller - Young couple who were very idealistic and zealous. They had a heart and really wanted to help people, as far as I could tell.
After that it gets kind of fuzzy.