My father was an elder from age 18 (appointed back when congregations were still segregated in the U.S. and they needed literate black men to lead) to age 73, when younger elders, new to the congregation he'd built (he was a special pioneer here when there was only one congregation, now there are 32; he designed the first KH here that was Society-owned and not a rented storefront; and my parents donated the property on which the KH I grew up in was built next door to my childhood home). All because of my apostasy supposedly. It broke his heart. He gave the congregation so much more time and attention than he gave us kids or my mom. My siblings are happy about it though (even those who are still dubs) - they say it's better for his health. He's still everybody in the cong's primary caregiver, fiscal sponsor, and spiritual adviser. Which I knoooow those new elders are so mad about. I do feel like he's stopped trying as hard to convert me since then though. He even made a passing comment to me about how 'different this new set is.' His contemporaries locally were not this backbiting and devious. In his altruism, he really was was unnerved by the ways in which these outsiders maneuvered. TBH I think the real reason was that they were scared of the power he had over the congregation. He studied with, married, conducted the funerals of pretty much everybody in this city. I still think that most of them would follow him if he left.