What Were Your Elders Real World Jobs?

pale.emperor

We all know that education is severely demonized in this religion. And that the elders are appointed based on how many meetings they attend, hours they put in on the ministry and general attitude to other elders (as apposed to, you know, actual theological training and counseling) - so my question is, what were your elders occupations outside the Kingdom Hall?

In my old congregation our elders consisted of:

A bus driver

Two gardeners

A window washer

An office stationery monitor

The only one with any real education was one that taught blind kids to read braille. And fair play to him for that - credit where credit's due.

So imagine my surprise when the two gardeners and the stationery monitor tell me off for questioning 607 BCE which a pastry chef in Bethel had probably thought up one day.

punkofnice

Window cleaner.

3 x Retired.

Medically retired on mental grounds.

Engineer.

Waste recycler.

Temp office worker.

Travelling salesman.

This is not just 1 body, but those I recall.........

Tallon

I’ve attended a number of congregations over the years and these were the professions that I know some of the Elders had;

3 were company directors

2 were medical doctors (GP & Anaesthetist)

3 were architects

Some were involved with finance (accountants)

Some were tradesman (fitter & turners, electricians, electro-mech technicians)

1 was a branch manager of a retail store

1 was a lawyer

A good number of Elders were retired

… and many that I did not know what their occupations were.

blondie

Independently wealthy - nonjw family money

construction contractor (family business)

tenured music professor (had degree before becoming a jw)

Commercial real estate agent

Residential real estate agent

IT Manager

Firefighter

EMT

Carpet installer own business

Semi-truck driver long distance

Car salesman independent/auction

Pharmaceutical salesman

Medical equipment/repair & sales

Big box manager

Dairy farmer

Cattle rancher

Music teacher/guitar & piano

Electrical engineer

Mechanical engineer

Architect

Carpenter

Electrician

Plumber

Owner of cleaning company

Furniture store owner/manager

Barber/own business

(All fairly successful enough to support themselves)

Giordano

which a pastry chef in Bethel had probably thought up one day.

Over qualification...... is chef even a Bethel position lol.

Well in my day Elder's didn't exist. We had presiding ministers and assn't presiding minister which was I...... C average HS student but....... I was quick smart.

One was a disc jockey/radio announcer and ex missionary.

One was cartoonist for a daily newspaper. I think he drew Batman. The story was written by others and he illustrated it. Took an hour or two each day. Then a messenger showed up to collect the work. He probably loved the meetings so he could be around people.

One managed a parking lot....... handed out a ticket and made change when needed.

Another was a handyman. Another an auto mechanic. Of course this was an era....... late 1950's to early 1960's where few people had college backgrounds. So we never thought about the education issue for people who had enormous authority.

The JW NW BibleTranslation had five people on that committee..... only one had some college (Franz....... no degree though).

never a jw

No window washers here. Through the years in my wife's Spanish congregation I recall elders working as

mechanic

baker in supermarket store

self employed (cranes service)

court translator

clerk for title company

retired (sales)

The female pioneers and otherwise almost all house cleaners

slimboyfat

In the mid 1990s as best I recall:

A retired bus driver

A heating engineer in charge of a hospital (don't even know the correct name for this job but quite skilled)

An electrical engineer for a large company (also skilled job)

A pharmaceutical representative (don't know how highly skilled but certainly well paid)

A factory worker (not sure what this involved)

A supermarket shop worker (also pioneer and from MTS)

A retail worker (another pioneer from MTS)

I don't know the congregation well enough now to say how all the elders are employed. But I do know there are at least 4 retired brother and 2 unemployed/caregivers serving as elders.

rebelfighter

Punkofnice,

An Engineer how did that happen (lol) wasn't he over qualified?

After reading this forum I have determined that the "Elder" was over qualified and most definitely working in Satan's organization (just saying, not sure how that worked but he bent a lot of the rules)

PS I started to answer when this had only one answer then 2 little two year olds got out of hand.LOL Lots of professional have popped up since.

Tallon

A heating engineer in charge of a hospital (don't even know the correct name for this job but quite skilled) ... Slimboyfat.

HVAC Engineer - Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning. A skilled trade.

freddo

COBE - Retired Double Glazing Salesman

Service Overseer - Retired Builder

Secretary - Retired Insurance Broker Branch Manager

WT overseer - Window Washer

CLAM (TMS) overseer - Alarm Installer

Other elder one - Retired Telecoms Engineer

Other elder two - Retired self employed Courier "Man with a Van"

Other elder three - Window Washer

~~Other elder four~~ - Just died (Retired Janitor)

What Were Your Elders Real World Jobs?

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