Peruser

Knew the Priesters when they were in northern VA back in the early 1990s; good people.

yep, just us chickens . . .pluck,pluck, pluck . . . . . .

Some thoughts: Callousness - can remember different situations over the years (~77-94) where the prevailing attitude toward was believe "the word" regardless of the situation. If people were having hard times, they needed to "believe," but that was never really well defined - particularly in my own mind. Reading posts along this topic got me thinking how we'd tell people to believe the word, and usually it meant whatever the "collaterals" said, reading the collaterals was a 'convenient' way of 'researching the scriptures' to find out if those things were so. In retrospect, i can recall how insensitive i'd began to get. Left (actually booted) in the early 1990s. That seemed to allow empathy and kindness to resurface in my life. Anyway, that was many years ago.

Dang, that brings back memories. I probably have a VCR tape somewhere. Funny thing, while i've had the tape for many years, i never watched it. Can someone help confirm my memory on this . . was there a live production of AOS in early 1985 at HQ - maybe February or March? Might have been the first live production? I recall traveling to HQ in early '85 with my wow family for some big doo - maybe was AOS. -per.

there 'may be' a 'bob h' on FB . . . - from rye ny, now in NJ

I generally remember VPW's reply when asked what he thought of the current President (at the time it was Carter) talking about being a Christian. He smiled and said, and i don't remember verbatim, but it was along the lines that the President talked about being a Christian merely to get votes. I think that statement colored my views for the next election when Reagan came in. This was at an 'ambassador one' weekend fly-in in 1978. One of the 'guests' had asked the question while we were visiting in the Wierwille home. I wasn't yet of voting age, but I kind of logged it into my thinking.

It's nice to enjoy events and living life without ulterior motivations/expectations imposed upon oneself.

Sometimes i like double or in this case a quadruple post - i need the repetition to remember it!!

The subject occasionally does come up - as in what the heck brought you to this part of the country - usually at the office, as opposed to away from the office where the question rarely comes up - the area is so very transient. I'm usually not evasive about it - it doesn't matter so much to me to tell people - but I don't tell just anyone the whole story. Sometimes, I'll just reply that it's a long story and offer to tell them about it sometime over a beer or two. Sometimes I'll say I was involved in a ministry outreach program that gave me the opportunity to move around a little. There are a few people at the office who know more of my story as I've had more lengthy discussions with them. One person I recently began working with regularly has heard of twi. We've had some interesting discussions about our respective beliefs. Some years ago - ten or twelve - I found that one of my co-workers used to be involved in twi. I noted some words the person used in a conversation one day. They mentioned being involved in a jesus movement - those weren't the exact words - I forget the precise wording, but at the time they sounded oddly familiar. I asked the person about it the next work day. They told me it was twi and that they'd been involved for only a couple years in the Baltimore area, and left left after becoming uncomfortable with some of the people. I don't recall now whether they had taken pfal or the later class. I then mentined I had been invovled for awhile - 20 yrs. We didn't talk much about the subject after that - not much to say. We both still work at the same place, but I rarely see the person as they're in a different parts of a large 'company.'

On Google Earth, you can see a large W in the hills located south of the eastern end of the airport runway.

On 9/11 I had an early morning flight from DC (Reagan National Arpt.) to Cincinnati, OH. I can remember my cabbie was about 30 minutes late picking me up, but made it to the airport in plenty of time. Landed in Cincy & arrived at my conference location sometime around 8:30 am. While waiting with others at the conference location, chatting and sipping coffee, the confernence coordinators (with a sense of seriousness) called everyone inside to watch some developing news on the tv. For the next hour or so we all sat there transfixed/dazed, as hell broke loose in the NYC, Washington, DC, and that field in PA. Finally, we had to shut off the tv coverage and try to focus/divert our attention to our work. We voted on whether to continue the conference or cancel and go home . . .but as there was no easy way home, those who could, stayed and we continued. It was several hours before I was able to call home (phone lines were jammed up) to let my wife know I was alive and well, and to hear that they were also. I got home later that week, getting a ride back with others from the conference. My family then drove up to a friend's wedding in Cape Cod. Driving up the Jersey Tpk and Pallisades parkway, we could see the eerie dusty glow at ground zero - at probably midnight, timewise. It was an odd feeling, seeing those massive towers missing - the same towers where I attended a conference a year previously, same conference group that met in Cincy. Per

Hi Cathy! I trust all is well with you? I, too, was a WOW in Phoenix AZ that year, "stationed" in Sunnyslope. I remember mr. cox . . . he was in Joanie's family, right? - or am I mixing up my interim corps leadership? As I recall he worked for jack in the box, just like I did, but at a different "store." You were in same familiy as Willie and, darn, I can't remember the name of the coord, cept I think he had a goatee and wire rims. You might remember me, I was in John's family - with "Robski" and Jim. ---------------- Per

WG, et al., Agreed. Digging dirt (imaginary or otherwise) serves no purpose towards getting a person back to health. The fact that Howard got sick is unfortunate, but it's fortunate (from a human standpoint) that he got better. That's all i have for the moment. Per

Maybe my memory is too vague, but weren't Howard and VP on a hunting trip where the liklihood of getting atick bite or mosquito bite would be high? I don't know the pathology and possible entymologic vectors of encephalitis, but might be cause to wonder. Per

I can't speak to the verscity of the story, but here are more details that I remember hearing get told. As I recall the story, VP and Howard were on a hunting trip, and apparently Howard went to sleep and, when he woke up, "Howard wasn't Howard anymore," was a quote that I seem to remember VP relating. Then VP drove the camper (or whatever the vehicle was) back to HQ. Along the way he picked up a hitchiker who helped keep Howard in his bed while VP drove (apparently, Howard kept getting up and walking around). VP later opined that the hitchhicker may have been an angel. Then Howard spent time in the hospital, and "died twice" (??? - this came back to me as I was putting on finishing touches to this post - obviously if he died twice, he was revived both times). After he was stabilized, he was fed, among other things, blackstrap molasses and beet juice, as prepared by Gr*c* Bl*ss. I remember Howard mentioning on stage about how strong beet juice tasted. That's all i remember of the story. Per