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A LARGE LIST OF CIRCUIT
OVERSEERS
AND SOME OF THE DISTRICT OVERSEERS
Know more
names, etc?
Share the information: jmasonemerson@yahoo.com
It has been said that until the 1980s there were a fairly good number of
thoughtful, kind Circuit Overssers but after that they tended to increasingly be hardliners thinking of Brooklyn's order
rather than the real people with real problems whom they were supposed to serve as Christ had. Therefore you will run
across some here who are quite favorably remembered, though others have been spoken of as extremely arrogant. Views
expressed below are those of the individual original posters and do not necessarily reflect those of the writer of this website.
Russell Cantwell:
"In the 60s when I first started associating with JWs in Southern California our Circuit Overseer was Russell Cantwell.
He was one of the plaintiffs in the landmark Supreme Court case Cantwell vs Connecticut. I found a Time article about the
case here:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,763796,00.html
One thing that was unusual about this Circuit Overseer is that he and his wife raised a daughter while
in the circuit work. They lived in an apartment at a Kingdom Hall and their daughter went with them to each congregation they
visited. When we had him as a CO the daughter must have been about 13 or so.
Just wondering if others had Cantwell
as CO? He was a company man to be sure but I remember him being a bit more balanced on some issues. Once, he told us all to
bring a dollar bill and a calendar with us to the lecture he was giving after the Watchtower Study.
At the lecture,
he went on to discuss how some people were paranoid about demons. He recounted how one JW had thrown away their dishes because
they had bought them at a rummage sale and were afraid they might be demonized. He then asked the JW how would he know if
something new was not demonized. Perhaps the truck driver who delivers new items to department stores might be having seances
on the way?
As for the dollar bill, he had us look at the eye that is on the back. He said that originated with
an Egyptian god (Horus, I think) and that if anyone felt their money was demonized he would take it off their hands. Then
he pulled out the calendar and pointed out the names of the weeks and months and pointed out that we still use the calendar,
even though its origins were pagan.
He mentioned how one brother had come up with a "theocratic" calendar
and that Brother Rutherford had told him he was wasting his time on it. (I didn't know until later that this brother was
the Clayton Woodworth, the editor of The Golden Age and that this calendar was published by the Society in 1935.) This is
stuff I remembered later as I started to question the WT's stance on pagan origins of things.
http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/experiences/176990/1/Anyone-have-Russell-Cantwell-as-Circuit-Overseer '
-- By Cabasilas http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/experiences/176990/1/Anyone-have-Russell-Cantwell-as-Circuit-Overseer '
-- By Cabasilas http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/experiences/176990/1/Anyone-have-Russell-Cantwell-as-Circuit-Overseer '
-- By Cabasilas Jerry James. Wife Vera.
David Jolly.
From Tulsa, Oklahoma or area.
C. R. (Richard better known as“Dick”) Jones.
Charles ("Chuck") Velours/Valorz http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/164615/1/To-SO-CAL-What-COs-and-DOs-do-we-all-know http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/experiences/126822/14/Name-the-COs-you-can-recall-favorites "He was actually a District Overseer in the late 70's in the area of
Minnesota / Dakotas / Nebraska, and a very entertaining speaker. The best D.O. ever!" Possibly in California in
mid 1980s.
Velorez. Dynamic speaker. San Diego in early 1980s. http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/experiences/126822/14/Name-the-COs-you-can-recall-favorites
Charles J. Valorz was a DO by the time he reached Minnesota and Wisconsin.
He gave the most interesting talks, and was approachable and down-to-earth. His wife Ellie impressed me as a very nice lady.
http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/6496/17/Favorite-least-favorite-COs
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