Suicides Statistics For The Worldwide Church Of God

If you know of any suicides in your area, please send me the details. All information will be kept confidential except as posted below. The info below is necessary in order to prevent duplications. Please send the name along too, for statistical purposes only. I will not use the names unless the closest relative requests it. I can also link to memorial sites, if requested.

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Suicides Related To The Worldwide Church of God

Country/ State

Last Attended Area

Approx. Date

M/F

Age

Personal Comments by person submitting.

Posted

Texas	Victoria	Sept 7, 1990	M	21	Reader reported his death. Hanging, self inflicted.   21 years old.	3/30/10
DC	Not stated	1969 or 1970	F		Nancy Norwood - a friend of my sister in law in the Worldwide Church of God . One day in 1969 or 1970, Nancy jumped into the Potomac River and drowned near Washington, D.C. – believed to be a suicide since she could not swim and went to the river alone.	6/21/2008
Alabama	Anniston	1993	Male	26	This young man had attended Worldwide for much of his life along with his parents. Sometime in the early 90's he left and joined a military organization. On the day he committed suicide he called his parents to inform them that they were about to go through some great trial. After the phone call, he returned to the room (he was stationed on some battleship) and shot himself.	5/15/00
Australia	Brisbane	1982	Male	28		10/30/99
CANADA	Calgary	2000	Male	20's	He was a regular attendee, was in the choir. He had met a young lady, introduced her to the Lord, and were planning their wedding.	4/2/00
CA	Pasadena	1991-92	Male	27	In a suicide letter mailed to his ex-wife and parents, he expressed that he was a failure because, though he tried to turn his life around, he couldn't measure up to god's/the church's standards. Tragically, he left behind a four-year-old son.	1/24/00
CA	Pasadena, AM	1995/96?	Ron Howe		Pastor of Pasadena AM church in the '80's. Jumped off Golden Gate Bridge.	1/7/01
CA	Pasadena	1974	Male	19	His suicide occurred at the height of the 1974 ministerial upheaval of that year, which was over GTA's conduct, among other things. He walked to the bridge sometime after attending a class which (name withheld, but he ruled with a rod of iron) taught as a substitute teacher that same day. Mr. (RodOfIron) spent an hour describing the horrors of the "coming great tribulation." I was there. It was pretty scary at that time and place. I don't know how much, if any, this contributed to (name withheld)'s decision. I am only giving the facts as I know them, and not attempting to place blame or responsibility.	10/31/99
CA	Pasadena	1997	Male	29	Left behind wife and infant daughter.	10/21/99
CA	Pasadena	1982	Male	late teens	Evangelist's son	10/21/99
CO	Colorado Springs	1998	Male	50's	He was always pleasant, but quiet, and was a deacon in his 50's with two grown children. He said he was "burnt out on life and had no more to give."	12/11/99
DE	Laurel	August, 1994	Female	24	Grew up in the church	10/19/99
DE	Seaford	1997	Male	25	He and his family had been in the church since he was little. He was a wonderful, loving and beautiful person, whom I did not recognize at his funeral. Friends stated that he was so afraid of rejection by his family and the church that he turned to drugs.	8/2/01
GA	Macon	6/14/02	Male	34	Rodney Lain Rodney Lain and Mark Flynn Rodney Lain Mourned By Many	6/14/02
IA	Waterloo	1991	Male	30's	He had been disfellowshipped.	10/21/99
IL	Belleville	1999	Male	45	It is reported that he had feelings of failure to please God	12/28/99
IL	Chicago West, Hinsdale	1998	Male	late 20's	Manic depressive	12/11/99
IL	Joliet	Mid 1990's	Male	early 20's	He grew up in wcg. He had recently married and his wife had just had a baby.	12/11/99
IN	Lafayette	Mid 1980's	Male	18	Stated in his note that he wanted to die because he could never please God in this life and he just wanted to wait for the second resurrection where he could try again.	11/7/99
IN	Muncie-Anderson	1988	Male	23	His suicide letter told his family that he had talked to God about escaping the tribulation, and that he was pretty confident that he would be in the second resurrection, and that they shouldn't worry. He had left the "Church" a few years previously and was marked as someone interested in demons and the occult because he enjoyed Dungeons and Dragons (the game). He lived with our family for a summer, and I loved him as a brother. A talented artist with a beautiful sense of humor. He is missed.	11/7/99
IN	Muncie-Anderson	1997	Male	26	D. was always marked as "no-good" by many of the elders and deacons in our congregation. He confided in me once that he thought that the ministers and elders, on the whole, were a bunch of phonies who lied in the pulpit to make themselves look righteous. Never having been encouraged by the adults around him, he became addicted to alcohol and drugs. One night in a bar, he shot and killed a woman, injured another, then turned the gun on himself. He is missed.	11/7/99
IN	Muncie-Anderson	1999	Female	49	This woman had left Worldwide Church of God about 16 years prior to her suicide. This past spring, she was found dead in her vehicle. After parking her car on a railroad track, she was hit by an oncoming train. She was the mother of six children.	11/7/99
India	Chennai		Male	29	Lynn was a member of Worldwide Church of God. He lived in Chennai, in South India. WCG taught its members to keep the Sabbath strictly. Because of Sabbath-keeping it was impossible to find a job. So he could not find a job. He was distraught, quarreled with his mother (a member, too). The church severely reprimanded him. He jumped before a rushing train, died a ghastly death. The church announced that an accident claimed Lynn's life. He was around 29 years of age when he died.	4/13/02
KS	Wichita	1966-69?	Male	Late 20's	T. was a very kind and outgoing person who was totally committed to the wwcg and it's work. His brother was an AC student, and his mother a well known and faithful local congregation member. The rumor was that T. became so discouraged with the local ministry attacking his self worth, that eventually he felt worthless and not up to "God's" calling. T. was a wonderful human being that in a different environment would not only have flourished but have been a beloved member of any community. The ministry never discussed his suicide, but his mother's beloved position in the church and Mrs. H's terrible bitterness over the events that lead up to T.'s suicide were well known.	11/3/99
KS	Wichita	1966-69?	Male	Late 20's's	C. was a very fragile individual who truly believed that the wwcg would not only lead him to salvation, but a wonderful life. As is as clear now as it was then, the wwcg ministry had no skills whatsoever in dealing with psychological or basic life problems. C.s' suicide was announced from the pulpit as a case of "demonism". His consorting with demons was described in detail. Whether anyone (wwcg or otherwise) ever witnessed any of this "demonism" this was never questioned. Thinking of the many times that C. rode with my family to church, the only the qualities of sincerity and commitment to helping other people come to mind.	11/3/99
ME	Bangor	early 90's	Male & Female	50's	Murder Suicide	12/11/99
MO	Springfield	Late 1970's	Female	Late 40's	After a divorce and remarriage situation that left her with no husband or children	11/7/99
New Zealand	Auckland	1973	Male	19	Son of a church member - a lovely young man	5/7/01
New Zealand	Auckland	1992	Male	Late 30's	Single, though he had been married before - he had lived in South Africa before that - the ministry broke up a happy marriage of mixed race. He was said to have said their marriage had been very happy	5/7/01
New Zealand	Auckland	1993	Male	49	He worked too hard and a nervous breakdown. I blame the mind-set we had He was such a conscientious person - There was so much pressure to be perfect -No support, only criticism from the tyrannical minister, and not enough mention of the love of God, the Grace of God or the mercy of God. One never gets over these things - you just learn to live with it.	5/7/01
NY	Manhattan	1986	Male	31	One of the first people I befriended by when "God put me in" the church in Manhattan in Jan. of 1986 was a young man named (name deleted). He seemed more normal than most of the guys my age (31 at the time). He had a good job, and had the "unusual" traits of being sincere and introspective. We had a real meaningful talk over at my place, which I needed, being new and more than a bit scared. Yet somehow he ended up rooming with a very dysfunctional member who, a couple of years later, shot a gun out of a taxi cab to impress his buddies. By the summer, he had stopped attending and if I remember right, moved upstate. Then we heard that he had shot himself to death in the woods.	3/3/00
OH	Cincinnati West	1995	Male	Late 30's	He was a tennis instructor and a fine, proper, upstanding young man. He waited for years to find the right woman to marry. In late '94, he met a lovely young lady from the Cincinnati West congregation that had been divorced (I believe). I saw him and his fiancé once during the 1st day of unleavened bread services. They were very happy and very much in love. Greg A. came to Cincinnati to speak during the last day of unleavened bread. It may have been something that was said there (that was when all of the changes were being forced down the throats of the membership), that made him become depressed to the point that he took his own life.	11/7/99
OH	Cincinnati West	2002	Female	Late 30's	I guess, I remember being a young child and going to her wedding. I do know she had three young children.	NEW 9/6/02
PA	Bethlehem and sister church, Wilkes-Barre				It has been reported to me that there are a total of EIGHT suicides in this church area. One man was in his late 30's, and left 4 boys and a wife.  One gentleman was elderly.  The 6 remaining were teens and young adults, some having grown up "in the church", and some still attended at the times of their deaths.  One was an overdose, one jumped off a dock, one was a self-inflicted knife, 3 were guns, one was carbon monixide, and one I do not know how it was done. It is not important. Just need to differentiate them. If anyone has info on the other four, please send it to me.	10/19/99
PA	Bethlehem and sister church, Wilkes-Barre	1986	Female	17		10/19/99
PA	Bethlehem and sister church, Wilkes-Barre	1992	Male	19		10/19/99
PA	Bethlehem and sister church, Wilkes-Barre	1992	Female	25		10/19/99
PA	Bethlehem and sister church, Wilkes-Barre	1999	Male	30?		10/19/99
TX	Dallas East	June 1996	Male	25	Grew up in the church	10/19/99
TX	Gladewater	1992	Female	30's	Left behind husband and two daughters	10/21/99
WA	Olympia	1986?	Male	18	Grew up in the church.  Hounded into suicide by the "loving" attention of the churches hierarchy and one Assistant preacher named **** ******* He was an intelligent and handsome fellow.  His loss was a stain of blood on the whole Worldwide Church of God.	10/21/99
WA	Spokane	1975	Male		Murder/Suicide Pastor Don Weininger killed his wife and then committed suicide.	1/30/00
WI	Hudson				I would like to add to the suicide listings page please. Her name was Mary, she was the young divorced mother of two wonderful boys. She was from Wisconsin and committed suicide after speaking to my father-in-law (a "pillar" of the church, her father, who is still a member). Mary left the church by refusing to attend and basically was cast out of the family.  When she died, she went out into her front yard (she was living in the southern u.s. at the time) and shot herself in the head.  Her boys found her.  They were very young and had to go live with their grandfather and grandmother in Hudson. Her boys meant the world to her, but she had no family support because she left the church, had recently divorced, and was in deep depression. The "minister" didn't have a kind word to say about her at the funeral with her sons present. Her sons are grown now, but she is missed every day.	4/1/02
WI	Milwaukee	1990?	Male	Late 50's	Not sure if this was the case but the minister in the area at this time would not allow people to take medication, even when they were manic depressive.	10/19/99
WI	Waukesha	1995	Male	34	Grew up in the church.	10/19/99
WI	West Bend	Oct. '99	Male	34	Grew up in the church. Would not go to Medical Doctors for extreme headache pain. Left a wife and two children.  The really sad part is not just that he killed himself, but the damage that had been done to him mentally by the church that he was not able to seek real help.	10/19/99
WA	Spokane	Early 2001	Male	16	One I did not see listed was a 16 year old who killed himself in Spokane in early 2001. I went with my sister to the memorial service but did not know who the people were nor did I really care. There were several people there from the Worldwide Church of God in Washington who I had not seen in 20 years. All I remember my sister saying was that he was an only child and it was devastating to the parents. They were very devoted to The Church and had been authoritarian parents. The boy was said to be sensitive and somewhat disturbed emotionally.	8/15/06
WI	Brookfield	3/12/2005	Male	44	Murder(7)/Suicide(1) Terry Ratzman age 44 Milwaukee (Waukesha), WI.  My parents were in the front row at the church service of Meredith's offshoot of WCG, where Terry gunned down seven people before turning the gun on himself.  My parents, and those who chose to side with the church, indifferently shrug off the incident:  It was 'satan' that got into poor Terry's head.... I didn't argue with them, having grown up in the WCG, I already know that is useless.  The poor guy, victim of the disallusionment of a waning Armstrong empire - the media had a field day with ex-members talking about cultish rules, etc of the WCG and the members denying it all (LIARS).  I was thoroughly disgusted. [submitted by a reader]	12/21/06
AL	Mobile	6/12/1980	Male	29	Suicide(1) Dan Thomas was an outfielder with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1976 & '77 who was known as the "Sundown Kid" because, as a WCG member, he refused to play on the Sabbath. Because baseball games are regularly played on Friday night and Saturday afternoon, this hastened the premature end of a promising career. A few years earlier, while in the minors, Thomas had been given a lengthy suspension for slugging an umpire (I'm not sure if he was in the WCG when this happened, but I don't think he was). His last appearance in organized baseball was in the Inter-American League, an independent minor league that operated in 1979, and folded in mid-season. On June 12, 1980, Dan Thomas hanged himself in a jail cell in Birmingham, AL, where he was being held on a rape charge. He had turned 29 on May 9. The Sporting News carried an obituary. [submitted by a reader]	11/07/07

CA

Oakland

1967

Male

28

Grant Fowler I really don't know what troubled Grant.  He and I were the objects of "match-making" and I was only in his company twice that I remember.  Both occasions were in social settings with a small group of church members...once for an ice skating get-together and the other at a small dinner gathering at one couples' apartment.  Grant was polite but quiet and reserved.  He didn't call for a third "date."  Probably within a few weeks my mom told me he had shot himself at his apartment.  No idea who was behind the match-making, I didn't know the couples involved, probably something cooked up with my mom (my dad never attended church).   Grant has remained somewhat of a mystery to me because he was so quiet.  I was only seventeen so my perspective was really limited.  The only conversation I remember was him being somewhat put off by my wearing pants to the ice rink, he reminded me that it wasn't proper attire for women.   The California Death Index lists his birthplace as Oklahoma, his death place as Contra Costa Co., his mother's maiden name as Daniels. This man was 28, lived in Oakland, and attended the Oakland church. (Sept. 28, 1938 - May 21, 1967), self-inflicted gunshot [submitted by a Vicki P.]

7-26-2009

 

Links To Sites That Try To Help
http://www.spanusa.org/	SPAN (Suicide Prevention Advocacy Network) SPAN, a non profit, 501(C)(3) organization, is dedicated to the creation of an effective national suicide prevention strategy. SPAN links the energy of those bereaved by suicide with the expertise of leaders in science, business, government and public service to achieve the goal of significantly reducing the national rate of suicide by the year 2010.
http://www.yellowribbon.org/	Words from their website: Because of the internal nature of depression and loneliness, thousands of youth who appear to be happy are screaming silently in the deepest emotional pain, what can we do? We can reach out and help youth with the Yellow Ribbon Suicide Prevention Program! Teens and youth are using this very unique program - lives are being saved! They are learning a vital life skill. Schools, colleges, churches, organizations and individuals are making the cards available to youth.  The United States, Canada, Australia and 40 additional countries have youth and adults actively using this program.  We invite you to join with others and help save lives!
http://www.lollie.com/blue/suicide.html
http://www.angelfire.com/biz/mereproject/nspdmain.html	The purpose of the National Suicide Prevention Directory (NSPD) is to provide the public with a central source of contact information for suicide prevention organizations committed to providing educational and counseling programs aimed at long term suicide prevention action.

Information Needed I would like to compile as much information as I can on the subject. As much detail as possible would be helpful, such as; how old was the person when they started to attend, what calendar year did they start attending, what church area, who pastored their area, did both parents attend, did they get jobs inside or outside the church, did his (her) family situation change due to finances or divorce, what was the person's level of formal education, how were the survivors treated after the tragedy? This is important to me. It may take a while to compile enough verifiable information to write about the topic, but hopefully the results will be worth the effort. Perhaps some of the guilt and shame being suffered by the parents of these suicide victims will be rightfully replaced with outrage towards those who created this emotionally intolerable environment in the first place; namely, our so-called spiritual "leaders."     Thank you for your consideration in this matter, Sincerely, Dana mmessmer@olypen.com

 

 

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