00:04 I was born in a little town
00:07 called Adair, Iowa
00:09 —actually out on the farm—
00:11 and that was in 1930.
00:15 I was born in 1931,
00:17 also in a small town in Iowa.
00:20 My father wanted to be a farmer.
00:23 So we moved to a farm, and I grew up on a farm.
00:26 And then the Watchtower Study of a little group,
00:29 and then a little congregation was in our home.
00:32 And happily, when Peggy’s father came into the truth,
00:37 the family came to our place to the Watchtower Study.
00:42 I was—I guess at that time— eight or nine,
00:46 and Peggy was one year younger.
00:49 But the thing was, they moved away just after about one year.
00:55 Well, I started pioneering in September 1948.
01:00 Gilead was what I wanted.
01:03 I didn’t apply for Bethel
01:05 because I liked the field service,
01:07 and I thought South America, Africa,
01:09 countries where there is still so much to do
01:12 —that’s what I wanted.
01:15 I was called to Gilead
01:18 in 1951, in February.
01:23 The assignment after attending Gilead
01:28 was a great surprise.
01:30 Brother Schroeder, one of the instructors,
01:33 he said: “You will have
01:35 “a very wonderful opportunity,
01:38 “being assigned to the German Bethel.
01:41 “There are brothers there
01:43 “who have been in concentration camps for up to nine years,
01:47 and you can learn very much from these brothers.”
01:51 And that was very true.
01:56 In 1953, at the convention in New York,
02:00 I saw a beautiful young sister
02:03 standing in the cafeteria line next to my cafeteria line.
02:07 And I looked twice,
02:09 and it was Peggy.
02:11 So we were together for the rest of the convention
02:14 and decided that we would correspond and think about serving together.
02:19 In 1955 we married.
02:24 I had received the assignment to circuit work.
02:28 We were assigned to northern Germany.
02:31 When we began circuit work, I was 24.
02:35 I felt completely inadequate
02:37 because I’d been serving in Bethel
02:40 and had no training
02:43 that would qualify me to serve as a circuit overseer
02:48 —that was my feeling.
02:51 In the first place, the sisters with me always got nervous
02:54 with me not being able to speak correctly.
02:57 So they would take over the conversation,
03:00 and I stood there and didn’t understand anything.
03:03 But with time, you pick it up.
03:06 After two years, I could understand everything
03:09 in the theocratic language,
03:11 but in the kitchen I was still lost.
03:15 It was nine years for circuit work and, at the conclusion, district work.
03:20 And then we were called back into Bethel.
03:25 The biggest shock for me
03:28 was when Brother Knorr asked me
03:31 if I would be branch overseer.
03:35 And that was at the convention
03:38 of 1969 in Nuremberg.
03:41 And despite different arguments that I presented,
03:45 I got a letter later saying that I’d have that assignment.
03:50 For about 40 years,
03:52 we had the wonderful privilege of doing zone work or,
03:56 as it’s now stated, being representative of headquarters.
04:01 So it was wonderful to visit
04:04 somewhat over 90 different countries.
04:07 We became acquainted with Jehovah’s lovely family
04:12 —the worldwide brotherhood, the unity,
04:14 and seeing how the brothers everywhere
04:17 are devoted to Jehovah
04:20 and want to serve him faithfully
04:22 under sometimes very difficult conditions.
04:25 I would say, sometimes we benefited more
04:29 from the visit than the brothers we were visiting
04:34 because it was so faith-strengthening.
04:37 When we got this privilege
04:40 of traveling to many branches in the zone work,
04:44 we were able to engage in the field ministry
04:48 in numerous countries,
04:51 which I never would have had, of course,
04:54 if I would have just gone into missionary service.
04:57 So I said to myself,
04:59 ‘Accept every assignment Jehovah gives you
05:03 and you’ll find that you have the greatest blessings possible.’
05:07 Since the 1st of January 1952,
05:11 I’ve been able to keep full-time service as my career.
05:15 And it’s something I certainly wouldn’t have changed
05:18 for anything else.
05:20 We have often said,
05:22 “Where would we be today if we hadn’t taken up full-time service?”
05:26 Certainly, we would not have enjoyed
05:29 so many things as we have in our lifetime.
05:33 There are so many young, talented brothers and sisters
05:38 who are working and helping.
05:40 We encourage them to make full-time service
05:44 in Jehovah’s organization their goal in life.