Growing Up In Mama's Club: A Childhood Perspective of Jehovah's Witnesses

by Richard E. Kelly

"Growing Up in Mama's Club" is a compelling, coming-of-age story about a boy who is a victim of sixteen years of emotional, religious abuse. His day-to-day life and his attempts to conform to a belief system at odds with his intellectual skills are at times both heart-rending and humorous. But his ultimate triumph over religious indoctrination should be inspirational for people of all ages, especially for anyone growing up in an abusive environment. When he was four years of age, during his mother's turbulent five-month conversion process, he thought she was joining a club. Once she became a member, his mama insulated him from an outside world she believed would be destroyed before he reached the age of twenty. While he didn't know it at the time, his childhood was similar in many ways to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest-forced to live with Nurse Ratchet-type rules and surrounded by a supporting cast of unusual and colorful characters. While most books about cult-like groups are written by theologians or angry ex-members, this book engages the reader with amusing ironies, unique events, and graphic scenes-all presented in a warm, accessible tone. The book also includes interesting information about the non-mainstream beliefs and checkered history of Jehovah's Witnesses, and what it was like, as a child, to be forced to live under "the rule of truth." "Mama's Club" should prompt readers to rethink the influences that underlie their own childhood, encouraging them to better understand that a full life is created not by what happens to us, but by how we make sense of events over which we had no control.

Genres: Cults, Nonfiction, Biography

266 pages, Paperback

First published August 28, 2007

About the author

Richard E. Kelly was born in 1943 and spent most of his childhood in Los Angeles, California. When he was four years of age, his parents became Jehovah’s Witnesses (the Club), and firm believers that the end of the world would occur before Dickie reached the age of twenty.
To ensure his survival at Armageddon, Dickie had to attend five one-hour meetings a week at a Kingdom Hall and travel to three conventions a year. He was also required to spend at least twelve hours a month in the door-to-door work selling the Watchtower and other Club literature.
Dickie wasn’t allowed to participate in Little League or high school sports. And he was not permitted to attend college.
In 1958, in response to a special calling from the Club “to serve where the need was great,” his family moved to a small town in eastern Nebraska.
After graduating from high school, Dick became a “pioneer”, spending 100 hours a month in the door-to-door work for over a year. In 1962 he volunteered to live and work at Bethel, the Club’s headquarters, in Brooklyn, New York. After two years, he turned in his resignation from Bethel and ended his association with the Club.
Dick was married in 1964 and he and his wife, Helen, lived in New York City for a year. They moved to western Michigan in 1965, where they raised a son and daughter.
Dick has an accounting degree and worked thirty-three years for Clipper Belt Lacer Company, a Grand Rapids manufacturer. He served as treasurer for ten years and president for seventeen years. He retired in 1997.
In 1998 Dick’s youngest sister, Mary Lyn, was brutally stabbed to death. Dick’s mama was given power of attorney for her remains, and since Mary Lyn had left the Club three years before, no memorial service was held. As far as Mama and other Club members were concerned, because she wasn’t one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mary Lyn was dead and forgotten.
Dick brooded for several months before deciding to write his story about growing up in Mama’s Club, knowing the damage that is done when children, particularly his sister, are forced to adhere to religious ideology they were not intellectually or emotionally able to comprehend.
In 2007 he published the first and a second edition of, "Growing Up In Mama’s Club." In March 2008, he published a revised and expanded third edition of "Mama's Club" with thirty-eight additional pages of new stories, a glossary of Club jargon, a short history of Mama's Club, and the author's commitment to continuous improvement.
Today Richard and Helen Kelly are blessed with six granddaughters and live in active retirement in western Michigan and southern Arizona.

Reviews

[John Alan]

Growing Up in Mama's Club might give you the impression that it's going to be another one of those "poor, unfortunate me" books. There are dozens of "poor me" stories by former Jehovah's Witnesses, but Richard E. Kelly's book definitely does not fall into that category.

Right from the start you feel like you are a "fly on the wall" as he describes the fear he felt when a very large and intimidating woman comes to his house to "witness" to his mama.

Kelly describes his childhood experiences with an openess and candor that is refreshing. He holds nothing back as he shares not only his disappointments and lost opportunities, but also the many joyful and loving moments he had as he grew up. You will probably shed a tear or two along the way, but you will also be laughing as you relate to some of the stories he shares about the most intimate moments of his childhood.

Kelly could have made his mama and step-father appear to be villains throughout the book, but he doesn't take that approach at all. He describes in detail some of the conflicts they had, especially during his later teens. Instead, he makes it clear that his parents were also victims of a religion that controlled every aspect of their lifestyle - even where they lived and the type of car they owned.

Mama's Club also succeeds on another level. You really feel Kelly's inner turmoil as he tries to make his mama happy and gain his step-father's acceptance by being active in their religion - while not believing in either its teachings or its methods. Many readers will understand and relate to Kelly's hypocrisy, because many of us have also had a similar relationship with our parents' religion.

Mama's Club is directed toward anyone that has been a part of the Jehovah's Witness religion, but everyone can relate to and enjoy this story. It's a very easy read and includes a fair amount of background information for anyone not familiar with the Watchtower culture.

I found it hard to put this book down when I started reading it. I still go back and read some of my favorite chapters again and again. It's a very enjoyable and memorable book.

[A.K Nowak]

really well written book,I am glad Richard has shared his story, it has brought me to freedom even more as I was also raised as a JW . I can see even more clearer now how JW are def not the true religion are as they paint themselves! Recommend to read 100 percent for sure !

[Chris Rosendall]

My friend wrote this book about growing up as a Jehovah's Witness.
Well done.....he is working on a sequel.

[Laura]

When I come across books Amazon notes as Lendable, I'm going to start marking them and posting them like this.

[Marianne]

Wow. A friend gave me this to read. Helps me to understand the "behind the scenes" actions of this group.