Family's tragic killings give a sister's life
new meaning
She wants to help former Jehovah's Witnesses.
By Walt Wiley -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 a.m. PST Friday, January 17, 2003
Blaming church policy for the deaths of her sister's family, Sharon
Roe plans to make a career of speaking out and helping former members
deal with breaking from the Jehovah's Witnesses church.
Roe's sister, Janet Bryant, 37, died almost a year ago in a rural
Oregon mobile home along with her four children at the hands of
her husband, Robert, also 37, who then killed himself.
For families like the Bryants, the church that for so long had been
at the center of their lives could no longer be a source of support,
spiritual guidance and social activities.
The Bryants left California in 2001 after Robert's landscaping
business failed and he had a bitter split with family members and
the Jehovah's Witnesses Shingle Springs congregation.
Mark Messier Sr., an elder at the Shingle Springs Congregation
of Jehovah's Witnesses, said after the killings that Bryant was
expelled from the congregation in the late 1990s after he announced
that he no longer accepted its religious teachings.
Messier said Bryant also became estranged from several branches
of his family, including his parents, three brothers and a sister
in the Shingle Springs and Cameron Park areas.
Roe, 34, said she believes that Robert Bryant was in a suicidal
depression that grew from his being shunned by his former congregation.
"There's just no place to turn to when you're shunned. It
leaves you completely alone and eventually it just piles up on you,"
Roe said.
Jehovah's Witnesses officials and family members did not reply
to attempts by The Bee to gain their comments for this account.
A cradle Jehovah's Witness who has subsequently left the group,
Roe said the need for help for former members was underscored for
her after the deaths. In the aftermath, Roe's family cut off all
contact with her, she said, leaving her to experience shunning firsthand.
When the horrifying death scene was discovered, Oregon authorities
contacted Roe and her husband, Marvin, as next of kin from information
found in the home. They had maintained a close relationship, and
the Roes' daughter, Audrey, was close to the Bryant children. In
class journals from their Oregon school, the Bryant children speak
longingly of their aunt, uncle and cousin in California.
The tragedy has resonated throughout the ex-Jehovah's Witnesses
community and been a topic on busy Web sites that deal with problems
of former members, including www.Jehovahs-Witness.com.
"I was in such pain after this I tried everywhere. I went
to the hospice people, mental health -- I even went to the hospital
emergency room, but the problem is that nobody understands what
you're going through," she said.
The inadequacy of counseling is compounded by the church's teaching
that such services are to be avoided. "You're supposed to depend
on the church instead, but if you're cut off, then what?" Roe
said.
Reacting to the tragedy, she and other ex-Jehovah's Witnesses have
come together and agreed that an outreach program is needed for
people who have left the faith.
One of the ex-members who made contact with Roe, Cathy Davidow
of Chico, has a large home in rural Oregon to offer as a library
and safe house for people making a transition after leaving. Further,
Roe said she and Davidow are planning a memorial service for the
Bryants in the Placerville area Feb. 23, the anniversary of the
deaths in Oregon.
"Then I'm going to make this my life's work, helping former
members whose lives are in crisis," Roe said. "I still
have to finish my college degree, but I sure have an incentive now
to do that."
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