My cousin is a JW. He's been one for around 35 years,'converting' when he was about 17/18 years old. Him and his wife who left the catholic faith,much to the disdain of her Irish catholic dad,produced about 6 or 7 children (i can't remember there are so many!
). They all have Old Testament (i think) names,one being called Gabriel. He (cousin) was a window cleaner for many years,as all window cleaners around here seemed to be JW's. His mother died suddenly in 1995. I remember going to see her in the chapel of rest. It wasn't a nice sight as she hadn't been 'made up'. I asked the undertaker why. He told me it was the wishes of my cousin as JW's don't believe in it being done. My auntie/his mother was a smart woman who would've been appalled at the thought of her being seen without make-up,even when dead. He shouldn't have imposed his religion like that on a non JW,even if it was his own mother! He and his family,at our grandma's funeral sat at the back of the church,refusing to take part in the singing (or miming,like many of us do) of hymns and definitely not mumbling through the prayers (again,like many of us do). I still think of those episodes as him being totally disrespectful and imposing his religion (some would say cult) on others!
