It was those final years that were the crucial period for me.

The last fifteen years I had spent at the international headquarters, and the final nine of those as a member of the worldwide Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses. I had spent nearly forty years as a full time representative, serving at every level of the organizational structure. In his personal memoir, Franz said that at the end of 1979 he reached a personal crossroad: On October 20, 1971, he was appointed as a member of the Governing Body.

Īccording to Franz, he began working in the organization's writing department and was assigned to collaboratively write Aid to Bible Understanding, the first religious encyclopedia published by Jehovah's Witnesses. Both returned to the Dominican Republic in 1961 to evangelize for four more years and were then assigned to Watch Tower headquarters in Brooklyn, New York. At the age of 37, Franz married his wife, Cynthia, who joined him on missionary work. Franz became a representative of Jehovah's Witnesses throughout the Caribbean, traveling to the Virgin Islands and the Dominican Republic, until at least 1957 when Jehovah's Witnesses were banned in the Dominican Republic by dictator Rafael Trujillo. In 1944, Franz graduated from Gilead, the group's school for training missionaries, and temporarily served the organization as a traveling representative in the continental United States until receiving a missionary assignment to Puerto Rico in 1946. Franz joined the Jehovah's Witnesses in 1938, and became a baptized member in 1939. His father associated with the Bible Student movement (from which Jehovah's Witnesses developed) and was baptized in 1913. His uncle, Frederick Franz, was influential in the denomination's development, practices and doctrines. Following his removal, Franz wrote two books that related his personal experiences with the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society and his views on Jehovah's Witnesses teachings.įranz was born in 1922. Franz stated the request for his resignation and his subsequent disfellowshipping resulted from allegations of apostasy. Raymond Victor Franz (May 8, 1922 – June 2, 2010) was a member of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses from October 20, 1971, until his removal on May 22, 1980, and served at the organization's world headquarters for fifteen years, from 1965 until 1980.

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