DURING my school years, not much changed. Your classmates in the first year were the same ones you finished school with in the last year. You actually knew the names of most people in town, and they knew yours.

The town of Liberty was surrounded by small farms, and the basic crop was corn. When I was born, my father worked for a local farmer. As a teenager, I learned to drive a tractor and to do other farmwork.

I never had a young father. My father was 56 years old when I was born, and my mother was 35. Yet, my father was strong and healthy. He loved hard work and taught all his kids to love it as well. He never made much money, but he gave us a place to live, clothes to wear, and enough food to eat. And he always spent time with us. My father was 93 years old when he died. My mother died at the age of 86. Neither of them served Jehovah. One of my brothers, though, has been a faithful elder since 1972.

My mother was very religious. She took us to the Baptist church every Sunday. When I was 12,  I first heard about the Trinity doctrine. So I asked my mom: “How can Jesus be both the Son and the Father at the same time?” I remember her answer: “Son, it’s a mystery. We’re not meant to understand it.” It certainly was a mystery to me. Still, when I was about 14, I got baptized in a local creek. They dipped me in the water three times, once for the Father, once for the Son, and once for the holy spirit!

While I was in high school, I had a friend who was a boxer, and he convinced me to try boxing. So I started training, and I became a member of a boxing organization, the Golden Gloves. I was not very good, so after a few fights, I gave it up. Later, I was called into the U.S. Army and was sent to Germany. While I was serving there, my superiors sent me to a military academy because they thought I could become a good leader. They wanted me to make the military my career. However, I did not want to stay in the military, so after finishing my duty of two years, I left the army in 1956. Not long after, though, I joined a very different army.

Before I learned the truth, I had the wrong idea of what a real man should be like. I was influenced by movies and by those around me. I thought that men who talked about the Bible were not manly. But I began to learn some things that changed my life. One day, while I was driving my fancy red car through town, two young women waved at me to come over to them. They were the younger sisters of the man who had married my older sister. These two young ladies were Jehovah’s Witnesses. I had accepted the Watchtower and Awake! magazines from them before, but I felt that The Watchtower was a bit too difficult to understand. This time, however, they invited me to come to a Congregation Book Study, a small meeting for Bible study and discussion that was held in their home. I told them I would think about it. They smiled and asked, “Do you promise?” I said, “I promise.”

I regretted saying that, but I felt that I could not break my promise. So that night I went to the meeting. The children impressed me the most. I couldn’t believe how much they knew about the Bible! Even though I had gone to church with my mother every Sunday, I still knew very little about the Bible. Now I really wanted to learn more, so I agreed to have a Bible study. One of the first things I learned was that the personal name of God Almighty is Jehovah. Years before, when I asked my mother about Jehovah’s Witnesses, she simply said, “Oh, they worship some old man named Jehovah.” But I now felt that my eyes were being opened!

I made rapid progress, because I knew that I had found the truth. In March of 1957, only nine months after that first meeting, I got baptized. My attitude had changed. I am so glad that I learned what the Bible teaches about real manliness. Jesus was a perfect man. He had more strength and power than any other man. But he did not get involved in fights. Instead, “he let himself be afflicted,” just as was foretold. (Isaiah  53:2, 7) I learned that a true follower of Jesus “needs to be gentle toward all.”​—2 Timothy 2:24.

I started pioneering the next year, in 1958. Soon, though, I had to stop for a short time. Why? I had decided to get married to Gloria, one of those two young ladies who had invited me to the book study! I have never regretted that decision. Gloria was a jewel then, and she is a jewel today. To me, she is more precious than the Hope Diamond, and I am so happy that I married her! Let her tell you a bit about herself:

“I had 16 brothers and sisters. My mom was a faithful Witness. She died when I was 14. After that, my dad began studying the Bible. Because we did not have our mom anymore, my dad made an arrangement with the school principal. My older sister was then in her last year of high school, and Dad asked if she and I could go to school on alternate days. In that way, one of us could be at home to take care of the younger children. We could also have dinner ready for the family by the time Dad came home from work. The school principal agreed, and we kept doing that until my sister finished school. Two Witness families studied with us, and 11 of us children became Jehovah’s Witnesses. I enjoyed field service, even though I was always very shy. My husband, Sam, has helped me with that over the years.”

Gloria and I got married in February of 1959. We enjoyed pioneering together. In July of that year, we applied for Bethel service. We really wanted to serve at world headquarters. A dear brother, Simon Kraker, interviewed us. He told us that Bethel was not accepting married couples at that time. We still wanted to serve at Bethel, but it took many years before we got there.

We wrote to world headquarters and asked to be sent to a territory where there was a need for more publishers. They gave us just one choice: Pine Bluff, Arkansas. In those days, there were two congregations in Pine Bluff. One congregation had white publishers, and the other had black publishers. We were sent to the black congregation, which had only 14 publishers.

You may wonder why Jehovah’s Witnesses would separate black and white publishers. And the answer is that we had no choice back in those days. It was illegal for the races to mix, and there was also the problem of violence. In many places, the brothers were afraid that their Kingdom Hall would be destroyed if the two races met together for worship. Such things did happen. If black Witnesses preached from door to door in a white neighborhood, they would be arrested and probably beaten up. So in order to get the preaching work done, we obeyed the laws and hoped that things would change for the better.

Our ministry was not always easy. When we preached in a black territory, we sometimes accidentally knocked at a door of a white family. We had to decide quickly: Should we try to give a short Bible presentation or just apologize and go to the next door? That is how things were in those days.

Of course, as pioneers, we still had to earn money to live. Most of our jobs paid three dollars a day. Gloria had a few housekeeping jobs. I was permitted to help her at one place so that she could finish in half the time. The family gave us lunch. It was a frozen prepackaged meal called a TV dinner, which Gloria and I shared before leaving. Each week, Gloria did ironing for one family. I worked in the garden, washed windows, and cared for other jobs around the house. In the home of one white family, we washed the windows. While Gloria washed from the inside, I did it from the outside. It took all day, so they gave us lunch. Gloria ate inside the house but had to stay separate from the family. I had to eat outside in the garage, but I didn’t mind. It was a very good meal. They were a nice family, but they were affected by the people around them. I remember one time when we stopped at a gas station. After  filling up the tank of our car, I asked the white attendant if Gloria could use the restroom. He looked at me angrily and said, “It’s locked.”

On the other hand, we had wonderful times with the brothers, and we loved our ministry! When we first arrived in Pine Bluff, we lived with the brother who was the congregation servant at the time. His wife was not in the truth yet, and Gloria started a Bible study with her. Meanwhile, I started a study with the couple’s daughter and her husband. Mother and daughter both decided to serve Jehovah and got baptized.

We had dear friends in the white congregation. They would invite us to their homes for dinner, but we could only go after it was dark so that nobody would see us together. The Ku Klux Klan (KKK), an organization that promotes racism and violence, was very active then. One Halloween night I remember seeing a man sitting on his front porch, proudly wearing a white sheet and hood, as those in the KKK did. Negative experiences, though, did not stop the brothers from showing kindness. One summer, we needed money in order to go to the convention, and a brother agreed to buy our 1950 Ford in order to make it possible. One day, a month later, we were very tired after walking from door to door in the heat and conducting many Bible studies. Then we came home and found a surprise. There was our car, parked in front of the house! A note on the windshield read, “You can have your car back as a gift from me. Your brother.”

Another act of kindness touched me deeply. In 1962, I was invited to attend the Kingdom Ministry School at South Lansing, New York. It was a full month of training for overseers of congregations, circuits, and districts. At that time I had no job, and we had very little money. However, a telephone company in Pine Bluff had interviewed me for a job. If they hired me, I would be the first black man to work for that company. They finally told me that they wanted to give me the job. What would I do? I had no money to travel to New York. I seriously thought about taking the job and declining the invitation to the school. I was getting ready to write to Bethel when something happened that I will never forget.

A sister in our congregation, whose husband wasn’t in the truth, knocked on our door early one morning and gave me an envelope. It was full of money. She and several of her young children had been getting up very early in the morning to go out in the cotton fields and remove the weeds. They did this in order to earn enough money so that I could go to New York. She said, “Go to school and learn as much as you can, and come back and teach us!” Later, I asked the telephone company if I could start to work for them five  weeks later than planned. The answer was a definite, “No!” But it didn’t matter. I had made my decision. I am so glad that I did not take that job!

Here is how Gloria remembers our time in Pine Bluff: “I fell in love with the territory! I had 15 to 20 Bible studies. So we would go in the house-to-house work in the morning and then conduct Bible studies the rest of the day, sometimes until 11 o’clock at night. Service was so much fun! I would happily have stayed. I have to admit that I did not really want to change my assignment and enter the circuit work, but Jehovah had something else in mind.” He certainly did.

While we were pioneering in Pine Bluff, we applied to become special pioneers. We really expected to be appointed. Why? Because we knew that our district overseer wanted us to help a congregation in Texas, and he wanted us to serve as special pioneers there. We liked this idea. So we waited and waited, hoping for an answer, but we kept finding the mailbox empty. Finally, a letter came. We were assigned to the traveling work! That was in January 1965. Brother Leon Weaver, now the coordinator of the United States Branch Committee, was appointed to serve as a circuit overseer at the same time.

I was nervous about becoming a circuit overseer. A year or so earlier, the district overseer, James A. Thompson, Jr., examined my qualifications. He kindly explained where I could improve, mentioning skills that a good circuit overseer needs. Soon after I started in the circuit work, I realized how much I needed that counsel. After I was appointed, Brother Thompson was the first district overseer I served with. I learned a lot from that faithful brother.

In those days, a circuit overseer received little training. I observed a circuit overseer for one week as he visited a congregation. Then he observed me for one week as I visited another congregation. He offered suggestions and guidance. But after that we were on our own. I remember saying to Gloria, “Does he really have to leave now?” In time, though, I realized something important. There will always be good brothers who can help you, but only if you let them help you. I still cherish the help I received from such experienced brothers as J. R. Brown, then a traveling overseer, and Fred Rusk of the Bethel family.

Racism was everywhere in those days. One time, the KKK held a march in a town we were  visiting in Tennessee. I remember another time when we stopped at a restaurant for a quick break while we were in service. When I went to use the restroom, an angry-looking man with racist tattoos followed me in there. But then a white brother, who was much larger than either of us, came in. “Is everything all right, Brother Herd?” the brother asked me. The other customer left quickly without using the restroom. Over the years, I have seen that the real cause of racism is not the color of a person’s skin but the sin that is in all of us. And I have learned that a brother is a brother regardless of his skin color, and he will die for you if necessary.

We spent 12 years in the circuit work and 21 years in the district work. They were rich and rewarding years, full of encouraging experiences. But there was another reward waiting for us. In August 1997 a dream we had for many years came true. We were invited to serve at the United States Bethel. That was 38 years after the first time we applied. The following month, we began our Bethel service. I thought that the responsible brothers at Bethel only wanted me to help out for a short time, but that is not what happened.

My first assignment was in the Service Department. I learned so much! The brothers there receive many sensitive and difficult questions from elder bodies and circuit overseers around the country. I am grateful for how patient and helpful the brothers were in training me. If I were assigned to work there again, I would still have much to learn from those brothers.

Gloria and I love Bethel life. We have always liked getting up early, and that habit certainly helps at Bethel. After a year or so, I began to serve as a helper to the Service Committee of the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Then in 1999, I was appointed to be a member of the Governing Body. I have learned many things in this assignment. But the most important lesson is that the head of the Christian congregation is Jesus Christ, not any man.

When I think about my life, I sometimes feel a bit like the prophet Amos. Jehovah noticed that humble shepherd who had the simple job of nipping figs, a food that only poor people ate. However, God appointed Amos to be a prophet and blessed him richly in that assignment. (Amos 7:14, 15) Similarly, Jehovah noticed me, the son of a poor farmer in Liberty, Indiana. And Jehovah has blessed me richly, with too many blessings to mention here! (Proverbs 10:22) My life may have had a poor start materially, but I certainly feel that the ending is far richer than I could ever have imagined!