I've lived in several different wards, but most of them have been predominately white collar. I've been living in a blue collar ward for almost three years now. There are a lot of white collar ward members, but this is the first ward I've been in that had more blue collar. In fact, in most wards I've lived in there has been a plethora of computer people. However, it's strange, even though I can find common ground more easily with computer people, I really love the blue collar ward I'm in. One of the people in the ward who I respect most is a ferrier. There are actually two ferriers in our ward, but this one makes a very good living, because he has been at it for a long while and is very good at it.
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If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen! - Samuel Adams
I personally like the blue collar wards better. People are more real and down to earth and are not as worried about appearances and things like that as much. Makes it a lot easier for me to feel like I fit in. Of course...our family is blue collar so...maybe that has something to do with that.
We live in a mostly white collar ward. We had very few blue collar people until they dissolved a small branch and dispersed the members to three different wards. We still don't have very many blue collar people, but we have more than we used to.
Most of the men in my current ward wear white shirts. I did see a man in a black shirt yesterday though.
My Single's ward, however, there were so many guys in blue shirts (and various other colors like yellow, pink, and purple) that it was always hard for them to find enough white collars to pass the sacrament (Bishop's preference).
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Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you.
— Oscar Wilde
We are mostly blue collar in our branch, I am a white collar, but if you checked most of our necks, they would probably be different shades of red!
We are a really unique group, probably the greatest blend of people I have seen. Our skills and backgrounds have formed an interesting mix of skills and abilities and a very intimate relationship. I was talking with our branch president the other day, the most white collar of all in the branch, about its uniqueness. Pretty much everyone agrees that if you cannot make it in our branch, you would never make it any where else in the church. Nobody cares about your background, your sins, your problems, you need space you will get it. It's funny, but we have people who have moved out who cannot quit coming back just visit and go to church with us. High council members like to come because we are fun and quirky. It is a very cozy group and really a big family.
One lady came up to me a couple of months ago, blue collar to the core and very simple, and said to me, "I just heard you were a lawyer, never liked lawyers much." The branch started about five years ago and we have known each other since, she was being nice and joking. I told her I took it as a compliment.
I don't think I would ever want to be in anothe unit. Heck, we have even had a barn raising!
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Lo, there I see my mother, my sisters, my brothers Lo, there I see the line of my people back to the beginning Lo, they call to me, they bid me take my place among them In the halls of Valhalla, where the brave may live...forever
Oh, the white collar has always outweighed the blue collar in our ward by far. It is hard to find a lot of blue collar career type men in a ward where the bulk of the active priesthood are in management with the Big Three or other large firms or are consulticks... as Poncho indicated, there are a few (mostly the result of when we absorbed part of the neighboring branch), but from a pay standpoint, many of them are doing better than me because they are unionized skilled trades.
And even on Sundays, the white collared shirts have been more numerous than the blue collared shirts. Occasionaly, there is a yellow collared or pink collared or green collared or lavender collared striped collared shirt that shows up, but those men are relegated to the fringe of the EQ in an effort to get them to be compliant with white collars and suit coats.
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It seems to me the only thing you've learned is that Caesar is a "salad dressing dude."
Mostly military so a lot of enlisted and officers plus retired military and locals. I would say it is about evenly split or just slightly more blue collar. The military folks are very cliquish though which makes for almost a feeling of it being two separate wards.
Never really noticed in this ward who is what color collar. We are a pretty transient ward because we have a lot of 3rd yr med students and some residents and it changes every year. But as for most everyone else, not sure what all the 'working' men do, we also have some snowbirds in our ward and I don't know what they retired from. At one time we did have quite a few white collar guys that all worked for Ford, but the only one left now who still works for Ford is our bishop. I know the bishop before the current one was blue collar though.
Cat and Poncho, did they dissolve the Romeo Branch? Wow, that branch didn't last very long. What happened, too many people moving out of state because of jobs? What wards absorbed them?
crazymom... no, Pontiac Branch was dissolved about two years ago. A third went to Clarkston, a third to Lake Orion, and a third to Rochester. Romeo Branch is doing well and growing, as is the stake in general. Just not enough active MP in Pontiac to maintain them as a distinct unit, so they were dissolved and reabsorbed by it's previous "children" units when Pontiac used to be the only ward in the area.
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It seems to me the only thing you've learned is that Caesar is a "salad dressing dude."
Pontiac as in the car. We live in car making country.
Actually Pontiac as in the Indian War Chief. The town that later became the city was named after him many decades before the first car was invented. There are several of the old car name brands that were named after Michigan towns which were originally named after Indian names... Cadillac and Pontiac come to mind...
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It seems to me the only thing you've learned is that Caesar is a "salad dressing dude."
Pontiac as in the car. We live in car making country.
Actually Pontiac as in the Indian War Chief. The town that later became the city was named after him many decades before the first car was invented. There are several of the old car name brands that were named after Michigan towns which were originally named after Indian names... Cadillac and Pontiac come to mind...
Really? I did not know that. Learn something new every day.
Our Ward: Bishop: Blue 1st. : White 2nd : White HPGL : Blue EQP : White WML : Blue
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no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing... the truth of God will go forth till it has penetrated every website, sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the great Jehovah shall say the work is done
Pontiac as in the car. We live in car making country.
Actually Pontiac as in the Indian War Chief. The town that later became the city was named after him many decades before the first car was invented. There are several of the old car name brands that were named after Michigan towns which were originally named after Indian names... Cadillac and Pontiac come to mind...
