Rex Campbell Curtis was the son of Alan and Mavis Curtis and was brought up in the Exclusive Brethren in Auckland, New Zealand.
Rex left the Exclusive Brethren in the mid 1960′s at age 19. He later married Corellie and together they had two daughters.
His upbringing within the Exclusive Brethren troubled Rex throughout his life and one day in the summer of 2001, Rex chose to die rather than to continue living with his pain.
In a manner chosen by several ex-members, Rex made a strong statement of blame in the timing and selected location of his death. He had never attended the Perth Meeting Room as a member of the Exclusive Brethren.
The body of Rex Curtis was found hanging from a tree in the grounds of the Perth Australia Meeting Room following the normal Tuesday night Ministry Meeting on July 17th, 2001. At that time, the Perth Meeting Room boasted landscaped grounds and had a number of mature trees. Two young children were playing following the meeting and found Rex between 8:30 pm and 9:30 pm.
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We discovered details of Kevin Richard Brandon’s death just by searching the Internet one day. We found a single-page Blog entry by the daughter of one of Kevin’s friends. When we found the blog, read and listened to what was there, work had to stop for the day.
In the way only a few lines of words can convey, we can taste the heartache and loneliness of a man separated by the Exclusive Brethren from his wife and six children. To cope with his anguish, Kevin became a drug addict who used street drugs to self-medicate. A number of ex-Exclusive Brethren use alcohol – Kevin chose methamphetimine.
Kevin did not seemingly leave much behind, but in fact he left a great deal. He left his friend an iPod which contained a Play List called ‘Final Mix’. It is a suicide note of many dimensions. Merely the titles of the songs speak of how Kevin came to be in a place of desperation and his choice of final song will move you to tears.
David Beech died from smoking cigarettes.
In one of the most heart-wrenching stories of Exclusive Brethren legalism and harsh punishment, ‘fun-loving’ David Beech was brought to a place of complete despair by the Exclusive Brethren and died horrifically at his own hand … because he was a secret smoker.
David had enjoyed the occasional cigarette for many years. One day, his wife Diana discovered a half-empty pack in a closet and asked David whether they belonged to him. David, realising that his 20-year secret had been possibly uncovered, initially lied and said that the cigarettes did not belong to him.
As this sad story of psychological abuse by the Exclusive Brethren unfolds, it becomes clear that perhaps not only cigarettes deserve a Government Health Warning. It is becoming clear to many that breaking an Exclusive Brethren edict can kill you.
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