Dear Rebecca,

No one will ever know how grateful I was that you and your husband Garlin Kimbel purposely bought two homes in Humbolt County , where I could live by you and feel protected from my evil brother-in law who was out to kill us. I was terrorized and had no place to go as my husband Verlan LeBaron was also being hunted down to be “blood Atoned”by his own brother. I was paralyzed with fear. My crying children wept every day afraid to be away from me for five minutes. They felt I was their only protection. Before I fled with seven of my thirteen kids, Ervil had their uncle Joel F. LeBaron killed, and two of Ervil’s own wives, (their Aunts) plus Ervil’s own pregnant daughter Rebecca. He intended to kill all those who refused to honor him as the great latterday prophet who would take us into Christ’s presence. We were frozen with anxiety and on the run for nine years before Ervil was apprehended, convicted, and incarcarated. He died from a heart attack in jail on August 16, 1981, just two days before my husband Verlan was killed in a tragic car wreck in Mexico . I spent three years with my sister Rebecca Kimbel, who consoled, nurtured and inspired me. She put her own life on the line by defending me. She was fully aware of the consequences that would befall her, for concealing and aiding me, when Ervil thought that I was worthy of death .Rebecca pulled herself out of our confining fundamentalist Mormon religion and has been a beacon of light ever since.

I love you Sis.. Irene

Rebecca Kimbel was born and raised in a fundamentalist polygamist cult where women had no rights.Threats of eternal damnation or blood atonement ( hell or death) were part of the cultural teaching of children from their birth forward.Spiritual psychological and emotional abuse were considered normal. Only physical abuse was considered abusive and not even then when it could be justified for disobedience or breaking Gods ( or your father's or husband's) laws.
Rebecca's sister, Irene Spencer,New York Times best selling author of "Shattered Dreams" will tell of the murders of many of those who tried to escape, in her new book "Cult Insanity". The doctrine of blood atonement was basic to fundamentalist polygamy, but carrying it out was left to the discretion of the men. Check Rebecca Kimbel's web site to see those who carried it out. www.rebeccakimbel.com.
Rebecca's experience has been her greatest teacher. She is well read and has the following credentials
MsCD, DTM and an Area Gov. of Toastmasters International. She is a public speaker and a writer. You can learn more about her from the web site listed above. Rebecca does a lot of work in the areas of abuse which she has experienced.She has made it a point to gain as much wisdom as she could along to help others over come the pain of abuse. She is willing to share what she has learned with you. If you need more than that there are many wonderful crisis counselors out there who are willing to assist you.We invite you to join us in our chat room. Wisdom shared is wisdom expanded.

From Abuse to a New York Times Best Seller

by Rebecca Kimbel

Few women, who have been raised in abuse, have the courage to escape it. Fewer still write their stories and become authors of a New York Times Best seller. Irene Spencer is the author of" Shattered Dreams", the personal story of her life, her pain of growing up in a polygamist cult and being married as a teenager to an already married man, for whom she produced 13 of his 58 children.

Irene was born into a polygamist family who had been polygamist for three generations on both sides of the family. They isolated themselves from the rest of the world through secrecy and fear, promoting a culture where women had no rights. Blind obedience was mandatory. Disobedience was punishable by eternal damnation, physical violence or both. .The power that motivated the cult was fear, fear of God and fear of the outside world finding out how the fundamentalist polygamists lived and believed.

Today Irene defines her greatest success as "the power to think and make decisions in my own life". Irene states, "My power of choice lay dormant for over forty years. I did not know I had the power to choose. It was impressed upon our minds to listen only to our leaders, who knew better than us, how to live our lives and obtain our salvation.

Women were devalued. They were second class citizens who became totally dependant on their husbands and obeyed his rules and regulations... Women were the breeding stalk, which kept the movement expanding and alive. Women were praised publicly within the confines of the group. Those who produced the greatest number of children were used as righteous examples and given accolades. Thus, a woman's sole purpose was defined. Women were taught to blindly follow their husbands.

When women were beaten into submission, all witnesses remained quiet, even if she happened to be punished unjustly; she was told it was really for her best interest, to keep her in total submission. After all, she was told, a man loved an obedient wife more.

The religion required that not a year go by without a child bring born into the sacred covenant of polygamy. Therefore, I grew up with women baring twelve to twenty one single births. Their mission was to produce as many children as possible.

No women dared to speak her mind, for fear of punishment or abandonment. Women were intentionally no educated. In fact they were married off at the tender ages of thirteen, fourteen and fifteen. It was deemed wise to marry a young girl, thus allowing a man to mold her. Her only skills were cooking, cleaning, baking, gardening, milking, and baring children.

My emotional needs were never addressed. I learned early to smother my longings, desires and dreams. In compliance with rigid requirements, that would keep me from burning in eternal hell, I married at sixteen. I followed my mother's example. I married my sister's husband.

During my twenty eight year marriage, I lived with the twin plagues of poverty and polygamy, crying and searching within myself to find another way. After some deep soul searching, I realized that no one could ever threaten me with hell again, because I was already there.

How does one walk away from generations of religious dogma? How is it possible to leave a cult and enter into a forgiven environment? A woman has no education, no job skills, and no out side support? She will never be allowed to walk away with anything except the clothes on her back. Of course she will never leave her children. They are the only reason she has kept her imprisonment. She is frozen with fear, having been told she'd be the downfall of the group if she became a traitor, by reveling their way of life to the outside world.

After years of existing and suffering I finally made a choice. I trembled, as I had never exercised my choices before, after all my power of choice had lain dormant for over forty years"

Irene hopes to inspire and empower other women who find themselves trapped in similar situations.

The quotes here in are the words of a now famous author .I personally know that the words she uses to define a life inside of polygamy are true, because Irene Spencer is my sister.

 

 

Eureka Police Chief Garr Nielsen was awarded a special award of appreciation from Toastmasters International at a recent Eureka City Council meeting.The award was presented by Toastmaster International Area Gov. Rebecca Kimbel. Kimbel was recently named "Area Governor of the Year" at a District 57 Conference in Oakland, for her outstanding service and leadership excellence in the same community project which has it's roots in Eureka