April 5 in A.A. History

In 1960, an editorial in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, published on the eve of Father Ed Dowling’s funeral, stated:

The Rev. Edward Dowling, S.J., was a kindly man who never allowed kindliness to keep him from speaking his mind. He made friends wherever he went, especially among newspaper people. He left the city room for the Jesuit Seminary, but he was like the old firehorse. Crippling arthritis restricted his activities but a cane always got him to a Newspaper Guild meeting, to a party for a Pulitzer Prize winner, or any journalistic bull session which promised to bring out the “inside story” of what made the wheels turn. Eddie Dowling did not vaunt his kindliness; he used it quietly to help those who needed help. They will remember him as long as those who only learned from him that the world is never too gloomy for cheerfulness—even though it always is a little better with a dollop of bourbon and a touch of branch water.

April 4 in A.A. History

 In 1894, Margaret Mary Pennington was born in Baltimore, Maryland. While abroad, she would meet Count Victor Von Lüttichau of Germany and marry him in Switzerland. The Count would die around 1946, and in 1948, she would marry Dr. William D. Marbury, who had a practice in Washington, D.C.
    As Margarita Von Lüttichau, she would play a crucial role as an intermediary between Carl Jung [near right] and Bill W. [far right], the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. She would become a student of Jung and a protégé of Bill’s, acting as a bridge between their ideas and writings. After World War II, she would frequently travel between the U.S. and Switzerland, introducing the writings and concepts of each to the other.

April 3 in A.A. History

In 1940, the fifth meeting of the Philadelphia Group of A.A. in Pennsylvania, organized by non-alcoholic Drs. A. Weise Hammer [near right] and Dudley Saul [far right], took place at Saint Luke’s Hospital. The meeting was open to the public and attracted thirty attendees.

In 1941, Florida’s first A.A. group was formally organized in Miami.
    The first A.A. contact from Florida was Horace S., a loner in Daytona Beach, who reached out to the Alcoholic Foundation in November 1939. By July 1942, he had moved to Connecticut, leaving no A.A. members behind.

    In 1940, Frank P., a New York A.A. member residing in Miami, became the local contact. In April of that year, Roger C. sought help from the Alcoholic Foundation. Later, in November, Joe T.’s wife also contacted the Foundation, which connected Roger and Joe with Frank P. Together, they began addressing inquiries about A.A. in the Miami area, with support from the ubiquitous traveling salesman and A.A. member Irwin “Irv” M. [left]. That same month, Charlie C. wrote to the Foundation to inquire about starting a meeting in nearby Fort Lauderdale, where he moved in December. Carl C. was recruited in December 1940, and informal meetings began in Miami.

In 1958, in a letter to Marjorie W., Bill W. [right] expressed “his most succinct later understanding of [his so-called ‘white light’] experience [in Towns Hospital in December 1934]”:

What I really meant was this: I was catapulted into a spiritual experience, which gave me the capability of feeling the presence of God, His love, and His omnipotence. And, most of all, His personal availability to me. Of course this is the ABC of the conversion experience—something as old as man himself. So maybe an awareness of God and some sense of relation to him constitutes a fourth dimension. At least this was true for me, one who had no belief or such sensibility whatever.

In 1960, Father Edward “Ed” Dowling, S.J. [left], 61½, died peacefully in his sleep from a heart attack early this Sunday morning in Memphis, Tennessee. Fr. Ed struggled with compulsive overeating, consuming excessive amounts of starch, butter, salt, and sugar. His weight reached 240 lbs [~110 kg], but he later managed to lose 60 lbs [~27 kg] using strategies based on the Twelve Steps. Unfortunately, by this time, he had already caused permanent damage to his heart and arteries. The first sign of medical problems occurred in June 1952, when he suffered a retinal stroke—a blood clot blocking an artery to his retina—that resulted in his hospitalization.

April 2 in A.A. History

In 1966, Dr. Harry M. Tiebout [right] died from heart disease in Greenwich, Connecticut. An early supporter of Alcoholics Anonymous, he served as the head psychiatrist at Blythewood Sanitarium, where Margaret “Marty” M.—author of “Women Suffer Too” in the first and second editions of Alcoholics Anonymous—and “Grennie” C. found sobriety. Marty, Bill W., and other early members were among his patients. His paper, “The Ego Factors in Surrender in Alcoholism,” was published in the December 1954 issue of the Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol (now known as the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs).

April 1 in A.A. History

In 1926, after three months of courtship, Clarence S. [near right, 1942] and Dorothy Wright [far right] got married.

In 1940, Lawrence “Larry” J. [left] of Houston, Texas wrote the A.A. prayer that was used to begin A.A. meetings in Texas for many years:

Our Father, we come to you as a friend.
You have said that, where two or three are gathered together in your name, there you will be in the midst. We believe you are here with us now.
We believe this is something you would have us do, and that it has your blessing.
We believe that you want us to be real partners with you in this business of living, accepting our full responsibility, and certain that the reward will be freedom, and growth, and happiness.
For this we are grateful.
We ask you, at all times, to guide us.
Help us daily to come closer to you, and grant us new ways of living our gratitude.

Amen.

In 1944, Marty M. [right, 1946] moved to New Haven, Connecticut, to establish the National Committee for Education on Alcoholism (NCEA), which initially had its office at Yale University. During this time, Marty stayed with the Jellineks and attended the Yale Summer School of Alcohol Studies, which had started the year before.

In 1945, [Easter Sunday] Knickerbocker Hospital [left, c. 1940] opened a small ward dedicated to the treatment of alcoholism, making it the first general hospital in New York City to have such a facility. This is significant because many general hospitals at that time would not admit alcoholics; instead, their doctors had to admit them under false diagnoses.

In 1950, The Saturday Evening Post published Jack Alexander’s “The Drunkard’s Best Friend” [right, p. 1], a follow-up to his article about A.A., “Alcoholics Anonymous: Freed Slaves of Drink, Now They Free Others,” which was published on 1 March 1941.

In 1966, Sister Ignatia [far left], born Mary Ignatia Gavin, died at the age of 77 at the motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity in Richfield, Ohio. While working with Dr. Bob S. [near left], she treated thousands of early A.A. members at St. Thomas Hospital in Akron, Ohio. She was buried in the motherhouse cemetery.

In 1970, A.A.’s General Service Office (G.S.O.) moved from 305 E. 45th St. to 468 Park Ave. S. (formerly 4th Ave.). Box 4-5-9 reported:

    A building between 31st and 32nd Streets, on the west side of Park Ave. South (formerly 4th Ave.), is the new home for G.S.O. and the Grapevine…
    To find us, look for 468 Park Ave. South here in New York City.…“Why the move? The two main rea­sons are: (1) to save money, and (2) to get more space.”

In 1984, Ron R. founded The Twelve Coconuts Group at Kapiolani Park [right: the Twelve Coconuts], Waikiki, Hawaii. He later recalled,

    For about three weeks I went all over town to different meetings with bookmarks that had the 11th Step Prayer on them, I had gotten them from a Catholic Book Store… [I wrote them] up with “New Meeting in Kapiolani Park, Mon. Wed. and Fridays at seven in the morning. April 1st. I did a lot of writing. The first meeting had 32 people.

March 31 in A.A. History

In 1939, Bill W. drove from Cornwall, New York, to New York City, presumably in Hank P.’s car, to secure enough money to pay the hotel bill for the two nights he, Hank, Ruth Hock, and Dorothy Wright S. had stayed. The four of them had been correcting printers’ proofs of the book Alcoholics Anonymous [left: 1st edition, 2nd printing] based on the hand-edited multilith manuscript, a task that was neither quick nor easy. Together, they had only half the cash needed to cover their stay.
    In New York City, Bill approached Charlie (Charles B.) Towns [right], the owner of Towns Hospital, where he and Hank had gotten sober, and explained the situation. Charlie lent Bill the money required to pay the bill, plus an additional $100 [~$2,300 in 2025].
    Bill later wrote, “Mr. Towns was not too favorably impressed when he heard where we stood, but he came through with the hotel bill and about a hundred dollars to spare.… We all returned to New York in high spirits.”

In 1933, the Chicago Daily Tribune reported, “State to Open 1st Hospital to Treat Alcoholic Pa­tients” [right: article].

In 1947, England’s first known A.A. meeting took place at 8 p.m. in Room 202 of London’s upscale Dorchester Hotel [left, 1931], following an invitation from New York City A.A. member Grace O. [below right]. The Alcoholic Foundation had asked her to reach out to several individuals in Britain seeking information about A.A. The previous Saturday, the 29th, she had met an alcoholic known as “Canadian Bob” at a restaurant on Dean Street in London. The Dorchester meeting was attended by Grace, Robert “Canadian Bob” B., Chris L. B.—who was likely the first person in England to use the A.A. program to achieve sobriety—Sgt. Vernon W. (an American soldier), and Norman Rees-Watkins (from South Croydon and still drinking). Some sources also mention additional attendees: Pat F. (from London), Ward Williams (an American), Tony F. (an Irish airman), “Flash” W. (an American), and Pat G. (a female member from California whom Grace had met on the voyage from New York to London).

    As Bob later recalled the Dorchester meeting:

    It was Grace O. who really triggered off the inception of AA in England. She had written to me before she and her husband, Fulton, embarked at New York on one of the Queens. During lunch in London, her husband and I mapped out on a Saturday plans for a meeting the following Monday. Eight of us met in her hotel room, the last night of March 1947 and the five Londoners chose me as Secretary.

    Subsequent meetings were held at Canadian Bob’s home [left, c. 1946] on Mortlake Road in Kew and in various cafés.

In 1954, Bill W. wrote in a letter to Jack Alexander, “The whole A.A. Tradition is, in a sense, the result of my gradual adjustment to reality.”

March 30 in A.A. History

In 1910, Searcy W. [right] was born in Funston, Texas, to James and Etta W.
    He was an active member of Alcoholics Anonymous for 57 years. In 1948, at the urging of Bill W., Searcy began attending the Yale School of Alcohol Studies and later graduated. In 1950, he founded the Texas Clinic-Hospital for Alcoholism in Dallas. It was at this facility that Ebby T. sobered up in 1953; he remained sober for most of the next 13 years.
    His motto was, “Trust God, clean house, help others,” to which he would add, “... and it doesn't have to be done in that order!”

In 1939, Bill W., Hank P., and Ruth Hock [left, respectively] spent a second day in Cornwall, New York, correcting the galley proofs of the book Alcoholics Anonymous. The number of changes was so extensive that Cornwall Press charged Works Publishing an additional $33 [~$754 in 2025] for “Author’s corrections,” noting that this amounted to 13.2 hours at $2.50 [~$57 in 2025] per hour. With the job finally complete, they found themselves with only half the money they owed the Cornwall Inn, prompting them to stay an extra night.

March 29 in A.A. History

In 1939, taking the copy of the multilith manuscript of the Big Book with all the handwritten edits, Hank P. [near right] drove with Bill W. [center right, 1937] and Ruth Hock [far right] 60 miles north from New York City to Cornwall, New York, where the book was to be printed by Cornwall Press [left, early 1900s]. They all went, as Ruth later explained, because “we couldn’t afford anyone to correct the pages as they came off [the press, and] edit them…” It’s also true that no one but these three could have done the job.

    Dorothy Wright S. [right]—wife of Clarence S., who started Alcoholics Anonymous in Cleveland, Ohio—joined them on this trip; Ruth said that she was already in town visiting her sister. Dorothy had called Bill, who invited her to meet them in Cornwall, which she did. The four of them spent the day working on corrections, shared dinner, and then retired to three hotel rooms at the Cornwall Inn [left].

    Ruth and Dorothy “immediately developed a perfect rapport,” which was fortunate since they shared the third room, which had a large double bed. They “were talking, and talking, and talking” until about 1:30 or 2:00 in the morning when they heard a knock on their door. It was Bill, who couldn’t sleep. The three of them spent the rest of the night talking, with Bill positioned between the two women. It was all very innocent, and Ruth later wrote to Bill that it was “one of the most satisfying and joyous memories of my life.… How wicked that sounds, but how innocent and wonderful it really was.” Bill agreed, calling it “one of my precious moments.”

In 1943, the Charleston Daily Mail reported that Bill W. spoke at St. John’s Parish House, which may have been the first A.A. meeting in West Virginia, established in March 1942 by Irwin “Irv” M.

---

Note 1: The Parish House may be associated with St. John’s Episcopal Church, located at 1105 Quarrier St. in Charleston [right, c. 1972], built in 1884. The Parish House was designed as an expansion in 1927, with construction beginning in 1928.
Note 2: Rule 62 originated with one of Charleston’s groups.

March 28 in A.A. History

In 1945, Variety published “Alcoholics Anonymous Doing Great Job in Its New Times Square Clubhouse” [right: highlighted story on pp. 1, 19], which began:

Alcoholics Anonymous has come to Broadway. The organization that has helped life 12,000 drunks onto the water wagon, many of them straight from the gutter, is now established in a new clubhouse on West 41st street, a few minutes from Times Sq.

This article was later condensed and republished by The Catholic Digest (Vol. 9, No. 7, May 1945, pp. 79-80).

In 1946, Newly sober John “Captain Jack” S. [left: as a young man], skipper of a Socony-Vacuum oil tanker, wrote to the Alcoholic Foundation’s General Service Office (G.S.O.) in New York City, requesting contact information for some member of Alcoholics Anonymous. He explained he was “… still at sea on oil tankers, on which I have served for ten years. I have few contacts ashore with A.A., and have to rely on the Book and the guy upstairs.”
    A G.S.O. staff member responded by providing Captain Jack with the names of A.A. contacts in port cities and encouraged him to reach out to other seagoing members, which he did. This marked the beginning of The Internationalists in A.A.

March 27 in A.A. History

In 1940, Dave W. of Seattle, Washington [right: aerial view, 1939], had read about Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) and John D. Rockefeller Jr.’s interest in the organization. He wrote to Rockefeller, who had forwarded his letter to the Alcoholic Foundation in New York City. In his letter, Dave mentioned that he had stopped drinking three years earlier, had a strong faith in God, and had attempted to help others quit drinking, though without success. He seemed particularly interested in assisting those struggling with alcoholism. The Alcoholic Foundation responded by mail on 16 April 1940. Dave would go on to become one of the three founding members of the first A.A. group in Seattle.

In 1942, Irwin “Irv” Meyerson’s wife wrote to Clarence S. from Knoxville, Tennessee, stating that “Irwin started another club in Charleston, W. Va.”
    Irv [left] had gotten sober in Cleveland, Ohio and Clarence was his sponsor. Irv himself had already written the Alcoholic Foundation in New York City that three alcoholics—“Bill” S., George S. and Louis J.—were forming what would be West Virginia’s first Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) group in Charleston. Separately, Bill S. had written to National Secretary Bobbie B. at the Foundation and said that Irv was recognized as the “sponsor” of that first Charleston Group.

In 1960, the weekly half-hour radio program, The Catholic Hour, aired Part II of “Alcoholism: The Problem and the Hope”, featuring Marty M. [right, 1964], along with an unnamed staff member from the General Service Office.

March in A.A. History, day unknown

In 1940, Mort J. [right] had bought the book Alcoholics Anonymous in September 1939 and tossed it into his suitcase without even glancing at it. He had then embarked on a multi-week spree, traveling from Denver, Colorado, to California, through Arizona, and into Nogales, Guaymas, and Hermosillo in Mexico, ultimately arriving in Palm Springs.
    There, he had regained consciousness and discovered the book in his luggage. “Shaking violently,” he began to read it. From that day in November 1939, he never drank again.
    In Los Angeles, he contacted the Alcoholic Foundation, and Ruth Hock provided him with the phone number and address of Kaye Miller, a non-alcoholic who had been the driving force behind the first A.A. meeting and group in Los Angeles.
    Mort called on Kaye at her home and asked, “Where's the meeting?”
    “There are no meetings anymore,” Kaye replied. “I’m disgusted. I’m going to Hawaii or Europe.”
    “Where are all the members of A. A?”
    “They are all drunk,” she said bitterly.
    “Do you have any names for me? I want to get in touch with some alcoholics in town.”
    “You’re wasting your time.”
    She had cleaned out her apartment and thrown all the names of prospects and letters of inquiry into a wastebasket. Mort picked them out of the trash, pocketed them, and then left.
    Kaye’s last words to him were, “Don’t waste your time on them. I’ve called on them all. They can’t stay sober.”
    As Mort walked home, he sifted through the contacts and letters he had taken from Kaye. He found the address of Cliff W, whose wife had written to A.A. in New York for help after reading about the organization in the syndicated column of Beatrice Fairfax, the “Dear Abby” of that era.

    He went to Cliff’s house  [left: 4222 Vantage Ave, Studio City, likely his home in 1940] and rang the doorbell. Cliff opened the door.
    “My name is Mort J. I’m a member of Alcoholics Anonymous; may I come in?”

    Cliff let him in. Mort explained his dire need to share his story with somebody, anybody, in order to stay sober. Cliff listened to Mort’s story, despite having no desire to stop drinking or attend A.A.meetings. However, was spellbound as Mort recounted the story of his last roaring drunk. Mort explained that, as he understood it, he could not stay sober unless he carried the message to other alcoholics. Would Cliff come to a meeting? Could he help organize one?
    Cliff liked Mort, and more as a favor to him, to help him stay sober, he agreed to help.

   Years later, after he had joined A.A. himself, Cliff reflected, “I had no desire to join Alcoholics Anonymous. But I had to see Mort again. He attracted me. And years later, when Bill W. came out with the 11th tradition, I realized how true it was when he said A.A. is a program of attraction rather than promotion.”

    Looking for a meeting place, Mort contacted Dr. Ethel Leonard, who worked with alcoholics and happened to be the house physician at the Hotel Cecil [right, c. 1928] on Main St. in Los Angeles, California. Through Dr. Leonard’s assistance, Mort rented a large room on the mezzanine for $5.00 [~$113 in 2025]. This was the first public meeting of A.A. in Los Angeles, held on a Friday at 8 p.m. in March 1940. It was open to anyone who desired to stop drinking. Ted LeBerthon, a columnist for the Los Angeles Daily News, wrote about the meeting in his column, noting that it was held in the heart of Skid Row.
    “I chose this location,” Mort J. later recalled, “because the price was right, and there was a good psychological reason for holding a meeting down there because I knew it would show us where we were headed unless we did something about it—that was our destination, Skid Row, the drunk tank, sleeping in the alleys and under the bridges, winos, dead men…”
    Besides Mort and Cliff, about 10 other men attended—men who had failed to sober up at Johnny Howe’s classes or Kaye Miller’s meetings earlier that year. Mort urged them to give A.A. another chance.
    Mort didn’t know how to run an A.A. meeting. There was no coffee, no doughnuts; all he had was his copy of Alcoholics Anonymous. He opened the meeting by stating that he had not had a drink in five months. He asked if anyone would read a few pages. When no one volunteered, Mort opened the book to Chapter 5 and began reading, “Rarely have we seen a person fail…”
    Thus began the practice of reading a portion of Chapter 5 at the beginning of the meeting, which eventually spread throughout much of A.A.

March 25 in A.A. History

In 1940, the Los Angeles, California, Daily News published Ted Berthon’s syndicated column “Night and Day,” which, on this Easter Day, provided a glowing report about an organization he had recently discovered: Alcoholics Anonymous. Here is an excerpt:

     It seems that “Alcoholics Anonymous” got under way originally through the Oxford movement, i.e., the modern Buchmanite movement, but is now detached and independent. Not long ago John D. Rockefeller underwrote the publication of a huge, well written book called “Alcoholics Anonymous.” All public libraries now have long waiting lists for it. The organization “Alcoholics Anonymous” exists in virtually every major American city—without either officers or offices, dues or rituals, halls or funds.

In 1965, Richmond W. [left], 72, died in Daytona Beach, Florida, with 22 years of sobriety. He remains the second best-selling early A.A. author, after Bill W., having published several influential works, including For Drunks Only: One Man’s Reactions to Alcoholics Anonymous (1945), Twenty-Four Hours a Day (1948), and The 7 Points of Alcoholics Anonymous (1989). In 1958 (or 1959), he shared his thoughts on life and death in a lead he gave in Rutland, Vermont:

My problem, in what is left of my life, is to keep my mind or intelligence in the proper condition—by living with honesty, purity, unselfishness,  love, and service—so that when my time comes to go, my passing to a greater sphere of mind will be gentle and easy.

In 2005, Nancy O. [right], founder of the AA History Lovers (AAHL) email list, died.
    Shortly after completing her book, With a Lot of Help from Our Friends: The Politics of Alcoholism, in 2003, she suffered a series of small silent heart attacks that left her heart severely weakened. She then moved to Fredricksburg, Virginia, to be loser to her family. In July 2004, she was hospitalized with congestive heart failure and was given only a few months to live. Despite this prognosis, Nancy remained active until the end of her life, speaking to various groups in New York City, Washington, D.C., New Orleans, Louisiana, and, as one of the great thrills of her life, at an A.A. history conference in Bristol, England, where she showcased a pre-publication copy of her book. She was buried at Fern Knoll Burial Park in Dallas, Pennsylvania.
    Her AAHL co-moderator, Glenn Chestnut, created a two-part memorial for her, which can be viewed online by visiting “web.archive.org” and searching for the URL “http://hindsfoot.org/nomem1.html”.

March 24 in A.A. History

In 1939, as the writing of the Big Book (Alcoholics Anonymous) neared completion, Hank P. [near right] wrote Bill W. [far right, 1937] a 1½-page memo addressing Bill’s reluctance to make certain editorial changes^*:

  Dogmatic;  Marked by positive and authoritative assertions. As “shown by God.”
  Doctor Howards [sic] position is that Mr. Wilson should not let himself be put in a position of being dogmatic  anywhere in the book. That instead of saying to any person . . . ”You do this or You do that.” . . . the whole attitude should be we did this or we did that and received certain blessings from God[…]
  My personal opinion is as follows: EVERY personality should be laid aside[…] Therefor [sic] Bill should take the book someplace where he can study it quietly with the attitude of taking from it <handwritten>changing</handwritten> any dogmatic statements or insinuations.[…] Simply to change it where necessary from . . . You do this . . . to . . . we did this. At the same time certain men such as Frank Amos, Harry B———, Jack D———, Doc. S———, Horace C———, Paul K——— and any others who might be suggested should <handwritten>could</handwritten> do the same thing. Then a meeting sh<handwritten>c</handwritten>ould be called for final discussion of these points and any changes made where this seemed right.[…]
To bring this proposal down to concrete few words.
A committee to study the book to ▓▓▓▓▓▓ change any “ You do this [sic] or [sic] you must do that [sic] statements or insinuations to, “ We did this [sic] or [sic] we did that.”
Then at a meeting to decide [sic] by the vote of the majority the changes. ANY people who desire and will spend the necessary time to be able [sic] to serve on such a committee.

---

^* The following excerpts include Hank’s errors; my notations are in red. “could <handwritten>should</handwritten>” indicates that Hank drew a line through “could” and hand-wrote “should” above above it.

In 1971, Margaret (or Margarita) Von Lüttichau Marbury [left, 1915] died in Washington, D.C.
    In the September 2020 issue of The Journal of Analytical Psychology, the article “Margarita Von Lüttichau: Intermediary between Jung and Bill W[—–]” by Ian McCabe, Christine Boyd, and Pádraig Carroll claimed that

Her contribution within this mediator role [i.e, between Carl Jung and Bill W.] has not been previously recognized but is an important factor in explaining how Jung became introduced to the AA 12‐step format and validated the effectiveness of group work. After the Second World War, Von Lüttichau travelled between America and Switzerland and introduced the writings and ideas of Wilson and Jung to each other and acted as an intermediary between both titans. Jung gave Von Lüttichau extraordinarily detailed instructions on how the 12‐step programme of AA could be applied to ‘general neurotics’. Von Lüttichau’s private papers provide a bridge between Jung and Wilson’s correspondence and help to piece together gaps in both Jungian and AA history.

March 23 in A.A. History

In 1898, James “Jimmy” B. [right] was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to Nellie C. and Robert B. He was introduced to Alcoholics Anonymous in 1938 but slipped for about a week a few months later. After returning to A.A., he remained continuously sober for the rest of his life. His story, “The Vicious Cycle”, appears in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th edi­tions of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous.

In 1936, Bill and Lois W. visited John Fitzhugh “Fitz” [left] and Elizabeth Gwathmey M. in Cumberstone, Maryland. Bill’s intellectual and scholarly qualities provided common ground with Fitz, and like Fitz, Bill was a dreamer. They became devoted friends of the Ms. Lois remarked that she and Bill had “practically commuted” to the M.’s home, while Fitz often visited them in Brooklyn, New York. He frequently attended the Tuesday night meetings at the W.s’ home in Brooklyn. Lois described Fitz as an “impractical, lovable dreamer.” Fitz’s story “Our Southern Friend” appears in all four editions of Alcoholics Anonymous.

In 1941, Sybil M. [right] got sober in Los Angeles, California, becoming the first woman to join A.A. west of the Mississippi River. Her story, “Learning to Fly,” was published in the February 1982 issue of the A.A. Grapevine.
    In 1939, she had read the Liberty magazine article “Alcoholics and God.” Though fascinated, she did nothing. Eighteen months later, she read Jack Alexander’s article about A.A. in the 1 March 1941 issue of The Saturday Evening Post. She wrote to the Alcoholic Foundation in New York City and received a reply from Ruth Hock, who informed her that there were no women members in California but that Marty Mann was sober in New York. Ruth referred her to a small group of men in the area.
    Her non-alcoholic husband took her to that group, where they found 10 to 12 men around a table and 3 to 4 women against the wall. The chairman began the meeting by announcing, “As is our custom before the regular meeting starts, we have to ask the women to leave.” Sybil left with the other women, while her husband stayed, leading the members to assume he was the alcoholic. When he rejoined Sybil, he said, “They don’t know you’re alive. They just went on and on bragging about their drinking until I was about to walk out, when they jumped up and said the Lord’s Prayer, and here I am.” Sybil then headed for the nearest bar and got drunk.
    However, she remembered that Ruth Hock had written, “If you need help, call Cliff W. [left],” and had given her his phone number. When she called, he explained, “You didn’t tell us you were an alcoholic. We thought you were one of the wives. If you had identified yourself as an alcoholic, you would have been welcome as the flowers in May.” Sybil returned the following week and became the group’s only woman.
    Frank R. brought in a large carton of letters, bundled into groups of twenty to fifty. They were all inquiries and calls for help from people in Southern California. “Here they are! Here they are! If any of you jokers have been sober over fifteen minutes, come on up here and get these letters. We’ve got to get as many of these drunks as we can in here by next Friday, or they may die.” The last bundle contained letters from women. Frank called out, “Sybil Maxwell, come on up. I am going to put you in charge of all the women.”
    Sybil liked the idea of “being in charge” but replied, “I can’t, sir. You said I have to make all those calls by next Friday, or somebody might die. Well, I’ll be drunk by next Friday unless you have some magic that will change everything so I can stay sober.” Frank replied that everything she needed to know was in the Big Book, “and it says right in here that when all other measures fail, working with another alcoholic will save the day. That’s what you will be doing, Sybil, working with other alcoholics. You just get in your car and take your mind off yourself. Think about someone sicker than you are. Go see her and hand her the letter she wrote, and say: ‘I wrote one like this last week, and they answered mine and told me to come and see you. If you have a drinking problem like I have, and if you want to get sober as bad as I do, you come with me, and we’ll find out together how to do it.’ Don’t add another word to that, because you don’t know anything yet. Just go get ’em.”
    It worked, and she never had another drink.

In 1995, seventeen years after Bob P. of New Zealand conceived the idea for a zonal meeting serving Asian and Pacific Island A.A. groups, the first Asia/Oceania Service Meeting (AOSM) was held in Tokyo, Japan. Its purpose was to provide an opportunity for countries in the same geographical area to come together and share experiences, similar to a mini-World Service Meeting. The theme was “Twelfth Stepping Your Neighbor Country.” Representatives from five Asia-Oceania countries attended: Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, and Vanuatu. Australia, despite being in the region, did not attend this first meeting due to financial constraints. There were also four non-member observers present. Bob chaired the meeting, and George D., General Manager of the General Service Office in New York City, was the keynote speaker.

March 22 in A.A. History

In 1951, Dr. William Silkworth, 77, died at his home, 45 W. 81st St., New York City, from coronary occlusion, a condition characterized by the partial or complete blockage of blood flow in an artery that supplies blood to the heart. In their later years, he and his wife, Marie [right, together in front of their home in New Jersey], had left New Jersey to live in Manhattan.

In 1984, Clarence S. [left], 81, died at home in Casselberry, Florida, from lung cancer. He was 46 years sober. Clarence was the founder of Cleveland A.A., the creator of the sponsorship concept as we know it today, and the author of “Home Brewmeister” in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd editions of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous.

March 21 in A.A. History

In 1881, Anne Ripley [right, 1915], Dr. Bob S.’s future wife, was born in Oak Park, Illinois. She was the only daughter and the oldest of four children, her brothers being Paul, Charles, and Joseph. Dr. Bob once said of her, “For some reason, we alcoholics seem to have the gift of picking out the world’s finest women.” Bill W. referred to her as a “founder” of A.A. and “the mother of our first group in Akron [Ohio].” He described her as a woman who possessed a deep faith in God and an unwavering love for those who suffer.

In 1913, a memorial service for Bertha Bamford, who had died in November 1912 and was Bill W.’s high school love, was held in the chapel at Burr and Barton Seminary by the YMCA and YWCA associations of the school (Bill was president of the former, while Bertha had been president of the latter). A short article [left] on page 2 of The Bennington Evening Banner stated, “Many glowing tributes were paid to Miss Bamford’s memory by students of the upper classes and teachers.”

In 1915, Frederick Harold “Hal” M. was born in McDowell, North Carolina, the first child of Fred Harold and Louise Emma Clarke M. He sobered up in 1964 and became known as “Dr. Gratitude” for the custom “Attitude of Gratitude” pins he designed and gave to members.

In 1966, Edwin “Ebby” T. [right], from the last photo taken of him], the man Bill W. called his sponsor, died sober. He spent the last two years of his life at McPike’s Farm on Peaceable Street, a pioneering treatment facility for alcoholics located in Galway, New York, just 25 miles north of his hometown, Albany. Ebby’s caretakers believed he had given up after the death of his dear brother, Ken, in January 1966. Although he fell ill, Ebby resisted going to the hospital until he seemed to realize it was the end. “Well, we all have to go sometime,” he admitted before suffering an apparent stroke. He was rushed to a nearby hospital in Ballston Spa, but by Sunday night, he was in a coma. Ebby died of a stroke (cerebral thrombosis) at 1:00 a.m. on Monday and was later buried in Albany Rural Cemetery.