March 18 in A.A. History

In 1905, Clinton T. “Duke” P. was born in Omaha, Nebraska, to George W. and Frances Thompson P. In 1918, the family moved to Kansas City, Missouri. Duke graduated from the University of Missouri in 1926 and from the Kansas City School of Law in 1932, the same year he married Catherine “Katie” Northern.

    In 1938, Duke was introduced to Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) by Charles “C.J.” K. and Eddie B., and was admitted to Akron City Hospital in Akron, Ohio, with “acute gastritis.” It was there that he sobered up and was visited by members of the Akron A.A. Group. Dr Bob S. became his sponsor. In 1940, Duke led the first A.A. meeting at 2222 Maumee Rd. [upper right: house; lower right: aerial view with house at lower left] in Toledo, Ohio.

    Duke served in the U.S. Army from 1942 to 1945, continuing his service in the Army Reserve before retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel. He then became a distinguished salesman for Proctor & Gamble. In 1988, Duke and Katie moved to Jacksonville, Florida, where they lived out the rest of their lives.

In 1947, the Dallas (Texas) Central Office opened and held its first Board meeting, even though there were only two A.A. groups in the area. The Central Office was located on Akard Street in the Davis Building [left, c. 1931]. It was a musty old office and a little cluttered.

    Dick P. was the director. He suffered physically from a Jamaica Ginger [right] poisoning^* during Prohibition, but that didn’t stop him from answering the phone, coordinating 12th-Step calls, or sharing with a friend or stranger over a cup of coffee. He even sold some literature.
    The location of the office would change a few times over the next several years, but always stay in the Downtown Dallas area.

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^*Prohibition Era Jamaica Ginger was usually homemade or produced illegally, made with available ingredients, resulting in varied quality and potency. Homemade versions often included fresh ginger, sugar, water, and high-proof alcohol like moonshine. The quality and safety of such bootlegged Jamaica Ginger were questionable, with risks of contamination or harmful ingredients. Despite these risks, ginger liqueurs remained popular during Prohibition, often used in cocktails to mask harsh flavors of low-quality alcohol.

In 1951, Cliff W., [left] who had gotten sober in 1941 in Los Angeles, California, was elected as the first Southern California Delegate to the General Service Conference. Before getting sober, in March 1940, Cliff had invited a stranger who knocked on his door into his home. The man, Mort J., [below right] had just left the residence of Kaye Miller, a non-alcoholic who had been trying to start and sustain A.A. meetings in Los Angeles, but who was giving up and moving to Hawai'i. Cliff’s name and address, originally submitted by his wife, were among the leads Mort had retrieved from Kaye’s wastebasket. Mort had expressed a desperate need to talk to someone about his alcoholism to help him stay sober. Although Cliff had no interest in quitting drinking at that time, he felt sympathy for Mort and agreed to listen.