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.