June 11 in A.A. History

In 1938, after what he described as “a very good week” selling car polish in New England, Jimmy B. [right] was taken out to lunch by two of his customers. Having been sober for just over five months, he refrained from drinking when they each ordered a round of beers, leaving both glasses untouched.

    Then it was my turn—I ordered, “Three beers,” but this time it was different; I had a cash investment of thirty cents [~$6.80 in 2025], and, on a ten-dollar-a-week salary [~$227 in 2025], that’s big thing. So I drank all three beers, one after the other, and said, “I’ll be seeing you, boys,” and went around the corner for a bottle. I never saw either of them again.

    The story of “Ed,” recounted—though inaccurately—on pages 143-5 of Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, is Bill W.’s version of this part of Jimmy’s story.

In 1947, the 11th printing of the first edition of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous [left: copyright page], was published by Works Publishing, Inc. In this printing, all instances of the term “ex-alcoholic” were replaced with “ex-problem drinker” or “non-drinker.”

In 1969, Dr. Bob S.’s 23-year-old grand­daughter, Bonna [near right], the daughter of Sue S. and Ernie G. (A.A. #4, whose story is “The Seven Month Slip” in the first edition of Alcoholics Anonymous), shot and killed herself after first killing her six-year-old daughter, Sandy [far right], Dr. Bob’s great-granddaughter. Sue and Ernie had been divorced for four years, and Sue believed that Bonna was an alcoholic and abused diet pills.

In 1971, Ernest “Ernie” G. [left], referred to in the Big Book (p. 159) as “the devil-may-care chap,” died at the age of 66. Sue wrote, “Ernie never got over [Bonna’s death], and he died two years later to the day…”

In 2016, the Anchorage Dry Dock Club [right], established in Alaska in March 1982 by Alcoholics Anonymous members “to create a permanent meeting place for meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous available to recovering alcoholics in the South Anchorage area,” is officially incorporated as “The Dry Dock of Anchorage, Inc.” Today,

    … the Anchorage Dry Dock operates a social club where recovering alcoholics and addict [sic], their families and friends can spend leisure hours in an alcohol and drug free environment. The Anchorage Dry Dock provides space where groups of Alcoholic Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, Al-Anon, Pills Anonymous or any other recovery group can hold meetings.