June 7 in A.A. History

In 1925, on Granby Lane in Dublin, Ireland, on his way to Mass, Matt Talbot [far left: restored photo], 69, collapsed and died of heart failure A manual laborer who spent most of his life alone, Talbot might have gone unnoticed had it not been for the cords and chains found on his body after his death. He was buried [near left] in Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin on June 11. 

    In 1952, his remains were moved [right: “Irish Tribunal Exhumes Body of Matt Talbot, The Catholic Times, Columbus, Ohio, 11 Jul 1952, p. 3.] to a tomb at Our Lady of Lourdes Church on Seán McDermott Street, Dublin. Although he has not been formally recognized as a saint, he has been declared Venerable and is considered a patron of those struggling with alcoholism. [While not part of Alcoholics Anonymous history, Talbot’s story is noteworthy; by age 28, he was deemed a hopeless alcoholic but “took the pledge” (renounced alcohol) and remained sober for the last 40 years of his life.]

In 1933, James “Jim” R. had his first day of what would become his permanent sobriety, marking a sobriety date more than 18 months before Bill W.’s. Continued binge drinking had led Jim to enter The Keswick Colony of Mercy [left, 1920], a religious recovery mission in New Jersey, where he would remain for the next 10+ months. He later became a co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous in Baltimore, Maryland.

In 1997, the Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal published the article “AA Meeting a Piece of History” [right], which discussed the upcoming Founders’ Day celebration.