August 8 in A.A. History

In 1897, Robert Holbrook S. (Dr. Bob) [right, very young] was born in the front bedroom of a large 19th-century clapboard house at 297 Summer St. in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. His parents were Susan A. Holbrook and Judge Walter Perrin S. [left]. He had a much older foster sister, Amanda, who later became a history professor at Hunter College in New York City.

In 1942, Clarence S.’s application to enroll in the U.S. Army’s Volunteer Officers Candidate Program was approved. Earlier that summer, Clarence [right, in uniform] had decided it was time to join the Army and had contacted the Selective Service Board to apply.

In 1944, Ed B.^*, who had previously been in Alcoholics Anonymous but returned to drinking, woke up in the basement of a small community hospital. Once he sobered up, Dr. Bob S. came to see him and asked, “What happened, Ed?” Ed later remembered responding that he had found himself in a bar and didn’t know how he had gotten there. At that moment, Dr. Bob stood up from his chair, pointed a finger at him, and lectured him about the importance of honesty, saying in part:

    You’re taking up my time, and I have better ways to spend it than to talk to you. If I were you, I’d go out and get drunk and stay drunk until I made up my mind what I wanted to do. As far as I’m concerned, you stink!

    Ed was furious, but later that night, he called Dr. Bob’s wife, Anne. After that call, he never drank again. Eventually he became the editor of the Akron Intergroup News.

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^*A.A. #59, original sobriety date: January 1938, in Akron, Ohio?

In 1974, Al S. [left] wrote to Nell Wing [right] about an article on Anne S., Dr. Bob’s wife, that he had inadvertently taken home 24 years ago [below: letter].