September 12 in A.A. History

	In 1941, Robert Shaw, 70, died of a heart attack in his car in the driveway of his home [left: home; near right: obituary; far right: grave] in Long Beach, New York.
A friend of Willard Richardson, he joined the Alcoholic Foundation Board of Trustees in December 1939 as its third Chairman, becoming the first Class A Trustee to hold that position.     Together with his father, William Walden Shaw, he had founded the Dake Bakery Company in Chicago, Illinois, where he was born. This bakery was one of 40 acquired by Adolphus Green in 1890 to form the American Biscuit and Manufacturing Company. In 1898, this company merged with William H. Moore’s New York Biscuit Company and John Gottlieb Zeller’s Richmond Steam Bakery to create the National Biscuit Company, which later became known as Nabisco. Shaw retired in 1914 while still in his 40s.

	In 1942, U.S. Assistant Surgeon General Dr. Lawrence Kolb [left] spoke at a dinner honoring Bill W. and Dr. Bob S. The following month, Bill would inscribe Kolb’s copy of Alcoholics Anonymous with the words, “To Dr. Lawrence Kolb / In grateful appreciation of his friendship / Bill Wilson” [right]. At the 10th General Service Conference in 1960, Bill would express his thoughts about Kolb:
Old Fitz Mayo, one of the early AA’s and I visited the Surgeon General of the United States in the third year of this society and told him of our beginnings.      He was a gentle man, Dr. Lawrence Kolb, and has since become a great friend of AA. He said, “I wish you well. Even the sobriety of a few is almost a miracle. The government knows that this is one of the greatest health problems but we have considered the recovery of alcoholics so impossible that we have given up and have instead concluded that rehabilitation of narcotic addicts would be the easier job to tackle.

In 1946, a dispute arose over a funding solicitation from the National Council for Education on Alcoholism (NCEA). The solicitation was written by Marty M. and printed on NCEA letterhead, which included the full names of Alcoholics Anonymous’ co-founders, Dr. Bob S. and Bill W.

    Marty had founded the NCEA with the support both co-founders. In her role at the NCEA, she regularly broke her anonymity. Initially, Bill thought thought this was acceptable, and Marty spoke extensively about Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) during her continual lectures across the country. This was prior to publication of the Traditions. Even so, many A.A. members feared the inclusion of the co-founders’ names on NCEA letterhead might be taken to imply a connection between A.A. and NCEA. In response, the Alcoholic Foundation would publish both a letter and an article [right] in the October A.A. Grapevine denying any affiliation between A.A. and the NCEA. This incident contributed to the widespread feeling that “total non-affiliation was the only solution” to A.A.’s relationship with other organizations.