December 17 in A.A. History

In 1895, Florence D. was born to Emma Alexander and Harvey D. in Marion, Massachusetts. Her mother would die in 1907 of carcinoma uteri, the most common form of uterine cancer, and by April 1910, at age 14, she would be living in Boston with her maternal grandmother, Anna Alexander. In 1917, she would marry Lawrence R. in Houston, Texas.
    In March 1937, as Florence R., she would join A.A. in New York City, experience several slips, and became the first woman in New York City—and the second woman anywhere—to achieve a notable length of sobriety in A.A. Her presence was likely the primary reason the publishing company, One Hundred Men Corporation, to be renamed Works Publishing, Inc. She would accumulate over a year of sobriety before writing “A Feminine Victory” for the first edition of Alcoholics Anonymous.

In 1937, Bill W. wrote to Rev. Willard “Dick” S. Richardson [right], who managed John D. Rockefeller Jr.’s private charities and served as his spiritual advisor and close friend:

    The problem is how best to get our message to the great number… if they only knew. How… to preserve sound spiritual construction, simplicity and spontaneity, at the same time making our experience as widely and quickly available as possible, is the conundrum.

In 1949, The Herald Saturday Magazine (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia) published John Holden’s article, “Drunkards have found the sober road” [left]. The article occupies nearly half of page 15 and features a photograph of Lillian R., the Hollywood actress who, along with her husband, “Jack” McG. [right], helped establish Melbourne’s first permanent A.A. group on 13 October 1947. At the bottom of the article, there is a cartoon credited to “‘The Grapevine’ journal of Alcoholics Anonymous.”