January 15 in A.A. History

1937: John Henry Fitzhugh “Fitz” M. [left] began his efforts to start an A.A. meeting in Washington, D.C., a pursuit that would occupy him for much of the next two and a half years. He stayed with his sister, Agnes, who lived in Washington, for at least part of that time. 
    Initially, he had minimal success, but by the fall of 1939, he had established the nucleus of a small group.

1941: Bill W. asked Ruth Hock to get him a copy of what he referred to as a “spook book”: The Unobstructed Universe [right: 1st edition with dust jacket], by Stewart Edward White.

1942: Jeanne C. held the first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in Springfield, Missouri.     While temporarily living in Kansas City, Missouri, during World War II, she had seen an advertisement for Alcoholics Anonymous in the classified section of The Kansas City Star [left: likely this one, which was running every Sunday]. She had written to the P.O. box, joined the Kansas City Number One Group, and got sober. After returning to Springfield, she stayed sober for two years by making frequent trips to Kansas City, despite gas rationing, and by corresponding with Bobbie B. at the Alcoholic Foundation office in New York City.
    Eventually, she wrote an article about A.A. for the local Springfield paper and obtained a post office box. Once she had a dozen names, she set the time and place for the first meeting in Springfield: her house on 15 January.
    Later, Jeanne would help establish A.A. in Joplin, Missouri, after receiving a call from Jim S. asking how to start a group. In response, Jeanne would gather several carloads of members from Springfield and Kansas City and travel to Joplin.

1945: Newsweek magazine [near right: cover] published an article [far right] in its Medicine section titled “It’s Fun to be Sober.” The article tells the story of Joe, a seaman who founded his own “club”—the Alcoholics Anonymous Seamen’s Group—at the original A.A. clubhouse on W. 24th St. in New York City.

1946: The Times-Herald of Washington, D.C., reported,

    Eight new patients and six who were formerly treated at the Force School presented themselves as willing subjects for an alcoholic cure when the Polk Health Center Alcoholic Clinic for Negroes went into operation January 15.
    Co-operating with the new clinic is the Washington Negro Group of Alcoholics Anonymous, which meets Fridays and Sundays at 8:30 pm. in the Y.M.C.A. at 1816 12th St. NW. The group supplies volunteer clerical help for the clinic, and alcoholics who require group therapy are referred to the organization by the doctors.

1958: Ernest Jacoby [left, 1913] died in Boston, Massachusetts. He had been the founder of the Jacoby Club, which helped alcoholic men and indigent older men in the area. His wife, Alice G. Hovey Jacoby, died about a day later.

2005: Esther C., 95, died in Kissimmee, Florida, with her family by her side. She got sober on 23 July 1943, when she was 12th-stepped by Clarence S. and four other Alcoholics Anonymous members in Cleveland, Ohio. She would often ride from Cleveland to meetings in Akron on her “Little Indian Scout” motorcycle [right: a young Esther on her motorcycle].