1937: Bill W. [right: mid to late 1930s]
lost his job at Quaw & Foley,* and at that time, he was
still owed one of his two weeks of vacation.† Bill claimed he was
let go due to the March 1937 market crash; indeed, the market losses on 10
March 1937, are ranked as the second-worst day in U.S. financial history.
Following this, all aspects of the nation’s business remained depressed for
well over a year, with unemployment reaching about 18%. Lois’s diary
notes that Quaw & Foley were forced to let Bill go “because they nearly
failed.” This would be the last substantive job Bill ever held outside of
Alcoholics Anonymous.
[William Schaberg, in Writing the Big Book: The Creation of A.A., asserts at this point in the story (p. 24) that…
1988: A memorial service for Lois [left,
near the end of her life], Bill W.’s widow, was held in Bedford Hills, New York. About fifty family
and friends gathered for an informal Quaker-style service in the living room
of Stepping Stones, in front of a roaring fire in the stone fireplace.
During the service, Michael Alexander, Class A (non-alcoholic) Trustee and
chair of the General Service Board, spoke of her many talents and facets:
not only was she the leader and organizer of Al-Anon, but she was also a
writer, artist, poet, musician, highly sought-after speaker, lover of
nature, homemaker, tireless hostess, and devoted wife. “She was a remarkable
and great lady and we shall sorely miss her.”
[William Schaberg, in Writing the Big Book: The Creation of A.A., asserts at this point in the story (p. 24) that…
Wilson was never happy with his ongoing lack of real employment and he would spend the rest of his life chasing the occasional job opportunities that came his way, while just as constantly trying to resign from the central leadership position that was always being forced back on him by the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous.** In many ways, these two factors defined Bill Wilson’s life from this point forward: he never again held a job outside of A.A. and he was never able to completely let go of the reins that controlled A.A.…**Dipping into any of the folders containing Wilson’s voluminous thirty-five years of correspondence that are carefully preserved at Stepping Stones will provide ample support for both of these observations. However it must be noted that Bill Wilson’s desire to hand over the leadership of A.A. to others was always tempered by a conflicting desire on his part to continue “running the show.” He was a complicated and fascinating man.]
*Quaw & Foley was a firm that specialized in stock market investigations
and provided Bill W. with most of the professional work he did in the early
1930s.
†Bill would use this week, October 9–16, to visit the alcoholics in Akron,
Ohio.
1988: A memorial service for Lois [left,
near the end of her life], Bill W.’s widow, was held in Bedford Hills, New York. About fifty family
and friends gathered for an informal Quaker-style service in the living room
of Stepping Stones, in front of a roaring fire in the stone fireplace.
During the service, Michael Alexander, Class A (non-alcoholic) Trustee and
chair of the General Service Board, spoke of her many talents and facets:
not only was she the leader and organizer of Al-Anon, but she was also a
writer, artist, poet, musician, highly sought-after speaker, lover of
nature, homemaker, tireless hostess, and devoted wife. “She was a remarkable
and great lady and we shall sorely miss her.”
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