July 8 in A.A. History

1980: [Some sources cite July 10] Helen W. Evans [near right: at age 16, in 1931], Bill W.’s half-sister and the first paid employee of the A.A. Grapevine, died of cancer at the age of 64 in Tucson, Arizona [far right: obituary].

July in A.A. History—day unknown

1922: Lois Wilson [left, 1925] experienced her second ectopic pregnancy, where a fertilized egg develops outside the uterus—in her case, in a fallopian tube. The first had occurred just a month before in her other fallopian tube, and her father, Dr. Clark Burnham [near right, 1917], had treated her at home. This time, he promptly sent her to the Skene Sanitarium [far right, 1909±2], where he was on staff. A colleague performed the surgery, and Lois then went to her family’s camp on Emerald Lake in Vermont to recover under her father’s care.
    Unfortunately, her condition worsened instead of improving. Despite feeling increasingly unwell, she missed home and pretended to be getting better until Dr. Burnham “let” her go home.
    Once home, her husband Bill kept her in bed for several weeks. Concerned about her deteriorating health, he consulted Dr. Leonard Strong [left], his brother-in-law, who realized that a cyst had formed on what remained of her ovary. Lois returned to the surgeon who had operated on her, but he only conducted a “cursory examination” and prescribed a laxative for what he assumed was constipation.

    Knowing better, Bill contacted Dr. Burnham, who quickly took a train back from Vermont and readmitted Lois to the Skene Sanitarium. There, the cyst was removed, and she began to recover rapidly.
    Lois would suffer a third and final ectopic pregnancy the following May.

1934: Bill and Lois W. returned to their Brooklyn home after spending another month at the Strong’s farm in Green River, Vermont. Upon their return, Bill resumed his heavy drinking [right: recent map showing, south to north, Brooklyn, NY; Green River, VT; and East Dorset/Emerald Lake, VT (all in gold)].

1934: In Manchester, Vermont, Ebby T. [left, c. 1922±2] was approached by his friends Cebra Graves [near right], a lawyer, and F. Sheppard “Shep” Cornell [far right], a New York City stockbroker. Both were members of the Oxford Group and had previously been heavy drinkers—specifically, drinking buddies with Ebby. Now sober, they told Ebby about the Oxford Group, but he wasn’t quite ready to give up alcohol.

1934: Bill W. [far left, 1930s] was admitted to Charles B. Towns Hospital [near left] for the second time, his brother-in-law, Dr. Leonard V. Strong [near right], again covering the cost. During this stay, Bill met Dr. Silkworth [far right] for the first time. Dr. Silkworth explained the concepts of obsession and allergy as they related to alcoholism. However, Bill resumed drinking shorly after his release. At this point, he was unemployable, drinking around the clock, and suicidal, having accumulated over $50,000 in debt [~$1¼ million in 2026].