June 6 in A.A. History

In 1940, the first Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) group in Richmond [right: downtown, c. 1940s], Virginia, began meeting.
    In the spring of 1940. Ted C., who had been treated at Rockland State Hospital in Orangeburg, New York, was returning to Richmond when the Alcoholic Foundation office in New York City asked him to serve as their local contact. One of his initial referrals was McGhee B., whom Ted successfully helped to get sober. Together, they established the group, holding their first meeting in McGhee’s apartment with ten attendees. However, as Bill W. later recalled, they “believed in getting away from their wives and drinking only beer.” This approach did not work, and the group fell apart almost immediately.

In 1961, Dr. Carl Gustav Jung [far left] died from circulatory problems at his home in Küsnacht, located in the canton of Zürich, Switzerland [near right: Jung family gravestone]. He became a full professor of medical psychology at the University of Basel in 1943 but resigned the following year after suffering a heart attack, choosing to lead a more private life. He experienced another illness in 1952. 
    Despite these health challenges, Jung continued to publish books until his death, with his last work being, “Approaching the Unconscious,” a contribution to Man and His Symbols, written in early 1961 and published posthumously in 1964.

In 1979, in New York City, Lois W., the widow of Bill W., presented the 2,000,000th copy of Alcoholics Anonymous to Joseph Califano, who was then the U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare [right: Dr. Norris presides over presentation by Lois to Califano].

June 5 in A.A. History

In 1918, Robert “Smitty” Ripley S. [right, mother and son, father and son], the son of Anne Ripley and Dr. Bob S., was born.

In 1939, Ebby T. [left] started a new job. As he later put it,

    … through the connections of my brother [the politically influential Jack T., II] I secured a job at the New York State World’s Fair Commission at the fairgrounds [right: aerial view, 1939].

    During this time, he frequently spent time with Bill and Lois W., and may have even stayed with them. Lois believed he was sober and attending meetings. However, Ebby later admitted, 

    I did not sober up. I managed to drink and hold [the job] pretty well, and with so many people there, and crowds, I wasn’t noticed much. I got away with it all summer.

    By fall, though, he was “drinking it up pretty hard.” The following spring, he convinced his boss that “I was again on the straight and narrow” and was rehired for the same position.

In 1947, A.A. National Secretary Margaret “Bobbie” B. [left] sent a bulletin [right] to A.A. groups informing them that

    Pathé Pictures, makers of the “This Is America” movies series, has completed a 15-minute “short” film about Alcoholics Anonymous which would be distributed through RKO. They tell us that this film will be shown soon in neighborhood theatres—we cannot supply it. The film is called “I Am an Alcoholic.” It not only shows how one man recovered through AA, but portrays a reasonable facsimile of the founding of AA in Akron [Ohio] by Bill [W.] and Dr. Bob [S.].… We were unable to cooperate with the makers when the story was filmed.…
    On the subject of movies, MARCH OF TIME has informed us that 16-mm films of PROBLEM DRINKERS are now available through their distributional outlet. Write directly to MARCH OF TIME, 369 Lexington Ave., New York if you would like to rent or buy for a group showing.

    The March of Time newsreel series, including “Problem Drinkers” [right: screen capture] were shown in thousands of movie theaters.

In 1988, an A.A. memorial service for Sybil C. [left, 1985], who died on May 14, just six days shy of her 90th birthday, was finally held after several delays due to A.A. conference schedules. The service lasted over two hours. Sybil got sober in A.A. on 21 Mar 1941, in Los Angeles, California, and she was recognized as the first woman in A.A. west of the Mississippi.

June 4 in A.A. History

In 1878, Franklin “Frank” Buchman, Jr. was born in Pennsburg, Pennsylvania, to Sarah Ann Greenawald and Franklin Buchman, Sr. [right, from left: Sarah, Frank Sr., Frank Jr., and brother Dan, in front of their home in 1894]. A Lutheran, he would found the First Century Christian Fellowship in 1921, which was renamed the Oxford Group in 1928, Moral Re-Armament in 1938 and finally Initiatives of Change in 2001. The Oxford Group likely had a greater influence on the development of Alcoholics Anonymous than any other organization.

    Additionally, Buchman would be honored by the French and German governments for his efforts in promoting Franco-German reconciliation following World War II [left: Croix de Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur and Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany].

In 2002, Caroline Knapp [right], 42, died from lung cancer after getting sober in 1995. She was the author of Drinking: A Love Story [left: cover]. In her obituary, The New York Times stated that

    Ms. Knapp wrote about the disturbing incongruities of her life as what she called a “high-functioning alcoholic”: she was an award-winning journalist, an Ivy League graduate from a well-to-do New England family and by all appearances a happy, healthy and successful young woman. But drinking had slowly taken hold of her life, and she was desperate to conceal its effects.
    She was, she wrote, “smooth and ordered on the outside; roiling and chaotic and desperately secretive underneath, but not noticeably so, never noticeably so.” The book, published by Dial Press in 1996, was praised by critics for its painful honestly in describing the grip of addiction and the difficulty of overcoming it. In a review in The New York Times, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt called it “a remarkable exercise in self-discovery.” The book remained on The New York Times best-seller list for several weeks in both hardcover and paperback editions.

June 3 in A.A. History

In 1950, Bill W. wrote to Charles W.:

    As to changing the Steps themselves, or even the text of the A.A. book, I am assured by many that I could certainly be excommunicated if a word were touched. It is a strange fact of human nature that when a spiritually centered movement starts and finally adopts certain principles, these finally freeze absolutely solid. But what can’t be done respecting the Steps themselves—or any part of the A.A. book—I can make a shift by writing these pieces [i.e., the essays on the Twelve Steps which would be published in Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions in 1953] which I hope people will like.

June 2 in A.A. History

In 1944, Marty M. [left] wrote a letter on lavender* stationery from her 48th Street address in New York City to Paul H., Esq. [right, 1956], at “Man. Ave, N.W.” [Massachusetts Avenue NW], Washington, D.C. In the letter, she said in part:

    I don’t remember whether I told you anything of my pet project when I was there – [inserting above the line] or you were here – making alcoholism respectable. In any case, I worked out a practical feasible place for beginning a campaign of education on a nation-wide scale. It needed scientific backing and it needed funds. Both have since been provided by Yale, where, as you probably know, Drs. Haggard & Jellinek of the Laboratory of Applied Physiology have established 1) a Section on Alcohol Studies, 2) a summer school of Studies in Alcohol, 3) the Quarterly Journal of Studies in Alcohol, 4) The Yale Plan – which has opened two free clinics, one in Hartford, one in New Haven, for alcoholics. Apparently, they were just getting ready for project no. 5 – an educational campaign – when my plan turned up, they accepted it – and me.

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^* Marty chose lavender as the color for the National Council on Alcoholism stationery. This versatile, aromatic shrub is celebrated for its beautiful purple flowers and soothing fragrance, and it has a wide range of uses. Lavender flowers symbolize purity, calmness, devotion, and serenity, while the color purple is associated with royalty, elegance, and luxury. Historically, lavender has been used in rituals, perfumes, and even in ancient Roman baths; the name itself derives from the Latin word lavare, meaning “to wash.” Additionally, amethyst, a lavender-hued type of quartz, was believed by early Greek and Roman cultures to protect its owner from drunkenness. I am uncertain whether Marty was aware of any of this.

June 1 in A.A. History

In 1949, Anne Ripley S. [right], 68, the wife of Dr. Bob, died at St. Thomas Hospital in Akron, Ohio.
     Before her death, Sister Ignatia performed a secret baptism for her as an act of love. Anne was cherished by the Akron members and by Bill and Lois W. In her final years, she suffered from severe cataracts, which left her nearly blind. The July 1949 issue of the A.A. Grapevine featured a memorial article by Bill, stating that Anne was “quite literally, the mother of our first group, Akron Number One” and that “in the full sense of the word she was one of the founders of AA.”

    After her passing, Anne’s remains were sent to Cleveland for cremation before being buried in Akron [left: gravestone].

In 1962, Henry Berton “Bert” D. founded Harbor House, a treatment center in Memphis, Tennessee, rooted in the principles of Alcoholics Anonymous, along with religious beliefs and philosophical teachings. Bert realized that maintaining his sobriety depended on his active involvement in Alcoholics Anonymous. His life was a continuous battle for sobriety, and Harbor House became his life's work. The center continues to operate today [right: Harbor House, Feb 2023].

In 1998, this was the deadline for submitting personal stories to be considered for inclusion in the 4th edition of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous [left]. A.A.W.S. received 1,222 story submissions.

May 31 in A.A. History

In 1949, Bill W. responded [right] to a May 15th note from Ed W. [far left]. Ed had written to inform Bill that Barry C. [near left], a founder of A.A. in Minnesota, was doing much better.

     He also asked Bill to confirm that he had received the copies of The Little Red Book [right] that Ed had sent. As the primary author, Ed wanted the Alcoholic Foundation to take over its publication. Dr. Bob S. had contributed to the book, and Bill had praised it, but A.A.W.S. would not publish it because the Trustees preferred an A.A.-owned book.
    Bill wrote:

    I did receive those books.… Lois and I continue to reminisce about our pleasant visit with your group. God forbid that Alcoholics Anonymous ever become frozen or rigid in its ways of doing or thinking. Within the framework of our principles the ways are apparently legion. There is little doubt that the contributions you folks have made to our progress will always be a part of the folk lore [sic] of our well-loved fellowship.

In 1963, the Kodiak (Alaska) Mirror featured an article on page 5 titled “Local Alcoholics Anonymous Group Hears Report” [left] . It told of a representative—likely from Kodiak’s only A.A. group, the Isle of Hope Group—who attended the Alaska State A.A. Assembly in Anchorage. This representative delivered a report to local members, which included the following details:

    Methods of furthering AA’s efforts to help the alcoholic who still suffers from this disabling disease were discussed and a report was heard from Alaska’s delegate to the headquarters of Alcoholics Anonymous in New York City where the annual conference of delegates from the entire United States and the Provinces of Canada was held on April 15.

May 30 in A.A. History

In 1941, in Hartford, Connecticut [right, in early 1945] the two founding members of Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) had their last drinks without having met or known of each other until shortly afterward.
    Hal S., from the Shaker Heights Group in Ohio, was in Hartford on business when he asked a doctor if he knew any drunks. The doctor did not, but his nurse provided Hal with the name of Harold “Red” W. Hal called Red that evening, but Red was “indisposed.” They eventually met a few days later, and Red had his last drink on May 30.

    Meanwhile, Harold H., a salesman and periodic drunk, had read Jack Alexander’s article in The Saturday Evening Post [left: cover] but was put off by the “God business” and resigned himself to remaining a drunk. Shortly after, he found himself in a hospital after being beaten up and arrested. Upon his release, he attended a party on May 30, where he encountered an old drinking buddy, Brad P., who had sobered up in the Scarsdale Group in New York. He asked Harold if he wanted to die as an alcoholic. Having witnessed a man suffer from delirium tremens (the DTs), Harold said no and never drank again.
    Not long after, Harold and Red met and began recruiting other drunks.

In 1944, in Georgia, The Atlanta Constitution published an article [right] titled “‘Bill’ [W.] Defines Alcoholic as ‘Bankrupt Idealist.’” This demonstrates that Bill used the term “bankrupt idealist” eight years before it appeared in his Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (Tradition 6, page 156).

1964, Ebby T. arrived at McPike’s Farm [left], an innovative alcoholism treatment facility located in Galway, New York, near Saratoga Springs. Founded by Margaret and Mickey M. in the winter of 1958, the farm offered Ebby a chance to find some peace and alleviate the inner turmoil that had plagued him for much of his life. Sadly, less than two years later, he would die in a nearby hospital.

May 29 in A.A. History

In 1921, The Boston Globe (Massachusetts) published Dr. Frank Crane’s piece titled “Just for Today” [left], which has since been widely circulated in A.A. and Al-Anon. Dr. Crane [right] himself later remarked, “Bill [W.] did say we ‘borrowed.’ This time from Dr. Crane’s 1921 copyrighted material.”

In 1944, The Patriot (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) published a column by Beatrix Fairfax, titled “Advice to the Lovelorn: ‘Alcoholics Anonymous’ Helps Make Homes Happy” [left], a column Fairfax is described as a “Famous Authority on Problems of Love and Marriage.”

In 1980, Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers [right: 1st edition, 1st printing], an authorized biography of A.A.’s co-founder and a history of early A.A. in the Midwest, was published. Niles P. was hired to write it, apparently with assistance from Barry L.; Ed N. and Ruth Hock may have also contributed.

In 2022, Elizabeth “Liz” B. [left] of Boston, Massachusetts, 100, died after 69 years and 11 months of sobriety. Originally from New York City, she was a friend of Bill W. and spoke at his 26th anniversary celebration.

May 28 in A.A. History

In 1907, Conor F. [right] was probably born in County Roscommon, Ireland. He would immigrate to the United States and get sober in 1943 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1946, he and Richard P. would found the first Alcoholics Anonymous group in Dublin, also the first A.A. group in Europe.

In 1974, the A.A. Fellowship in Great Britain was chosen to host the 3rd biennial A.A. World Service Meeting, making it the first time this event would be held outside the United States. A Site Committee, composed of members selected at the 2nd World Service Meeting, recommended England as the top choice for the 1974 gathering, “with Mexico or Finland as second and third choices,” respectively. The meeting was scheduled for 16–18 October 1974, at the Gloucester Hotel in London.

May 27 in A.A. History

In 1917, Nellie “Nell” Wing [right, c. 1946] was born in Kendall, New York, the daughter of William Frank and Daisy Shepard Wing.
    A non-alcoholic, she would serve as Bill W.’s secretary and administrative assistant at the Alcoholic Foundation/General Service Office in New York City from March 1947 until Bill’s death in 1971. In addition, she was A.A.’s first official Archivist from early 1972 until her retirement in December 1982.

In 1961, James “J.D.” Holmes, A.A. #8, died from “coronary insufficiency” at his home at 657 Elma Street [left, in Jun 2011] in Akron, Ohio, at the age of 66. He had gotten sober in Akron in September 1936.

Other significant events in May, day unknown

In 1923, Lois W., Bill’s wife [right: Bill and Lois on their Harley-Davidson, c. mid-1920s], suffered a third ectopic pregnancy, a condition in which the fertilized egg develops outside the uterus; her first two occurred in June and July 1922. In her memoir, Lois Remembers, she wrote:

    In May 1923 the improbably happened—a third ectopic. I was tutoring a young girl in Latin when I felt the first symptoms. After another operation I made a quick recovery. By then both tubes and the complete cystic ovary had been removed. A small portion of the other ovary was kept so that I might retain my feminine characteristics, it was said. Bill was often too drunk, for days at a time, to come to see me in the hospital.
    We had both deeply desired a family. But after my second ectopic, Bill and I knew positively that we could never have children. My tubes had apparently been closed since birth. Bill, even when drunk, took this overwhelming disappointment with grace and with kindness to me. But his drinking had been increasing steadily. It seemed that after all hope of having children had died, his bouts with alcohol had become even more frequent.
    I knew I had done nothing to prevent our having children; yet somehow I could not help feeling guilty. So how could I blame him for the increase in his drinking?
    This kind of thinking made me try harder to understand him and to be tolerant when he was drunk. But there were many times when I lost my temper. He never hit me, but I hit him. I remember with shame on time toward the end of his drinking, when I was so angry as he lay drunk on the bed that I beat his chest with both my firsts as hard as I could.

In 1932, Bill W., who had been sober for five weeks, and several engineers traveled to Bound Brook, New Jersey, to investigate a new photographic process at Pathé Laboratories [left]. Bill was the managing partner of a stock-buying syndicate, which he had formed with Arthur Wheeler and Frank Winans in April. His partnership agreement specified that if he drank, he would forfeit the full value of his share, including his original investment.

    After dinner, the engineers started a poker game and invited Bill to join them, but he declined. A jug of applejack called Jersey Lightning [right] appeared, and Bill also refused their repeated offers of a drink. By midnight, he found himself reminiscing about his drinking career: the Bronx cocktail that had been his first, the brandies he had on the ship to Europe during World War I, and the French wines. It became a game to list his drinking history and wonder what he hadn’t tasted. When the engineers offered him a drink once more, it occurred to him that he had never tried Jersey Lightning. He thought, “Why not? What harm could one taste do?”
    He was drunk for three days, and when his partners heard the story, he forfeited his entire interest in the syndicate.

May 25 in A.A. History

In 1925, Bill and Lois W. were 5½ weeks into their motorcycle trip investigating publicly held companies across the eastern U.S. At what the Burnham family called “The Camp,” located at Lake Emerald outside East Dorset, Vermont, Lois’s entry in her Diary of Two Motorcycle Hobos described how “Two tragedies occurred in the insect and bird life today.” With “astonishment,” she watched a dragonfly emerge “from the ugly brown beetle shell” she had found. As it flew away, a phoebe bird “darted down and gobbled it up!” Lois “sat down and cried. Later [that] afternoon one of the babies of the same phoebe bird fell out of the nest and was killed instantly” [right: phoebe eating a dragonfly]
.

In 1962, the three-day Central New York Area Conference [left: commemorative coin] began at the Watson Homestead Conference and Retreat Center [right] in Painted Post, New York.

In 1989, the four-day 32nd International Conference of Young People in Alcoholics Anonymous (ICYPAA) opened at the Salt Lake City Marriott and Salt Palace [left: aerial view of Salt Palace (left) and Marriott (right)] in Utah, drawing an attendance of 4,000. The theme of the conference was “Carry the Message.”

Supporting A.A. in Ukraine

[Note that this post was written in March 2022, shortly after the full-scale invasion of the Ukraine by the Russian Federation.]

An A.A. friend sent me a very well-done flyer for an online A.A. meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine. It's shown to the left, but I've removed the Meeting ID and Passcode; I don't want to make it that  easy to attend. When I first saw it, I thought, "I only wish that we could do something similar for all the Russian alcoholics, who must also be terribly distressed at this time" (especially those in the Russian military).

This flyer was immediately followed by a less well-done message, shown below, purporting to be from "Ukrainian AA Service Center and the Ukrainian AA Service Board" to "the AA World Community." I was skeptical. This looked so much like a myth that I expected to find it debunked at Snopes ("the internet’s definitive fact-checking resource"). I did not. But I did find an article titled, "UKRAINE: New Crisis, Grimly Familiar Disinformation Trends", which said, in part, 

It is a grim measure of the frequency of crisis events in recent years, and the ubiquity of online disinformation, that when a major story breaks — a terrorist attack, a mass shooting, or an act of war — the writers and editors at Snopes can typically predict what comes next. Recycled videos and photographs, stripped from their proper context, and the same old tropes, all designed to inflame or confuse, or even amuse, the reader.

This is followed by a "grim overview of the familiar disinformation trends and recurring memes… in the opening days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine."

But, as I said, I only later looked on Snopes. First I searched the Internet. To my surprise, I immediately got a hit that looked very promising. It was on the aa.lviv.ua website and looked like this:

Since I don't know what I presumed was Ukrainian, and not having much patience, I immediately had the page automatically translated into English. It is indeed Ukrainian, and here's the English translation I got:

It was only later that I noticed that an English translation of the message follows the Ukrainian on the original, one click further down. I felt stupid and impatient for not looking.

Ultimately, I decided I'd check into the Kyiv online meeting and see if there was some way I could be helpful. I tried to log in a few minutes before it was to start. Due to the meeting having reached capacity, it was impossible to get in. It then occurred to me, If I'm having this much trouble getting in, there are probably Ukrainians who are also unable to get in. It horrified me to think that I could have had a part in disrupting their meeting. If, by some miracle, I had been able to get in, I sure hope I would have realized that the meeting was at capacity and left. But even if I had, my spot would have been filled by a non-Ukrainian.

I tried joining after the meeting was over. It was bedlam. It appeared that most people were unmuted and there were multiple conversations going on at the same time. I saw one man, who appeared to be that single Ukrainian member. He appeared to be quite stressed out. I also saw some A.A.friends of mine, which was disappointing. I only stayed a minute. The last thing they needed at that point was yet one more non-Ukrainian A.A. to join the fray.

Tonight, I learned from a reliable source that only one of the seven or eight regular Ukrainian group members was able to get into the meeting (presumably, the Zoom host). No doubt, many of the attendees had good intentions, although I'm also pretty sure some did not. Clearly, many also didn't think through the consequences of their actions.

And then, very late last night, My friend said that another friend of hers had found a Facebook post about the A.A. meeting in Kyiv earlier, shown at the left. It was so disheartening to read. Yes, many non-Ukrainians—maybe hundreds of them—got to feel good for a minute. Meanwhile, seven or eight locals never got to their meeting.

God As We Understand Him?

 I recently read Bill W.'s essay, “God As We Understand Him: The Dilemma of No Faith”, in The Language of the Heart (originally published as “The Dilemma of No Faith” in the April 1961 issue of the A.A. Grapevine). He begins this essay by saying, “The phrase ‛God As We Understand Him’ is perhaps the most important expression to be found in our whole AA vocabulary.”

For a long time, I've been vaguely uncomfortable with this wording, even though I knew what it meant the first time I heard it. In the last few years, but not in my early sobriety, I've sometimes heard newcomers asking about this expression, “How can anyone understand God?”  in a way that led me to think that perhaps this was an impediment for them. I realized my discomfort is just that. Perhaps understanding is not the best word. I think “God As We Conceive of God” is closer to the intended meaning. It will be interesting to see how the proposed plain language Big Book^* (i.e., Alcoholics Anonymous) will deal with this phrase. If at all.

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^* If you don't know what this is or what it means, check out Advisory Action #28 (on p 7) in this document: Conference Advisory Actions of the 71st General Service Conference, a list of all such actions adopted at the 71st General Service Conference last April.

19,560 days

Yes, I am still sober, still above ground. My posts slowed down drastically and then stopped altogether because I feared it would become too easy to identify who I was from my posts, due to circumstances of my life. Already, my brother had figured out this was me. For those who don't realize it, I was doing my best to respect Tradition 12. My brother already knew I was a deeply involved member of A.A.

Future posts will probably be less personal, on the whole. I hope this is, at least in part, because I have less interest in myself and more interest in others [v. Alcoholics Anonymous, p 84].

A.A. in these times of pandemic has been a great experience for me personally. Since mid-March 2020, I've attended online meetings on every continent that has them (Antarctica does not, due to insufficient bandwidth). I've been regularly attending meetings all over the US and Canada, as well as in Australia and South Africa. It has also become much easier to find workshops, conventions, conferences, and meetings that focus on topics like Traditions, Concepts, The A.A. Service Manual, and A.A. history. These are topics that I love learning about. I've been sober almost 29 years, been involved in General Service for 25½ of those years, but I sometimes think I've learned more about General Service in the last 16 months than in all the time before. Maybe not. Maybe it just feels that way.

Eighteen years

Still here, still sober, even if I'm not posting. Yesterday I celebrated 18 years of continuous sobriety.