July 20 in A.A. History

In 1898:	Q. What did the future Dr. Bob S. [faar right] do between his graduation from St. Johnsbury Academy on 24 Jun 1898, and his enrollment at Dartmouth College on 15 Sep 1898?
	A. He worked in the shipping department of E. and T. Fairbanks & Co. at the scale works in St. Johnsbury, Vermont [above near right: clippings from the St Johnsbury Republican (top), The St Johnsbury Caledonian (bottom) on 20 Jul 1898] .

In 1935, in a circular letter, Lois W. [left: PCI graduation, 1912] wrote to three of her oldest friends from Packer Collegiate Institute [right, 1910]: Elise Valentine Shaw1, Edith Roberts2, and Helen Cruden3, to share that…

     …Bill has stopped drinking thru the Oxford Group… Last December Ebby Thatcher [sic] appeared sober for the first time in years and with a very strange story to tell about a religion called the Oxford Group which had cured him just as he was about to be committed to an insane asylum.

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¹Helen Elise Valentine (1890–1976) married Frank Stinson Shaw in 1916. They had three daughters and lived first in Brooklyn, then in Fairfield, Connecticut. Frank was a stockbroker who had worked closely with Lois’s husband Bill in the 1920s while Bill and Lois were investigating companies looking for under-valued stocks.

2Dr. Edith Adelaide Roberts [right] (1881–1977) became an American botanist who studied plant physiology and was a pioneer in plant ecology. She created the first ecological laboratory in the United States, promoted natural landscaping along with Elsa Rehmann, and proved that plants were the main source of vitamin A [from her Wikipedia page].
³Helen Cruden (1892–1992) appears to have married Frederick William Gerhard in 1920. If so, they had three children and lived mostly in or near Washington D.C.

In 1970, in a small room in Deira, Tom L. [left] started the first A.A. meeting in the United Arab Emirates. At 26, he had attended his first A.A. meeting in India, a moment that eventually would forever change his life through the 12 Steps and a new relationship with his higher power. By the late 1960s, alcoholism had stripped him of his job, family, and friends, leaving him homeless on the streets of Mumbai. In 1968, he moved to Abu Dhabi to work as a laborer.

July 19 in A.A. History

In 1939, The Medical Record: A Weekly Journal of Medicine and Surgery published [right: a cover from 1921] “Psychological Rehabilitation of Alcoholics” by Dr. William D. Silkworth [left]. In this paper, nine of the twenty-eight paragraphs from the second part of “The Doctor’s Opinion” in Alcoholics Anonymous were included. Silkworth also added additional passages that described, in his own words, aspects of the stories of Bill W., Hank P., and Fitz M.

July 18 in A.A. History

In 1918, Bill W. sailed on the H.M.T.^* Lancashire [right] from Boston, Massachusetts, to New York City Harbor. From there, the Lancashire would take him and his unit to England. After a two-week quarantine in Winchester due to a minor epidemic, they would be sent to France, where they would serve behind the lines for the remainder of the Great War (World War I), which would end in less than four months.

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^*Hired Military Transport, i.e. non-commissioned

In 1938, Dr. Esther L. Richards [left] of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, responded very positively to the two-chapter prospectus for what would eventually become the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, which Bill W. had sent her.

    In her reply [right], she advised, “I think you should get an A No. 1 physician who has a wide knowledge of the alcoholic’s medical and social problem to write an introduction…” Within a few days, Dr. William D. Silkworth would write the “To Whom It May Concern” letter that would become the first letter of “The Doctor’s Opinion” in the book.

    Dr. Richards’ letter clearly indicates that Bill was already using the term “Alcoholics Anonymous” as both the working title of the book and the name of the Fellowship.

In 1940, the Richmond (Virginia) Times Dispatch published Pat Jones’ article titled “‘Alcoholics Anonymous’ Organizes in Richmond for Attack on Common Enemy” and subtitled, “‘It Changed Me From a Monkey Into a Man’ Says One Member.’” The article [left] begins:

    A national organization with no paid officers, no dues, no membership rolls, has gained a nucleus in Richmond and, in September, will start earnestly upon its self-appointed task of curing alcoholics who actually want to be cured.

In 1965, Frank B. Amos, [near right], 83, died in Anderson, Indiana. His obituary [far right] in The New York Times referred to him as “one of the five original co-founders of Alcoholics Anonymous.”

    However, he was actually one of the five original Class A (non-alcoholic) Trustees of the Alcoholic Foundation, a trusted associate of the Rockefellers, and a close friend of A.A. He was buried in Northwood Cemetery in Cambridge, Ohio.

July 17 in A.A. History

In 1918, Bill and Lois W. were in Newport, Rhode Island, where Bill was stationed at Fort Adams. It was just a few hours before his deployment to Europe for possible action in World War I. He would later write,

    I remember going out to dinner with Lois and another officer and his wife. A pall of gloom settled over us all. I remember feeling an aversion to the mood of pessimism and thinking how selfish and self-concerned it was. Lois and I stood alone on one of the beautiful cliffs at Newport, overlooking the sea. It was an utterly desolate part of the shoreline. She and I gazed out over the ocean, wondering. The sun was just setting, and we talked about the future with joy and optimism. There I felt the first glimmerings of what I was later to understand as a spiritual experience, while it evolved in me over the years. I shall never forget it [above right: Cliff Walk in Rhode Island at a sunset in 1918].

In 1946, Margaret “Bobbie” B. [left], National Secretary at the Alcoholic Foundation in New York City, replied to an A.A. member from Atlanta, Georgia. The member had written to complain that the March of Time episode “Problem Drinkers” [below right: screen capture] was not being shown in local theaters:

    THE MARCH OF TIME headquarters here tells me today that they do not think any pressure group is keeping the film from Atlanta. They think it is a matter of local theatre policy. They suggest that you see [the] District Manager or [the], Branch Manager, for the local office of the 20th Century Fox at 127 Walton Street N.W., Atlanta 3 (MARCH OF TIME distributes their films thru 20th Century Fox). Perhaps these men may be able to help you on how to get the MOT film, Problem Drinkers, into an Atlanta theatre. It is worth a try anyway. I certainly hope you see it—it has been well received by the groups so far. Naturally we think it is pretty good but we could be prejudiced having worked on the parts dealing with AA for many long months.

In 1952, Bill W. wrote to Father Ed Dowling [left] about his difficulties writing essays on each Step for the book Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions.

    The problem of the Steps has been to broaden and deepen them, both for newcomers and oldtimers. But the angles are so many, it’s hard to shoot them rightly. We have to deal with atheists, agnostics, believers, depressives, paranoids, clergymen, psychiatrists, and all and undry. How to widen the opening so it seems right and reasonable to enter there and at the same time avoid distractions, distortions, and the certain prejudices of all who may read, seems fairly much of an assignment.

In 1960, Albert R. “Abby” G. [right], 70, died in at St. Alexis Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, following two years of failing health [left: obituary]. Notably, the first A.A. group in Cleveland met in his home while he was under the care of Dr. Bob Smith at Akron City Hospital.

July in A.A. History (day unknown)

In 1935, encouraged by T. Henry Williams [left], Ernie G.—the “devil-may-care chap” in “A Vision for You” (pp. 158–159 of Alcoholics Anonymous)—reached out to Dr. Bob S. and got sober. At just 30 years old, some believed he was “too young” to get sober. He becomes the fourth member of A.A. and authors “The Seven Month Slip” in the first edition of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous.

    In September 1941, he would marry Dr. Bob S’s adopted daughter, Sue, but he struggled with continuing to drink, leading to marriage becoming a disaster. Tragically, on 11 June 1969, their daughter Bonna would take her own life after killing her 6-year-old daughter—Ernie and Sue’s granddaughter—Sandy. Ernie died exactly two years later [right: Ernie and Sue in happier times].

In 1946, Ricardo “Dick” [left] and Helen P. traveled from Cleveland, Ohio to New York City to “have the pleasure of delivering our work [a translation of Alcoholics Anonymous into Spanish] to Bill W——.”

    Dick had gotten sober in 1940 while living illegally in Cleveland, Ohio, after reading in the Cleveland Plain Dealer about major league baseball player Rollie H. [right] getting sober. In 1943, Helen “got the idea that maybe if the Big Book was in Spanish, it would be easier for other Mexicans who don't understand or speak English to recover.” From 1943 to 1946, they worked in their spare time on the translation. Dick wrote,

    My wife already had an old typewriter. We sent it out to be fixed. We worked on the translation using several dictionaries, an encyclopedia and several other books. We usually did this work at nights and on the weekends. Thank God, little by little this adventure was finished at the beginning of 1946. My wife and I took the translation and the Big Book to the college professor, Mary Coates, so that she could do a detailed revision of our work and correct style and grammatical errors.… [Bill] told us that our translation of the AA Big Book into Spanish was the first translation ever done into a foreign language. [Note: quoted translation from Spanish by Jim W.]

July 15 in A.A. History

In 1938, Bill W. [right] wrote a letter to Willard Richardson, inviting him, A. LeRoy Chipman, and Albert Scott [below left, respectively]—all associates of Rockefeller—to attend any weekly A.A. meeting at the home of Bill and Lois at 182 Clinton Street in Brooklyn. In the letter, Bill said,

    Certainly in the cases of you gentlemen, we shall gladly waive the heavy drinking requirement that has qualified us for Alcoholics Anonymous. We think you are one of us, and there are no honorary members.

This letter contains the earliest documented use of the name “Alcoholics Anonymous,” suggesting that Richardson was likely already familiar with it.

In 1950, the first A.A. meeting in Honduras took place in Comayagüela [right: 1987 Honduran stamp celebrating 37 years of A.A.].

July 14 in A.A. History

In 1949, in a letter to Rev. Sam Shoemaker [near right], Bill Wilson wrote, “So far as I am concerned, and Dr. Smith too, the Oxford Group seeded AA. It was our spiritual wellspring at the beginning.” Bill later expressed regret for not having also written to Frank Buchman [far right]; in Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, Bill wrote,

    Early A.A. got its ideas of self-examination, acknowledgment of character defects, restitution for harm done, and working with others straight from the Oxford Groups [sic] and directly from Sam Shoemaker, their former leader in America, and from nowhere else.

In 1950, the front page [left] of The San Quentin (California) News—a unique, non-profit, monthly newspaper written and edited by incarcerated individuals at San Quentin State Prison—overprinted “Greetings [to the] First International Conference [of] Alcoholics Anonymous” in red.

In 2023, the Star Tribune of Minneapolis, Minnesota, published an editorial by Steven Kind^* [right] titled “Counterpoint: AA helps many. For others, alternatives exist.” It was subtitled “Not every recovery program puts God at the center.” The first three paragraphs read:

    A July 10 commentary asked, “Could AA help more people if it were not Christian-centric?” Well, maybe, but there are better options out there for people who want a secular alternative to Alcoholics Anonymous.
    While Alcoholics Anonymous has undeniably helped countless people, it is not for everyone. Just removing references to God from AA’s 12 steps does not address important underlying issues.
    AA’s 12 steps call on members to admit they are powerless over alcohol and must rely on something outside of themselves to recover. The AA program treats addiction as a moral issue—or, as Step 2 suggests, a form of insanity.

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^*Kind was, at the time, serving as the Minnesota outreach coordinator for SMART Recovery, one of the alternatives he advocates.

July 13 in A.A. History

In 1972, at the 30th anniversary banquet of the Summer School of Alcohol Studies at Rutgers University Commons, the E. M. Jellinek Memorial Fund Award—a bronze bust [left] of E. M. “Bunky” Jellinek—was presented posthumously to Bill W. for his contributions as co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Bill’s widow, Lois Burnham W. [above right], accepted the award on his behalf. This marked the first time the award was given to a non-scientist. About 500 people attended the banquet [left: article from The Courier-News of Bridgewater, New Jersey].

Today in A.A. History—July 13–14

In 2019, the General Service Office of A.A., along with the Southern California Area Assembly (SCAA, Area 05), San Diego-Imperial Area Assembly (SDIAA, Area 08), Mid-Southern California Area (MSCA, Area 09), and Central California Area Assembly (Area 93), hosted a bilingual Forum [right: flyer; bottom of post: event logo], calling it a Unity Forum (El foro de Unity), at the Westminster Presbyterian Church [below left] in Pasadena, California. 

    Like all Local Forums, this was a unique event. The purpose  of which was…

    bringing together A.A. members, volunteers, and staff from all A.A. service organizations in our area to connect, strengthen unity, share valuable ideas and experiences, and explore ways to further support and collaborate with one another in our mission to assist still-suffering alcoholics.

    Over the weekend, more than 400 people attended.
    The motivation for this Forum was described by Ted C., Chair of the 2019 Area 05 A.A. Unity Forum Planning Committee, in the Spring 2019 issue of SCAA’s newsletter, SCAAN:

    In Los Angeles, observing Tradition 9 (organizing minimally) and Tradition 4 (intentionally lacking a centralized authority—favoring autonomy instead) has led to “service communities” that often operate independently, with limited interaction and collaboration between them, low overlap in membership, and at times a surprising lack of awareness of each other’s purposes and activities.
    We would like to counteract this separation with a great celebration of all of AA’s service entities, the valuable services they perform, and the wonderful trusted servants that serve them. This is the idea behind the 2019 AA Unity Forum in which we invite you to participate. We are extending this invitation to participate and collaborate to all AA service organizations in the Greater Los Angeles Area and surrounding communities. This includes Young People’s and Seniors’ organizations, Central Offices, Hospitals and Institutions Committees, local Roundups and Conventions, General Service Areas and Districts, and any other organization that has been formed under Tradition 9. We are also inviting all linguistic organizations to fully participate and collaborate, and will be providing Spanish and ASL interpretation at the event.

July in A.A. History (day unknown)

In 1922, Lois W. 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 [left], had treated her at home.

    This time, he promptly sent her to the Skene Sanitarium [right], 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.
 

In 1934, Ebby T. was approached in Manchester, Vermont, by his friends Cebra G., a lawyer, and F. Sheppard “Shep” Cornell, a stockbroker from New York City. Both were members of the Oxford Group and had previously been heavy drinkers, and specifically drinking buddies with Ebby. They had stopped drinking and were now sober. They told Ebby about the existence of the Oxford Group in Vermont, but he wasn’t quite ready to give up alcohol.
 

In 1934, Bill W. was admitted to Charles B. Towns Hospital [left] for the second time, again paid for by Dr. Leonard V. Strong, his sister’s husband. During this stay, Bill met Dr. Silkworth [right] for the first time. The doctor explained the concepts of obsession and allergy related to alcoholism.

However, shortly after his release, Bill started drinking again. At this point, he was unemployable, over $50,000 in debt [~$1.2 million in 2025], suicidal, and drinking around the clock.

July 11 in A.A. History

In 1950, (Lawrence) Morris Markey, the author of the September 1939 Liberty magazine article “Alcoholics and God,” was found dead at his home in Halifax, Virginia, by family members. The local coroner discovered a small-caliber bullet wound behind his right ear and issued an “open verdict,” stating that there was insufficient evidence to determine whether the death was a homicide, suicide, or accident; the case remains open to this day. The next day’s New York Times headlined the article [right] on page 30 with “Morris Markey, 51, Writer, Shot Dead.”

In 1960, Time magazine [left: cover] published an article titled “Passionately Anonymous,” which covered the 25th anniversary celebration of Alcoholics Anonymous in Long Beach, California. The article began:

The 15,000 men and women who thronged California's Long Beach Memorial Stadium last week differed from most conventioneers in one major respect, there was no danger that any of them would get together in a hotel room to kill a bottle. For this was Alcoholics Anonymous, mustering its recovered, sworn-off drinkers, their relatives and well-wishers to celebrate its 25th anniversary.

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.

Seventeen years

Yesterday was the 17th anniversary of my first A.A. meeting, which marked the beginning of my current spell of continuous sobriety. I can't say I celebrated, because I was too busy doing things that are little more than the blessings of a sober life:

• Took my car in to have the oil changed and the engine light checked—I not only have a driver's license, I also have a car
• Worked—I am employable today
• Chaired a meeting of the local chapter of a professional organization—not only employed, but on the Board of Directors and also Program Chair
• Attended a funeral

The funeral, ironically enough, was for Bumblebee, someone I sponsored for a while. I suspect I was his last sponsor. I hadn't seem him in at least a year, and sometimes wondered if he named me when asked if he had a sponsor. Then I would wonder if he was even making meetings.

Apparently not. He was definitely out there. He committed suicide by stabbing himself to death in the parking lot of the apartment complex where he lived. In the femoral artery. Thank you, Bumblebee, for keeping it green for me on my anniversary.

Tonight I will celebrate with dinner and a meeting! Praise HP, from whom all blessings flow!