March 31 in A.A. History

1939: Presumably using Hank P.’s car, Bill W. drove from Cornwall, New York, to New York City. He needed to secure enough money to pay the hotel bill for himself, Hank, Ruth Hock, and Dorothy S. The four had been in Cornwall correcting printers’ proofs of the book Alcoholics Anonymous [left], a slow and difficult task based on the hand-edited multilith manuscript. Together, they had only half the cash needed to cover their stay at Cornwall Inn. Bill approached Charles B. “Charlie” Towns [right], the owner of Towns Hospital, where he and Hank had gotten sober, and explained their predicament.
    Bill later wrote, “Mr. Towns was not too favorably impressed when he heard where we stood, but he came through with the [$100] hotel bill and about a hundred dollars to spare.… We all returned to New York in high spirits [$100 then is ~$2,350 in 2026 dollars].”
    Hank’s declaration that God would provide proved correct, though he likely hadn’t imagined the provision would come through Bill’s agency.

1943: The Chicago Daily Tribune reported “State to Open 1st Hospital to Treat Alcoholic Pa­tients” [left: article], saying, in part,

    A state hospital devoted to the treatment of chronic alcoholism will be opened withint a few weeks as a branch of the Chicago State hospital… It will be the first such institution in the history of Illinois.
    The hospital will be headed by Dr. Conrad Sommer, chief medical officer for the welfare department, and his staff will include members of Alcoholics Anonymous, a national group of reformed drunkards who have been successful in reforming others thru group therapy.…
    Such an experiment … has been tried at the Manteno State hospital during the last few months, with nearly twice as many released patients making satisfactory readjustments to normal life as previously.

1947: England’s first known Alcoholics Anonymous meeting occurred at 8 pm in Room 202 of London’s upscale Dorchester Hotel [right, 1931], after Grace O. [left], an A.A. member from New York City, invited several people to attend. The Alcoholic Foundation had requested that she contact individuals in Britain who were seeking information about A.A. The previous Saturday, the 29th, she had met an alcoholic known as “Canadian Bob” at a restaurant on Dean Street in London.
    Attendees at the Dorchester meeting included Grace, Robert “Canadian Bob” B., Chris L. B. (likely the first person in England to achieve sobriety through the A.A. program), Sgt. Vernon W. (an American soldier), and Norman Rees-Watkins (from South Croydon, who was still drinking at the time). Some sources also list additional attendees: Pat F. (from London), Ward Williams (an American), Tony F. (an Irish airman), “Flash” W. (an American), and Pat G. (a female member from California whom Grace had met on her voyage from New York to London).
Bob later recalled the Dorchester meeting:

    It was Grace O. who really triggered off the inception of AA in England. She had written to me before she and her husband, Fulton, embarked at New York on one of the Queens. During lunch in London, her husband and I mapped out on a Saturday plans for a meeting the following Monday. Eight of us met in her hotel room, the last night of March 1947 and the five Londoners chose me as Secretary.

    Subsequent meetings were held at Canadian Bob’s home [right, c. 1946] on Mortlake Road in Kew and in various cafés.

1954: In a letter to Jack Alexander, Bill W. wrote, “The whole A.A. Tradition is, in a sense, the result of my gradual adjustment to reality.”

March 30 in A.A. History

1910: Searcy W. [right], born in Funston, Texas, was the son of James and Etta W.
    A 57-year member of Alcoholics Anonymous, Searcy would attend the Yale School of Alcohol Studies in 1948 at Bill W.’s encouragement, and later graduate. In 1950, he would establish the Texas Clinic-Hospital for Alcoholism in Dallas [left, c. 1990]. Ebby Thacher would sober up at this facility in 1953 and remain sober for the better part of the next 13 years.
    Searcy’s motto was, “Trust God, clean house, help others,” often adding, “… and it doesn’t have to be done in that order!”

1939:  Bill W., Hank P., Ruth Hock, and Dorothy S. [right, respectively] spent a second day in Cornwall, New York, correcting the proofs of Alcoholics Anonymous as they came off the press. The corrections were so numerous that Cornwall Press charged Works Publishing an additional $33 [~$776 in 2026], itemized on the bill as “Author’s corrections,” totaling 13.2 hours at $2.50 [~$59 in 2026] per hour. With the task finally finished, they discovered they had only half the money needed to pay the hotel bill, forcing them to stay another night. Hank, ever confident, declared that God would provide, reasoning that if God wanted something done, all they had to do was incur the expenses, which He would ultimately cover.

March 29 in A.A. History

1939: Armed with the fully annotated multilith copy of the Big Book—complete with corrections—Hank P. [near right] drove Bill W. [middle right, 1937] and Ruth Hock [far right] 60 miles [97 km] north to Cornwall, New York, where Cornwall Press [left, early 1900s] was to print the book. Although the manager initially insisted on a clean, typed copy, Hank persuaded him to accept the marked-up manuscript. He promised that they would correct the galley proofs as they came off the press. In hindsight, Ruth explained that they all went because “we couldn’t afford anyone to correct the pages as they came off [the press, and] edit them….” Moreover, only these three could have handled the task.
    Bill recalled that Dorothy Wright S. [right], Clarence’s wife, joined them on this trip, but Ruth clarified that Dorothy was in town from Cleveland, Ohio, visiting her sister, and when she had called Bill, he had invited her to meet them in Cornwall, which she did. The four of them spent the day correcting proofs, shared dinner, and then retired to three hotel rooms [left: the Cornwall Inn, where they stayed]. 
    Ruth and Dorothy “immediately developed a perfect rapport,” which was fortunate since they shared the third room, which contained a large double bed. They “were talking, and talking, and talking” until about 1:30 or 2:00 in the morning when they heard a knock on their door. It was Bill, who couldn’t sleep. The three of them spent the rest of the night talking, with Bill sitting on the bed between the two women. It was entirely innocent, and Ruth later wrote to Bill that it was “one of the most satisfying and joyous memories of my life…. How wicked that sounds, but how innocent and wonderful it really was.” Bill agreed, calling it “one of my precious moments.”

1943: According to the Charleston Daily Mail, Bill W. spoke at St. John’s Parish House. This meeting, established by Irwin “Irv” M., may have been the first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in West Virginia.

Note 1: St. John's Parish House may be associated with St. John's Episcopal Church [right, c. 1901], located at 1105 Quarrier St. in Charleston. The church was built in 1884, and the Parish House was designed as an expansion in 1927, with construction beginning in 1928.

Note 2: “Rule 62” originated with one of Charleston’s A.A. groups.

March 28 in A.A. History

1945: Variety published “Alcoholics Anonymous Doing Great Job in Its New Times Square Clubhouse” [right: highlighted story on pp. 1, 19], which began:

    Alcoholics Anonymous has come to Broadway. The organization that has helped life 12,000 drunks onto the water wagon, many of them straight from the gutter, is now established in a new clubhouse on West 41st street, a few minutes from Times Sq.

The Catholic Digest later condensed and republished this article (Vol. 9, No. 7, May 1945, pp. 79-80).

1946: In a letter to the Alcoholic Foundation’s General Service Office (GSO) in New York City, John “Captain Jack” Bolton Soggett [left: as a young man], a newly sober skipper of a Socony-Vacuum oil tanker [right: such a tanker from Captain Jack’s era], requested information on Alcoholics Anonymous contacts. He explained that, after ten years of service, he was “… still at sea on oil tankers, on which I have served for ten years. I have few contacts ashore with A.A., and have to rely on the Book and the guy upstairs.”
    In response, a G.S.O. staff member provided Captain Jack with the names of A.A. contacts in port cities and encouraged him to reach out to other seagoing members, which he did. This outreach marked the beginning of The Internationalists in A.A.

March 27 in A.A. History

1940: Dave W. of Seattle, Washington [right: aerial view, 1940s], had read about Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) and John D. Rockefeller Jr.’s interest in the organization. He wrote to Rockefeller, who had forwarded his letter to the Alcoholic Foundation in New York City. In his letter, Dave mentioned that he had stopped drinking three years earlier, had a strong faith in God, and had attempted to help others quit drinking, though without success. He seemed particularly interested in assisting those struggling with alcoholism. The Alcoholic Foundation responded by mail on 16 April 1940. Dave would go on to become one of the three founding members of the first A.A. group in Seattle.

1942: Irwin “Irv” M.’s wife, Ida, wrote to Clarence S. in Cleveland, Ohio, from Knoxville, Tennessee, saying that “Irwin started another club in Charleston, W. Va.”
    Irv [left] had gotten sober in Cleveland and Clarence was his sponsor. Irv himself had already written the Alcoholic Foundation in New York City that three alcoholics—“Bill” S., George S., and Louis J.—were forming what would be West Virginia’s first A.A. group in Charleston. Separately, Bill S. had written to National Secretary Bobbie B. at the Foundation to say that they recognized Irv as the “sponsor” of that group.

1960: The weekly half-hour radio program, The Catholic Hour, aired Part II of “Alcoholism: The Problem and the Hope” [far right: first page of transcript], featuring Marty M. [near right, 1964], along with an unnamed staff member from the General Service Office.

March 26 in A.A. History

Other significant events in March
                 (no specific date known)                 

1939: Dr. William D. Silkworth [right] provided the second part of his contribution to the Big Book, “The Doctor’s Opinion.” It was likely a late addition, just before the multilith printing; its pages were numbered 1–4, after which “Bill’s Story” began, restarting the page numbering at 1. In the book’s April 10 publication, “The Doctor's Opinion” occupied pages 1–9, with “Bill’s Story” starting on page 10. Silkworth included twenty-eight paragraphs in this section, nine of which also appeared in his paper “Psychological Rehabilitation of Alcoholics.” This paper was published on 19 Jul 1939, in the June 1939 issue of The Medical Record: A Weekly Journal of Medicine and Surgery, suggesting Silkworth had begun writing it by then. To these nine paragraphs in the paper, he added others describing aspects of Bill W.’s, Hank P.’s, and Fitz M,’s stories in his own words.

1941: Pat C. [left] of Minneapolis, Minnesota, who had sobered up the year before, wrote to the Alcoholic Foundation in New York City. Despite several attempts to connect with others, he reported still being alone. He ordered 100 reprints of Jack Alexander’s article in the current issue of  The Saturday Evening Post. Within days, he began receiving mail forwarded from the Alcoholic Foundation, and a local A.A. fellowship began to grow. The first recruits included Ray McI., a barber, and George W., an attorney. Soon after, they were joined by Norvy M., a musician, and many others.
    Initial meetings were held at the Citizens Aid Building, 404 8th Street South [right, 1927].

1942: Irwin “Irv” M. [left] wrote the Alcoholic Foundation in New York City to report that he, along with three other alcoholics—Bill S., George S., and Louis J.—were forming an Alcoholics Anonymous group in Charleston, West Virginia. The group, the first in the state, was initially attended by three members: “W. T.” S. [presumably the same person as Bill S.], secretary; George S.; and Louis J.
    Within six months, the group would double in size and move its meetings to W. T.’s office. Over the next three months, membership increased to 12, then 16, and eventually 29 members. These new members included individuals who had been active in A.A. in Cleveland, Ohio; New York City; Cincinnati, Ohio; Zanesville, Ohio; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, before relocating to Charleston.
    A year later, on March 22, Bill S. wrote to National Secretary Bobbie B. at the Foundation, recognizing Irv as the “sponsor” of the group. Bill W. would visit in March 1943, and clubrooms would be established in 1944. By June of that year, membership would reach 71.

1945: The first Alcoholics Anonymous group on a military base was the Jefferson Barracks Group at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks [right, during WWII] in St. Louis, Missouri^*.

---

^*Interestingly, Ulysses S. Grant was first stationed at these same barracks after graduating from West Point in 1834. Twenty years later, while assigned to the newly established Fort Humboldt in California and separated from his wife and family, Grant began drinking. After one incident, his commanding officer, Lt. Col. Buchanan—with whom Grant had previously crossed paths at Jefferson Barracks—ordered him to “reform or resign.” Grant initially agreed to comply; however, the following Sunday, he was found “under the influence” and resigned, as a matter of honor, on 31 Jul 1854. Buchanan did not report Grant’s drinking, and Grant was not court-martialed. The War Department stated that “Nothing stands against his good name.”

1946: In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia A.A. Group purchased a building at 4021 Walnut Street [left, 1972] from the Philadelphia Fidelity Trust for $27,500 [~$458,000 in 2026] to serve as a clubhouse. The trust company provided a $15,000 [~$250,000 in 2026] first mortgage, and the group raised the remaining $12,500 [~$210,000 in 2026] through member contributions, with most individuals giving less than $100 [~$1,670 in 2026].
    However, due to regulations from the Federal government's wartime Office of Price Administration (OPA^*), the group could not immediately occupy the new clubhouse. As a result, on 1 April 1946 they moved into temporary quarters in the ballroom of the Covington Hotel at 37th and Ludlow Streets. At that time, the group had approximately 600 members. Despite the initial delay, once the clubhouse opened (date unknown), it remained in continuous operation until the COVID-19 pandemic forced a temporary closure. It has since reopened.

---

^**The OPA was a U.S. federal agency established in August 1941 to control inflation and manage rationing during World War II. It set ceiling prices on goods, froze rents, and managed ration books for items like gasoline, tires, and sugar. By 1946, it was gone.

2011: Cleveland, Ohio’s The Plain Dealer published an article about Dr. Bob’s Home in Akron, Ohio [right: image published with article, captioned “Dr. Bob’s Home on Ardmore Avenue in Akron in 2002”]:

    In a March 2011 story about Dr. Bob’s Home, the [Akron] Beacon Journal interviewed Collins and Velie about the home’s repairs. The group bought it in the mid-1980s. Collins told the newspaper that people come to the house from around the world to look around and learn. “It happens all the time,” the paper quoted Collins. Visitors walk in, and “they just break out in tears.”
    He told the paper about two visitors who stopped on their way from Mexico City to New York City. Once they walked in the door, they “dropped to their knees and started praying,” the paper quoted Collins.

March 25 in A.A. History

1940: The Los Angeles, California, Daily News published Ted Berthon’s syndicated column “Night and Day” [right], which, on this day after Easter Sunday, provided a glowing report about an organization he had recently discovered: Alcoholics Anonymous. Here is an excerpt:

    It seems that “Alcoholics Anonymous” got under way originally through the Oxford movement, i.e., the modern Buchmanite movement, but is now detached and independent. Not long ago John D. Rockefeller underwrote the publication of a huge, well written book called “Alcoholics Anonymous.” All public libraries now have long waiting lists for it. The organization “Alcoholics Anonymous” exists in virtually every major American city—without either officers or offices, dues or rituals, halls or funds.

1965: Richmond W. [left], 72, died in Daytona Beach, Florida, with 22 years of sobriety. He remains the second best-selling early A.A. author, after Bill W., having published several influential works, including For Drunks Only: One Man’s Reactions to Alcoholics Anonymous (1945), Twenty-Four Hours a Day (1948), and The 7 Points of Alcoholics Anonymous (1989). In 1958 (or 1959), he shared his thoughts on life and death in a lead he gave in Rutland, Vermont, saying in part:

    My problem, in what is left of my life, is to keep my mind or intelligence in the proper condition—by living with honesty, purity, unselfishness,  love, and service—so that when my time comes to go, my passing to a greater sphere of mind will be gentle and easy.

2005: Nancy M.-O. [right], founder of the AA History Lovers (AAHL) email list, died. 
    Shortly after completing her book, With a Lot of Help from Our Friends: The Politics of Alcoholism, in 2003, she suffered a series of small silent heart attacks that left her heart severely weakened. She then moved to Fredericksburg, Virginia, to be closer to her family. In July 2004, she was hospitalized with congestive heart failure and was given only a few months to live. Despite this prognosis, Nancy remained active until the end of her life, speaking to various groups in New York City, Washington, D.C., New Orleans, Louisiana, and, as one of the great thrills of her life, at an A.A. history conference in Bristol, England, where she showcased a pre-publication copy of her book. She was buried at Fern Knoll Burial Park in Dallas, Pennsylvania.
    Her AAHL co-moderator, Glenn Chestnut, created a two-part memorial for her, which can be viewed online by visiting “web.archive.org” and entering the URL “http://hindsfoot.org/nomem1.html”.

March 24 in A.A. History

1935: At Calvary Episcopal Church [far left, c. 1925] in Manhattan, Rev. Sam Shoemaker [near left, c. 1940] confirmed both Dr. Frederick “Freddie” B. [near right, 1923] and Edwin “Ebby” T. [far right, c. 1922] as communicants in a single ceremony. 
     Shoemaker had previously baptized Freddie on 14 March 1935 with Bill W. [left] as his godfather. Prior to Ebby’s visit to Bill in late November 1934, he had also baptized Ebby, with Francis Shepard “Shep” Cornell [right] and Taylor “Tex” Francisco Sr., superintendent of Calvary Rescue Mission, as his godparents.

1939: As the writing of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, neared completion, Hank P. [near right] sent Bill W. [far right, 1937] a 1½-page memo addressing Bill’s reluctance to make certain editorial changes^*:

    Dogmatic;  Marked by positive and authoritative assertions. As “shown by God.”
    Doctor Howards [sic] position is that Mr. Wilson should not let himself be put in a position of being dogmatic  anywhere in the book. 
    That instead of saying to any person . . . ”You do this or You do that.” . . . the whole attitude should be we did this or we did that and received certain blessings from God[…]
    My personal opinion is as follows: EVERY personality should be laid aside[…] Therefor [sic] Bill should take the book someplace where he can study it quietly with the attitude of taking from it <handwritten>changing</handwritten> any dogmatic statements or insinuations.[…] Simply to change it where necessary from . . . You do this . . . to . . . we did this. At the same time certain men such as Frank Amos, Harry B———, Jack D———, Doc. S———, Horace C———, Paul K——— and any others who might be suggested should <handwritten>could</handwritten> do the same thing. Then a meeting sh<handwritten>c</handwritten>ould be called for final discussion of these points and any changes made where this seemed right.[…]
    To bring this proposal down to concrete few words.
    A committee to study the book to ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ change any “ You do this [sic] or [sic] you must do that [sic] statements or insinuations to, “ We did this [sic] or [sic] we did that.”
    Then at a meeting to decide [sic] by the vote of the majority the changes. ANY people who desire and will spend the necessary time to be able [sic] to serve on such a committee.

    As Hank probably expected, Bill capitulated to this threat, and 17 days later, the book would be published.

---

^*The following excerpts include Hank’s errors; my notations are in red. “could <handwritten>should</handwritten>” indicates that Hank drew a line through “could” and hand-wrote “should” above above it.

1971: Margaret (or Margarita) Von Lüttichau Marbury [left, 1915] died in Washington, D.C. [right: gravestone].
    In their article “Margarita Von Lüttichau: Intermediary between Jung and Bill Wilson,” published in the September 2020 issue of The Journal of Analytical Psychology, Ian McCabe, Christine Boyd, and Pádraig Carroll claimed that

    Her contribution within this mediator role [i.e, between Carl Jung and Bill W.] has not been previously recognized but is an important factor in explaining how Jung became introduced to the AA 12‐step format and validated the effectiveness of group work. After the Second World War, Von Lüttichau travelled between America and Switzerland and introduced the writings and ideas of Wilson and Jung to each other and acted as an intermediary between both titans. Jung gave Von Lüttichau extraordinarily detailed instructions on how the 12‐step programme of AA could be applied to ‘general neurotics’. Von Lüttichau’s private papers provide a bridge between Jung and Wilson’s correspondence and help to piece together gaps in both Jungian and AA history.

March 23 in A.A. History

1898: James “Jimmy” B. [right, c. 1918] was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to Robert and Nellie Chapman B.
    In 1938, he was introduced to Alcoholics Anonymous and got sober. Although he relapsed briefly a few months later, he returned to A.A. and remained sober for the rest of his life. His story, “The Vicious Cycle”, appears in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th editions of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous.

1936: Bill and Lois W. visited John Fitzhugh “Fitz” [far left] and Elizabeth Gwathmey M. [near left] at their home in Cumberstone, Maryland. Bill, an intellectual and scholar, found common ground with Fitz, whom he recognized as a fellow dreamer. The W.s and the M.s became devoted friends. Lois recalled that she and Bill had “practically commuted” to the M.s’ home, while Fitz often visited them in Brooklyn, frequently attending the Tuesday night meetings of the “nameless drunks” there. Lois described Fitz as an “impractical, lovable dreamer.” Fitz’s story, “Our Southern Friend,” appears in all four editions of Alcoholics Anonymous.

1941: Sybil Doris Adams Stratton Hart M. (later adding “C―” and “W―”) [right] got sober in Los Angeles, California, becoming the first woman to join Alcoholics Anonymous west of the Mississippi River. Her story, “Learning to Fly,” appeared in the February 1982 issue of the A.A. Grapevine. 

    Her journey began in 1939, when she read the article “Alcoholics and God” in Liberty magazine. She was intrigued, but took no action. Eighteen months later, she read Jack Alexander’s article about A.A. in the 1 March 1941 issue of The Saturday Evening Post. Prompted to act this time, she wrote to the Alcoholic Foundation in New York City and received a response from Ruth Hock. Ruth informed her that while there were no women A.A. members in California, Marty M. was sober in New York and referred her to a small group of men in her Los Angeles.
    Accompanied by her non-alcoholic husband, she attended a meeting. They found 10 to 12 men seated around a table and three or four women standing against a wall. The chairman began by announcing, “As is our custom before the regular meeting starts, we have to ask the women to leave.” Sybil and the other women complied, while her husband remained, leading the other men to believe he was the alcoholic. When he rejoined Sybil, he said, “They don't know you’re alive. They just went on and on bragging about their drinking until I was about to walk out, when they jumped up and said the Lord’s Prayer, and here I am.” Discouraged, Sybil went to the nearest bar and got drunk.
    However, she later recalled Ruth Hock’s offer of help: “If you need help, call Cliff W. [left],” giving her his phone number. Upon calling him, Cliff explained, “You didn’t tell us you were an alcoholic. We thought you were one of the wives. If you had identified yourself as an alcoholic, you would have been welcome as the flowers in May.” The following week, Sybil returned and became the group’s only female member.
    Soon after, Frank R. brought in a large carton of letters, bundled in groups of twenty to fifty. These were inquiries and calls for help from people in Southern California. He announced, “Here they are! Here they are! If any of you jokers have been sober over fifteen minutes, come on up here and get these letters. We’ve got to get as many of these drunks as we can in here by next Friday, or they may die.” The last bundle contained letters from women, prompting Frank to call out, “Sybil M――, come on up. I am going to put you in charge of all the women.”
    While Sybil liked the idea of “being in charge,” she expressed her reservations: “I can’t, sir. You said I have to make all those calls by next Friday, or somebody might die. Well, I’ll be drunk by next Friday unless you have some magic that will change everything so I can stay sober.” Frank assured her that everything she needed was in the Big Book, “and it says right in here that when all other measures fail, working with another alcoholic will save the day. That’s what you will be doing, Sybil, working with other alcoholics. You just get in your car and take your mind off yourself. Think about someone sicker than you are. Go see her and hand her the letter she wrote, and say, ‘I wrote one like this last week, and they answered mine and told me to come and see you. If you have a drinking problem like I have, and if you want to get sober as bad as I do, you come with me, and we'll find out together how to do it.’ Don't add another word to that, because you don't know anything yet. Just go get ’em.”
    The approach worked, and Sybil never drank again.

1995: In Tokyo, Japan, the first Asia/Oceania Service Meeting (AOSM) convened seventeen years after Bob P. of New Zealand envisioned a zonal gathering for the Alcoholics Anonymous General Service Offices of Asian and Pacific Island nations. Mirroring a smaller World Service Meeting, the AOSM offered countries within the same geographical area a platform to share experiences. Six delegates from Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, and Vanuatu participated with the theme “Twelfth Stepping Your Neighbor Country.” Although geographically part of the region, Australia was unable to attend due to financial limitations. Bob P. chaired the meeting, which also included four non-member observers, while George D. [right], General Manager of the General Service Office in New York City, served as the keynote speaker.