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^*.

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^*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.

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^**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.

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^*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.

March 22 in A.A. History

1951: Dr. William Duncan Silkworth, 77, died at his home in New York City, at 45 W. 81st St., from coronary occlusion, a condition in which an artery supplying blood to the heart becomes partially or completely blocked. In their later years, he and his wife, Marie [right: together in front of their New Jersey home], had moved to Manhattan from their home in New Jersey.

1984: Clarence S. [left, c. 1980], 81, the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous in Cleveland, Ohio, died of lung cancer at his home in Casselberry, Florida. At the time of his death, Clarence had been sober for 46 years. He was the first to use the name of the Fellowship in a group name and originated the sponsorship concept used today. His personal story, “Home Brewmeister,” appeared in the first three editions of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous.

Other significant events in March
                 (no specific date known)                 

1992: A.A. World Services, Inc., along with its General Service Office, and the A.A. Grapevine, Inc., moved from 468 Park Ave. S. in Manhattan to new facilities in The Interchurch Building [right] at 475 Riverside Dr. in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of New York City. This relocation provided A.A. with its best headquarters accommodations to date, and likely at the lowest rent (when adjusted for inflation). The move was projected to save $3,000,000 [~$7,000,000 in 2026] over the ten-year lease. This favorable rent was due to the building's unique history: constructed in 1958 by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and other donors, it was intended to house church agencies, ecumenical and interfaith organizations, and certain charitable foundations, earning it the nickname “The God Box.” Early in 1991, GSO’s general manager, Wayne P., had announced the move, stating:

In our present facility, we are sprawled over five floors. This move will allow us to put all A.A.W.S. and Grapevine operations on just one-and-a-half contiguous floors that provide more usable space than we have now—and at roughly half the rent.

March 21 in A.A. History

1881: Anne Ripley [right, 1915] was born in Oak Park, Illinois. The oldest of four children, she was the only daughter in a family that included her brothers Paul, Charles, and Joseph. 
    In 1915, he and Dr. Bob S. would marry. With her in mind, he would say, “For some reason, we alcoholics seem to have the gift of picking out the world’s finest women.” Bill W. would say of her, “She was a woman who possessed a deep faith in God and unwavering love for those who suffer.” After her death, Bill would write in the A.A. Grapevine, “She was, quite literally, the mother of our first Group, Akron No. One.… In the full sense of the word, she was one of the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous.”

1913: In memory of Bertha Bamford, Bill W.’s high school sweetheart who had passed away in November 1912, the YMCA and YWCA associations of Burr and Burton Seminary—of which Bill was president of the former and Bertha the latter—held a memorial service in the school chapel. According to a brief article [left] on page 2 of The Bennington Evening Banner, “Many glowing tributes were paid to Miss Bamford's memory by students of the upper classes and teachers.”

1915: Frederick Harold “Hal” M. was born in McDowell, North Carolina, to Fred and Louise Clarke Marley, their first child. After getting sober in 1964, he became known as “Dr. Gratitude” for designing and giving “Attitude of Gratitude” pins [right: similar pin, but not Hal’s] to A.A. members.

1966: Edwin “Ebby” T. [left: Ebby's last photo], the man Bill W. called his sponsor, died sober. For the last two years of his life, he lived at McPike’s Farm [right, date unknown] on Peaceable Street in Galway, New York, a pioneering treatment facility for alcoholics only 25 miles [~40 km] north of his hometown, Albany. After the death of his brother, Ken, in January 1966, Ebby’s caretakers believed he had lost his will to live. When he fell ill, he had initially resisted hospitalization, but eventually conceded that his end was near, saying, “Well, we all have to go sometime.” Soon after, he had a stroke (cerebral thrombosis) and was rushed to a hospital in nearby Ballston Spa. By Sunday night, he was in a coma. He died at 1:00 am on Monday and was later buried in Albany Rural Cemetery.

March 20 in A.A. History

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

1961: After writing to Dr. Carl G. Jung [far left, 1958–60] on 23 January and receiving his reply dated 20 January, Bill W. [near left, 1958] followed up with a second letter [right: 1st page] to Jung:

    Your observation that drinking motivations often include that of a quest for spiritual values caught our special interest.… Years ago, some of us read with great benefit your book entitled Modern Man in Search of a Soul. You observed, in effect, that most persons having arrived at age 40 and having acquired no conclusions or faith as to who they were, or where they were or where they were going next in the cosmos, would be bound to encounter increasing neurotic difficulties; and that this would be likely to occur whether their youthful aspirations for sex union, security, and a satisfactory place in society had been satisfied or not. Neither could any amount of resolution, philosophical speculation, or superficial religious conditioning save them from the dilemma in which they found themselves.

    Bill also noted that Jung's words “really carried authority, because you seemed to be neither wholly a theologian nor a pure scientist.” He observed that Jung “spoke a language of the heart that we could understand.”
    Bill further wrote about his experiences with LSD, noting that many A.A. members “have returned to the churches, almost always with fine results. But some of us have taken less orthodox paths. Along with a number of friends, I find myself among the latter.”
    Bill referenced Canadian research by Humphry Osmond [right, 1956] who had introduced Aldous Huxley to mescaline in 1953. Osmond reported that 150 severely alcoholic patients were “preconditioned by LSD and then placed in the surrounding AA groups.” Over three years, they integrated into existing Alcoholics Anonymous groups, achieved “startling results” over three years, compared to similar individuals who only participated in A.A. without psychedelic treatment. Bill told Jung, “My friends believe that LSD temporarily triggers a change in blood chemistry that inhibits or reduces ego thereby enabling more reality to be felt and seen.”
    He added, “Some of my AA friends and I have taken the material (LSD) frequently and with much benefit,” observing that the powerful psychedelic drug ignited “a great broadening and deepening and heightening of consciousness.”
    Bill informed Jung that his first LSD trip in 1956 reminded him of a mystical revelation he had experienced in the 1930s, after hitting rock bottom and ending up in a New York City hospital ward for hardcore alcoholics: “[M]y original spontaneous spiritual experience of twenty-five years before was re-enacted with wonderful splendor and conviction,” he wrote.
    Aniela Jaffé [left, late 1950s], a Jungian analyst and colleague of Jung, responded to Wilson to let him now Jung had read his letter, and “had in his mind to answer you, but then he fell ill and the doctor ordered complete rest. Feeling better he left for longer vacation, and therefore the mail is not done.” Jung had had a stroke and would die on 6 June.