May 20 in A.A. History

1908: Sybil A. [left: with her two older brothers] was born in Melrose, New Mexico, to Addie Florence Jones and Henry Filander A., a poor but hardworking couple. (The family likely resided at 108 Fifth Street, their home in 1910 [right: 100 block, Aug 2019]). The family soon relocated to Simmons, a small oil town in Texas.
    Sybil began drinking around the age of 14 after her family relocated to Los Angeles, California, from Texas. She had a child with her first husband, James S., a sailor. She believed that having the child would help her stop drinking, but instead, she drank more than ever. Eventually, her parents took the child from her.
    In 1928, she married Lyle H., with whom she had two children—one who died the day she was born, in 1929, and another in 1931. They lived at 7319 S. Halldale Street, Los Angeles [far left, Dec 2017]. In 1938, she married Richard M., and they lived for many years at 7711 S. Figueroa Street, Los Angeles [near left, before being rebuilt in 2009].
    As Sybil M. [right: Sybil as a young adult], she became the first woman west of the Mississippi to get sober in Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.). She later became best known by her fourth and second-to-last married name, Sybil C.

1938: Two days after receiving an advance from Charles B. Towns, Bill W., then less than 3½ years sober, began writing the book that would eventually become Alcoholics Anonymous. He likely started with his own story, marking the first of three attempts at the manuscript. This initial effort is a handwritten manuscript of fourteen paragraphs on eight sheets of yellow legal paper, titled “The Strange Obsession” [left: page 1].

1941: The 15th Alcoholics Anonymous group in the Cleveland, Ohio area, the first known women’s group, formed with 16 members and met at 12214 Detroit Ave., Lakewood, Ohio [right, Nov 2015].

May in A.A. History—day unknown

1950: Nell Wing [left], a non-alcoholic who had worked at the Alcoholic Foundation since 1947, became Bill Wilson’s secretary. In 1955, she would begin collecting archival items, eventually organizing A.A.'s archives and becoming its first Archivist.

1950: The General Service Office (G.S.O.), formerly known as A.A. “Headquarters,” and the A.A. Grapevine’s two-person editorial staff relocated just a two-minute walk away in New York City, moving from 415 Lexington Ave. to 141 E. 44th St. [right: respectively, c. 1940]. At the same time, a system for rotating Senior General Secretaries was established.

1951: Al-Anon was founded by Lois W. and Anne B. [left, respectively], both spouses of Alcoholics Anonymous members. Al-Anon considers its founding to have occurred throughout the entire month. 
    After the 1st A.A. General Service Conference, Lois invited the wives of the Delegates to the Conference to lunch at her home. This led Lois and her close friend and neighbor, Anne, to open an office at Stepping Stones [right]. They obtained a list of 87 family groups and nonalcoholic individuals or family groups across the U.S., Canada, Australia, South Africa, and Ireland from the Alcoholic Foundation. To unify them, Lois and Anne sent a combination invitation/questionnaire [left: cover letter]. Eventually, the name Al-Anon Family Groups was chosen for the resulting new fellowship. With A.A.’s permission, Al-Anon adopted the Twelve Steps and, later in 1954, the Twelve Traditions as its guiding principles.