August 23 in A.A. History

1895: Junius Lee C. Jr [right, 1914] was born in McComb, Mississippi, to Junius Lee C. Sr and Thomasine Lane Moore C.

The family suffered two tragedies before 1900. Their first-born son, Joe, born in late 1888, lived just 322 days. Junius was the middle of three surviving sons—Willie was 5 years older, and Hilton was 2 years younger. A second tragedy struck when their father died, 3½ months before Hilton’s birth; Junius was only 2 at the time.

In World War I, Junius served as a U.S. Navy Lieutenant aboard the cargo vessel SS Maine [left] (not the USS Maine of “Remember the Maine!” fame). The ship was tor­pe­doed and sunk without casualties in the English Channel in March 1917 while sailing from London, Eng­land, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Junius married Marjorie Dickerson in 1922. In 1925, they had a son, Junius Lee C. III, and in 1926 a daughter who lived only 2 days. He retired as a Navy Commander just before World War II began, but in 1940, newly sober, was ordered out of retirement to the under-construction Naval Air Station [right: aerial view, 1943] in Jack­sonville, Florida. Junius later became a founder of Alcoholics Anonymous in Jacksonville.

1940: [On August 27, according to Mitchell K.’s How It Worked] The Berea Group was started at the home of Bob J. near Cleveland, Ohio. It branched off from the Lakewood Group and initially had eight members. Soon after, it relocated to the Parish Hall of St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church [left] in Berea, Ohio.

By the end of its first year, the group had grown to thirty members. An announcement in the August 1943 issue of Cleveland’s Central Bulletin provided details about the group and its meeting location:

This group is noted for its friendliness and hospitality.… Berea has most unusual quarters. It meets in the delightfully simple rooms of the Parish Hall of St. Thomas’ which is itself a tiny jewel of a church on the very edge of the Baldwin-Wallace campus. The tall elms and maples, the broad stretches of lawn, the quiet of this charming village plus the dignity and serenity of the church all lend an air of peace and rest to these pleasant meetings. Any of you who have ever attended a Berea meeting will never forget it.

A.A. History—year month & day unknown

1960?: [1960 is most likely, could have been anytime from ’59–’64] Marty M. [right, 1960], whose story “Women Suffer Too” appeared in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th editions of Alcoholics Anonymous, suffered a brief relapse. She had begun drinking bitters, which contain 45% alcohol (90 proof), having convinced herself that such small amounts wouldn’t count as a “first drink.”
Fortunately for Marty, an admirer^* from Bronxville, New York—sober herself for a year—happened to stop by the apartment ^† [left] Marty shared with her partner, Priscilla P. [right, 1970]. She was shocked to find Marty drunk, the apartment in disarray, and the dogs neglected. Taking immediate action, she brought Marty and the dogs back to her own home and phoned a mutual friend in Bronxville, Bonnie R., who had ten years of so­bri­ety. Bonnie advised her to keep Marty there until she was fully detoxed, a process that took several days. Even so, Marty refused to attend an A.A. meeting, citing her need for confidentiality, and eventually returned to her apartment in New York City. Very few people knew of this relapse during her lifetime.

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^*The name of this admirer has been forgotten or lost, but at least three other people were aware of the incident and were interviewed by Marty’s biographers, Sally and David Brown.

^†The Daytonian, 375 W. End Ave., New York City