1915: Bill W. and Lois
Burnham [left, 1915] were secretly
engaged.
2001: The Underwood Building at
30 Vesey St. in Manhattan was damaged in the attack on the World Trade Center
by Islamist terrorists but was not destroyed
[near right, c. 1940; center right: looking West down Vesey St from Church
St., 11 Sep 2011; far right, c. 2009]. From 1940 to 1944, it served as the first headquarters of the Alcoholic
Foundation in
New York City. Built in 1911 by John Thomas Underwood, the building originally
housed the Underwood Typewriter Company
[left: advertisement, c. 1911]. In 2008, it sold for nearly $15,000,000
[~$23,300,000 in 2026].
2001: Father Mychal Fallon
J. [right], born Robert Emmett J. on
11 May 1933, died in the World Trade Center attack while serving as a chaplain
for the New York Fire Department
[left: iconic photo of Fr. Mychal J.’s body being carried from the World
Trade Center, 11 Sep 2001]. He was an American Franciscan friar and Catholic priest who was very
supportive of the gay community. Although others died before him that day, he
would be designated as Victim 0001, the first official fatality of the attack.
He got sober on 15 September 1978, and his funeral Mass would be held on his
23rd sobriety anniversary at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Manhattan.1953: The first Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) group in Argentina was founded in Buenos Aires.
After reading Alcoholics Anonymous and getting sober in December 1952, Hector spent nearly nine months unsuccessfully attempting to establish an A.A. group. During that period, he remained in contact with the United States while visiting alcoholics in jails and hospitals. Through the Alcoholic Foundation’s General Service Office (GSO) in New York City, he met A.A. members who were visiting Buenos Aires. He also obtained unofficial A.A. publications from abroad and corresponded with numerous individuals. Gradually, Hector deepened his understanding of Alcoholics Anonymous and reinforced his own sobriety.
In September 1953, another alcoholic, Arthur M.—a British national who had lived in Argentina throughout his life—contacted Hector. While visiting family in the United States, Arthur had received treatment for alcoholism and subsequently joined A.A. in Dallas, Texas. Before returning to Buenos Aires, he obtained Hector’s name from GSO.
Working together with renewed energy, and aided by Arthur’s firsthand
knowledge of A.A. in the United States, the two men succeeded in founding
Argentina’s first A.A. group.
1965: The
A.A. Grapevine [left: cover] published a brief
article titled “Best of Bill,” which stated in part:
About a year ago, we began to think of printing readers’ favorites of Bill's articles in separate form so that they would be readily available now that some of our back issues containing them are sold out. We chose five articles on subjects which are no strangers to any of us—Fear, Faith, Honesty, Humility, and Love—and had them printed in small booklets (3½ × 5½") all packaged in a little envelope. We hope to add others to the package from time to time, so we gave the group of articles the overall title, “The Best of Bill.”
… We just returned from the Convention in Toronto, where the “Best of Bill” was introduced to the more than 10,000 people who attended this exciting, important and exhausting gathering of AAs around the world. The Grapevine had two booths on the Convention floors which were in continual danger of capsizing beneath the waves of AAs rushing back and forth to panel meetings. We're pretty certain thousands never saw our booths, or our new “Best of Bill” packet. But we are also certain (because we counted) that thousands stopped to look and to buy. We hope you will like the “Best of Bill,” too. Turn the page to see about prices and ordering [right: order form].
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