October 20 in A.A. History

In 1928, Bill W. wrote and signed a pledge [right] in the family Bible: “To my beloved wife that has endured so much, let this stand as evidence to you that I have finished with drink forever.” This would be the first of four such pledges.

	In 1945, Dr. William Silkworth [left] was appointed as the director of the 19-bed alcoholics’ ward at Knickerbocker Hospital [right] in New York City. This facility was the first general hospital in the city to establish such a unit, having opened it on Easter Sunday, April 1.

    The opening of this ward is significant because, at that time, many general hospitals refused to admit alcoholics directly; their doctors often had to use false diagnoses for admission. Silkworth likely had been involved with the Knickerbocker ward from its inception and would go on to dedicate the rest of his life to treating an estimated 7,000 alcoholics at both Knickerbocker and Towns Hospitals.

	In 1963, Ethelred Frances Folsom [left], better known to A.A. members as Sister Francis—having renamed herself after her favorite saint—died in Litchfield County, Connecticut. In 1926, she had purchased farmland in Kent, Connecticut, and named it Joy Farm. She had later renamed it High Watch Farm [right: part of High Watch Farm], which some claim was the world’s first 12-step treatment center.

October 19 in A.A. History

	1948, Paul H. [left, 1956], a practicing attorney and Rhodes Scholar, wrote to Bill W. [right, 1956], asking him to confirm the details of a story Bill had recounted, which Paul had documented in a memo dated October 12, titled “BILL’S STORY OF THE EVOLUTION OF THE ‘TWELVE STEPS.’”

    On January 31, Paul and Eileen B.,^* had accompanied Bill and his wife, Lois, on a train ride from New York City to Washington, DC. The following night, Bill, Lois, and Paul had attended an A.A. banquet where Paul had spoken about the late Fitz M. [right]. During the train ride, Bill shared a verbal account of his writing of the Twelve Steps. In his letter, Paul reminded Bill,

    I said that this was the first time I had ever heard the story and that I believe it was of sufficient importance to commit to writing. I am still of that opinion.

    Paul enclosed two copies of the memo, stating that if it “needs amplification or clarification, please let me know.” If not, he asked Bill to initial one copy and return it. Paul concluded his letter by saying,

    As soon as we reached Washington… I dictated my version of Bill’s story to Eileen Barrett who agreed with my version as outlined. This memorandum has been compiled from the original draft, which is now before me, and also from a subsequent conversation with Bill.

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^*Ms. B. may have been Paul’s secretary, as he “dictated” the story to her; little else is known about her, although it does seem she was well-known in A.A. circles.

October 18 in A.A. History

		In 1952, The Saturday Evening Post [far left: cover] published an anonymous article titled “I’m a nurse in an Alcoholic Ward” [near left]. The author was Theresa “Teddy” R., a nurse at Knickerbocker Hospital [near right, c. 1940; far right: Knickerbocker ambulance at Knickerbocker entrance] in New York City. Dr. William Silkworth, a colleague, referred to her as a “red-headed powerhouse.” The teaser for the article read,

    The author—a onetime alcoholic—has nursed 5,000 drunks through the fading hours of their most spectacular sprees. Here is what she has faced in salvaging doctors, lawyers, ministers, priests, housewives, and stenographers from drink and the devil.

    In the article, Teddy explained her motivation: 

    After a month of daily increasing happiness I was struck with an overwhelming sense of gratitude. 
    I was grateful to that lonely handful of men who formulated the AA principles of recovery and set them down; grateful to the thousands of alcoholics who, in the face of every conceivable difficulty and temptation, had picked up these tenets and doggedly clung to them, fighting to hang on to their sobriety so it could be passed on to me. I felt I must do something in return.
    When I learned about the A.A. ward at Knickerbocker I knew what that something would have to be. I was a trained nurse. During all the years I had frittered away, that training had seemed meaningless. Now it made sense—I was meant to work in that ward. I bombarded the supervising nurse with telephone calls by day, and prayers to God at night, and three months later I got the job.
    These five years have brought deep satisfactions. I can’t convey how much it means to see the transformation in people. They come to us physical, mental and moral wrecks. They leave encouraged but still uncertain. Then, months later, they come back–bright-eyed, rosy-cheeked, eager to help; job back, family back, going concerns again, ready to pass on, with dividends, what’s been given to them. To know that I had some small part in this rebirth is a blessing far beyond what I deserve.

October 17 in A.A. History

			In 1935, Edwin “Ebby” T. [far left], the man Bill W. [near left, 1937] called his sponsor, moved in with Bill and his wife, Lois [middle left, 1937], at 182 Clinton Street [right: c. 1940, 2009] in Brooklyn.

In 1940, Toledo, Ohio’s first meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous took place at the home of Ruth T., located at 2222 River Rd. [left] in Maumee Township. The attendees included Ruth, “Duke” P., who led the meeting, Charlie “CJ” K., Walter C., Chet M., Bill W.,^* Pete B., Ed B., and Ernie G.,^† one of the first 100 members of A.A. All nine had previously traveled to Akron, Ohio, to learn firsthand about A.A.

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^*Not A.A.’s co-founder. 
^†Not the Ernie G. who married Dr. Bob and Anne S.’s daughter, Sue.

October 16 in A.A. History

In 1937, Bill and Lois W. left Akron, Ohio, at 4:30 p.m. and traveled with Sterling P. (who drove) and his wife, arriving in Newark, New Jersey, at 5:30 a.m. on the 17th. The four of them had breakfast at a local restaurant before the W——s took the subway home to 182 Clinton St. in Brooklyn, where they presumably collapsed into bed.

In 1943, nearly 200 people attended the 3rd anniversary of Alcoholics Anonymous in Toledo, Ohio, at the A.A. clubrooms on Superior St. Among them were six of the nine founding members. [Right: article from the Toledo Blade, 18 Oct 1943, p. 20.]

			In 1962, Earle Treat [far left], 62, died in Sarasota, Florida. He would be buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio [middle left: obituary; near left, gravestone].

In 1971,^* the North Rustico Group, located in North Rustico, Prince Edward Island, Canada, presented Louis H. with an engraved coin [right] to commemorate his one-year anniversary.

In 1976,^* the North Rustico Group, located in North Rustico, Prince Edward Island, Canada, presented Louis H. with an engraved coin [left] to commemorate his five-year anniversary.

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^*One of three things occurred: either (1) Louis H. slipped on the day of his 1st anniversary, (2) at least one of the years reported is incorrect, or (3) at least one of the anniversary numbers is wrong. The period 1971–1976 is 5 years, while a 5th anniversary would come 4 years after the 1st, if without slips.

In 2012, the U.S. National Park Service designated Stepping Stones, the home of Bill and Lois W. from 1941 until their respective deaths, as a National Historic Landmark. The official marker [right] says,

    Bill and Lois W—– lived here from 1941 until their deaths. Bill co-founded Alcoholics Anonymous, and Lois co-founded Al-Anon Family Groups. Their pioneering work advanced the treatment of alcoholism and inspired addiction recovery programs throughout the world.

    The State of New York also erected a similar historical marker outside Stepping Stones [left].

October 15 in A.A. History

In 1904, Margaret “Marty” M. [right, as a debutante, c. 1925] was born to Lillian Christy and William Henry M. in her maternal grandparents’ home on Magnolia Avenue in Sheridan Park, a new upscale neighborhood on the North Shore of Chicago, Illinois. Her family lived just down Magnolia Street. Marty was the oldest of five children. A sister, Christy, was born in 1906 but died within 36 hours. Lillian Christy “Chris” was born in 1910, and twins Mary Elizabeth “Betty” and William Henry arrived in 1918. Young Marty led an upper-middle-class life, attending private schools, traveling extensively, and making her social debut.

October 14 in A.A. History

In 1939, The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published a brief and unfavorable review [right] of the book Alcoholics Anonymous, which concluded with:

    The book under review is a curious combination of organizing propaganda and religious exhortation. It is in no sense a scientific book, although it is introduced by a letter from a physician who claims to know some of the anonymous contributors who have been “cured” of addiction to alcohol and have joined together in an organization which would save other addicts by a kind of religious conversion. The book contains instructions as to how to intrigue the alcoholic addict into the acceptance of divine guidance in place of alcohol in terms strongly reminiscent of Dale Carnegie and the adherents of the Buchman (“Oxford”) movement. The one valid thing in the book is the recognition of the seriousness of addiction to alcohol. Other than this; the book has no scientific merit or interest.

October 13 in A.A. History

In 1937, at an “alcoholic squadron” meeting^* in T. Henry and Clarace Williams’ living [right] in Akron, Ohio, Bill proposed expanding the movement with hospitals for alcoholics, paid missionaries, and a book.
    Later, Bill said that after “counting noses” with Dr. Bob and realizing the success they were having, he made this proposal to Bob. While Bob was initially cool to the idea, he found the notion of a book somewhat appealing. Together, Bill and Bob decided to call a meeting of the Ohio members, along with the New York City members Bill had brought with him, to thoroughly discuss Bill’s ideas and take a vote.
    Eighteen voting members attended the meeting. Bill presented his proposal, suggesting that the rich would be willing to fund these plans. But as he made his case, it became clear that the Ohio contingent was not impressed. They preferred to keep things simple, believing that money would create a professional class and ruin everything. Active alcoholics wouldn’t trust paid missionaries any more than early Christians would have trusted paid apostles. Jesus, they noted, did not rely on pamphlets or books; his program was word-of-mouth. Moreover, the publicity surrounding a book would overwhelm them as they tried to answer all the inquiries. After passionate arguments and counterarguments, the group seemed angrily deadlocked, but they reluctantly agreed to take a vote.
    Bill’s proposal narrowly passed with a vote of 10–8 (noting that a two-thirds majority would have required 12 votes in favor). Dr. Bob likely gave his reluctant approval. No one knows for certain who else was there, who voted, or how anyone voted. Bill was in Akron with three members from New York City: Bill R., Sterling P., and Fitz M. If they were present and voted, that would account for 5 votes in favor. If they weren’t there or didn’t vote, 8 more votes would have been needed from the Ohio members. The other New York City members would have been much more enthusiastic.

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^*Note the 13th is only the most likely date, as Schaberg deduces in a footnote to Writing the Big Book on page 27, partly because that was the regular night for the “alcoholic squadron” of the Oxford Group meeting at the Williams’ home; however, it could have been any day between the 11th and 15th.

In 1947, the first permanent Alcoholics Anonymous group in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, held its initial meeting in the deacons’ room of the Independent Hall on Collins Street.

		Attendees included Lillian R. [far left, 1947], a Hollywood movie star on tour in Australia; her husband, Burt McG. [near right, 1968]; Harold J., a local drunk; and Jack O’H. [far right, with his wife], a composer and playwright who chaired the meeting. Two non-alcoholics also attended: Rev. Dr. Gordon Powell [near left, 1947], the Presbyterian minister of the Collins Street Independent Church [below left] (now St. Michael’s Uniting Church), broadcaster, and author; and Norman Ley, secretary of the Independent Church. Harold was elected secretary. This group, known as the Melbourne Group of A.A., met at least once a week for the next two years in Powell’s room in the Independent Hall.

	Three additional weekly meetings soon followed: one on High Street in St. Kilda [near right, 1957]; another near Brighton railway station [middle right]; and one at Talbot House [far right: interior, 1928], better known as “Toc H,” a soldiers’ rest and recreation centre located at 476 Collins Street in Melbourne.

October 12 in A.A. History

In 1911, Ruth Miller [right] was born in Newark, New Jersey, to Fredric and Sophie Kraemer Muller. 
    She would marry George Hock in 1929, but they would separate in 1935 and divorce in 1941. In January 1936, she would be hired as a secretary at Honor Dealers by Hank P. In 1940, she would become the first National Secretary of Alcoholics Anonymous.

In 1948, Paul H. [left, 1956] wrote a memo titled “BILL’S STORY OF THE EVOLUTION OF THE ‘TWELVE STEPS.’” In this memo, he recounted a story shared by Bill W. during a train ride from New York City to Washington, DC, on 1 January 1948. They were traveling to a regional banquet where Paul was scheduled to speak about the late Fitz M.
    Later, Paul wrote to Bill, mentioning that upon arriving in Washington, he had dictated Bill’s story to Eileen Barrett, who had also been on the train and who confirmed the accuracy of Paul’s recollection. It was from these dictated notes that Paul composed the memo, which included the following:

    Bill said that Fitz himself had no actual part in the writing of the “Twelve Steps” but that his spiritual perception and influence were a definite factor in their formulation.
    Bill went on to explain how the pioneers in A.A. fought, thought—and prayed—their way through to recovery. In his effort to rehabilitate himself the alcoholic was obliged:

1. To admit he was powerless over alcohol.
2. To make an inventory of his own character.
3. To put trust in God.
4. To work with other alcoholics.

    As it stood, this program needed clarification. Bill sat down and began to figure out the various phases of his own recovery. Setting them down on paper, he found there were twelve separate and distinct steps.

    The significance of this account lies in the fact that, despite occurring more than nine years after the event, it was the first known account Bill provided about the writing of the Twelve Steps. His later accounts would introduce important variations. Notably, this account identifies only four steps instead of the later six, and Paul’s account indicates that Bill based the steps on “the various phases of his own recovery” rather than, as Bill later said, that “the words kept right on coming”^* and that “Why the Steps were written down in the order in which they appear today and just why they were worded as they are, I had no idea whatever.”^†

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^*Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, p. 161.
^†The “Blue Book”, Vol. XII, “National Clergy Conference on Alcoholism: Alcoholics Anonymous,” pp. 179–210, 1960.

October 11 in A.A. History

In 1917, J. Frederick “Fred” Seiberling, Sr. and Henrietta Buckler [right: c. 1917] were married in Akron, Ohio. The couple would have three children but would separate in early 1935, though they would never divorce. Henrietta would move from the huge Manor House of Stan Hywet (pronounced “stan HEE-wit”), the Seiberling estate in Akron, to the much smaller Gate Lodge [below left], located on the edge of the estate.

    Shortly after the Oxford Group came to Akron, in January 1933, Henrietta would become involved with them. In May 1935, she would introduce Bill W. to Dr. Bob S. at her home, playing a crucial role in the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous. Both Henrietta and Fred would become devoted supporters of A.A.

	In 1937, [12th?] In Akron, Ohio, Bill W., Dr. Bob S., and Bob’s wife Anne [right, respectively] sat in the couple’s living room [left] discussing the two-year-old fellowship they had started. Taking stock of its achievements so far, they counted 35 to 40 people who had sobered up, with more than 20 having maintained sobriety for at least a year. This conversation would come to be known as the “counting noses” meeting.

     In Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, written after the 1955 International Convention in St. Louis, Missouri, and published in 1957, Bill would write:

    It was on a November^* day in that year [1937] when Dr. Bob and I sat in his living room, counting the noses of our recoveries. There had been failures galore, but now we could see some startling successes too. A hard core of very grim last-gasp cases had by then been sober a couple of years, an unheard-of development. There were twenty or more such people. All told we figured that upwards of forty alcoholics were staying bone dry.
    As we carefully rechecked this score, it suddenly burst upon us that a new light was shining into the dark world of the alcoholic. Despite the fact that Ebby had slipped, a benign chain reaction, one alcoholic carrying the good news to the next, had started outward from Dr. Bob and me. Conceivably, it could one day circle the whole world. What a tremendous realization that was! At last we were sure. There would be no more flying totally blind. We actually wept for joy, and Bob and Anne and I bowed our heads in silent thanks.

Bill would also write about this meeting in the October 1945 issue of the A.A. Grapevine,

The realization that we “had found something” began to take hold of us. No longer were we a dubious experiment. Alcoholics could stay sober. Great numbers perhaps! While some of us had always clung to this possibility, the dream now had real substance. If 40 alcoholics could recover, why not four hundred, four thousand—even forty thousand?

And on 12 June 1954, speaking at the Texas State Convention in Fort Worth, Texas, Bill would say:

Bob and I saw for the first time that this thing was going to succeed. That God in his providence and mercy had thrown a new light into the dark caves where we and our kind had been and were still by the millions dwelling. I can never forget the elation and ecstasy that seized us both.

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^*Not only was this date incorrect—despite his repeated assertions over the years that the meeting had taken place in November—but he was also conflating this trip with another one he made in search of work in Detroit, Michigan, and Cleveland, Ohio, which included a visit to Akron by himself.

October 10 in A.A. History

In 1937, after spending the night in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, with Bill and Lois W., Bill and Kathleen R. picked up Fitz Mayo just outside Pittsburgh. The five of them then continued on to Akron, Ohio, arriving around 5 PM. They received a warm welcome and were entertained by the large crowd gathered for dinner at Paul Stanley’s home. Sterling P. and his wife, also from New York City, arrived separately and were presumably welcomed as well. Bill and Kathleen stayed with T. Henry and Clarace Williams, while Bill and Lois would spend the next 5½ days with Dr. Bob and Anne S. [left: Bob S., Anne S., Lois W., Bill W., respectively, c. 1937].

In 1970, in New York City, Bill W.’s widow, Lois, read “Bill’s Last Message” [right] at the annual dinner hosted by the New York Intergroup Association in honor of Bill’s 36th anniversary of sobriety. It read, in part,

    My thoughts are much occupied these days with gratitude to our Fellowship and for the myriad blessings bestowed upon us by God’s Grace. If I were asked which of these blessings I felt was most responsible for our growth as a fellowship and most vital to our continuity, I would say, the “Concept of Anonymity.”

In 1988, Lois W. was buried next to her husband, Bill, in the East Dorset Cemetery in East Dorset, Vermont [left: Lois’ headstone].

In 2002, the second Gulf Conference began in Bahrain’s American Mission Hospital [right]. Under the title “A.A. Primary Purpose in Full Throttle in Arabian Gulf,” Bahrain’s central office would later report,

    October 10 witnessed a miracle for us; we experienced A.A.’s altruistic movement ripple its way through the atmosphere, deep into our souls. The second 
Gulf Conference started at 4:30 p.m. with a recovery meeting in Bahrain’s American Mission Hospital and ended past midnight with everyone boogying in a member’s home.
    There was mingling, sharing and bonding. There was fellowship from Oman, Riyadh, Kuwait, Daharan, Dammam and even Bournemouth. Attendance was quite overwhelming. To be honest, the organizing committee had expected 35-45 people, but almost double that number came. Some were in A.A., while others were from the medical body. Overall the message of recovery was carried effectively.
    No committee, no human power, absolutely nothing but God can take credit for such success.… 
    God bless your trudge along the Road of Happy Destiny.

Supporting A.A. in Ukraine

[Note that this post was written in March 2022, shortly after the full-scale invasion of the Ukraine by the Russian Federation.]

An A.A. friend sent me a very well-done flyer for an online A.A. meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine. It's shown to the left, but I've removed the Meeting ID and Passcode; I don't want to make it that  easy to attend. When I first saw it, I thought, "I only wish that we could do something similar for all the Russian alcoholics, who must also be terribly distressed at this time" (especially those in the Russian military).

This flyer was immediately followed by a less well-done message, shown below, purporting to be from "Ukrainian AA Service Center and the Ukrainian AA Service Board" to "the AA World Community." I was skeptical. This looked so much like a myth that I expected to find it debunked at Snopes ("the internet’s definitive fact-checking resource"). I did not. But I did find an article titled, "UKRAINE: New Crisis, Grimly Familiar Disinformation Trends", which said, in part, 

It is a grim measure of the frequency of crisis events in recent years, and the ubiquity of online disinformation, that when a major story breaks — a terrorist attack, a mass shooting, or an act of war — the writers and editors at Snopes can typically predict what comes next. Recycled videos and photographs, stripped from their proper context, and the same old tropes, all designed to inflame or confuse, or even amuse, the reader.

This is followed by a "grim overview of the familiar disinformation trends and recurring memes… in the opening days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine."

But, as I said, I only later looked on Snopes. First I searched the Internet. To my surprise, I immediately got a hit that looked very promising. It was on the aa.lviv.ua website and looked like this:

Since I don't know what I presumed was Ukrainian, and not having much patience, I immediately had the page automatically translated into English. It is indeed Ukrainian, and here's the English translation I got:

It was only later that I noticed that an English translation of the message follows the Ukrainian on the original, one click further down. I felt stupid and impatient for not looking.

Ultimately, I decided I'd check into the Kyiv online meeting and see if there was some way I could be helpful. I tried to log in a few minutes before it was to start. Due to the meeting having reached capacity, it was impossible to get in. It then occurred to me, If I'm having this much trouble getting in, there are probably Ukrainians who are also unable to get in. It horrified me to think that I could have had a part in disrupting their meeting. If, by some miracle, I had been able to get in, I sure hope I would have realized that the meeting was at capacity and left. But even if I had, my spot would have been filled by a non-Ukrainian.

I tried joining after the meeting was over. It was bedlam. It appeared that most people were unmuted and there were multiple conversations going on at the same time. I saw one man, who appeared to be that single Ukrainian member. He appeared to be quite stressed out. I also saw some A.A.friends of mine, which was disappointing. I only stayed a minute. The last thing they needed at that point was yet one more non-Ukrainian A.A. to join the fray.

Tonight, I learned from a reliable source that only one of the seven or eight regular Ukrainian group members was able to get into the meeting (presumably, the Zoom host). No doubt, many of the attendees had good intentions, although I'm also pretty sure some did not. Clearly, many also didn't think through the consequences of their actions.

And then, very late last night, My friend said that another friend of hers had found a Facebook post about the A.A. meeting in Kyiv earlier, shown at the left. It was so disheartening to read. Yes, many non-Ukrainians—maybe hundreds of them—got to feel good for a minute. Meanwhile, seven or eight locals never got to their meeting.

God As We Understand Him?

 I recently read Bill W.'s essay, “God As We Understand Him: The Dilemma of No Faith”, in The Language of the Heart (originally published as “The Dilemma of No Faith” in the April 1961 issue of the A.A. Grapevine). He begins this essay by saying, “The phrase ‛God As We Understand Him’ is perhaps the most important expression to be found in our whole AA vocabulary.”

For a long time, I've been vaguely uncomfortable with this wording, even though I knew what it meant the first time I heard it. In the last few years, but not in my early sobriety, I've sometimes heard newcomers asking about this expression, “How can anyone understand God?”  in a way that led me to think that perhaps this was an impediment for them. I realized my discomfort is just that. Perhaps understanding is not the best word. I think “God As We Conceive of God” is closer to the intended meaning. It will be interesting to see how the proposed plain language Big Book^* (i.e., Alcoholics Anonymous) will deal with this phrase. If at all.

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^* If you don't know what this is or what it means, check out Advisory Action #28 (on p 7) in this document: Conference Advisory Actions of the 71st General Service Conference, a list of all such actions adopted at the 71st General Service Conference last April.

19,560 days

Yes, I am still sober, still above ground. My posts slowed down drastically and then stopped altogether because I feared it would become too easy to identify who I was from my posts, due to circumstances of my life. Already, my brother had figured out this was me. For those who don't realize it, I was doing my best to respect Tradition 12. My brother already knew I was a deeply involved member of A.A.

Future posts will probably be less personal, on the whole. I hope this is, at least in part, because I have less interest in myself and more interest in others [v. Alcoholics Anonymous, p 84].

A.A. in these times of pandemic has been a great experience for me personally. Since mid-March 2020, I've attended online meetings on every continent that has them (Antarctica does not, due to insufficient bandwidth). I've been regularly attending meetings all over the US and Canada, as well as in Australia and South Africa. It has also become much easier to find workshops, conventions, conferences, and meetings that focus on topics like Traditions, Concepts, The A.A. Service Manual, and A.A. history. These are topics that I love learning about. I've been sober almost 29 years, been involved in General Service for 25½ of those years, but I sometimes think I've learned more about General Service in the last 16 months than in all the time before. Maybe not. Maybe it just feels that way.