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.

October 9 in A.A. History

In 1937, while Sterling P. and his wife drove separately to Akron, Ohio, Bill [near right] and Kathleen R. from Hackettstown, New Jersey, picked up Bill and Lois W. [far right, c. 1937] in Brooklyn at noon to travel to Akron. The four of them stopped for the night in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. [Bill W. typically—and erroneously—referred to this event as occurring “in late fall,” and that it also included trips by him to Cleveland and Detroit to look for work. Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers states—also erroneously—that it was in November, while others incorrectly date it to 1936.]

Today in A.A. History—October 9–11

In 1969, the first World Service Meeting (WSM) took place in the East Room of the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City, attended by 27 delegates from 16 countries: [left: WSM banner, country flags]:

Australia	Belgium	Canada	Costa Rica	Colombia
England	Finland	French Europe†	Germany	Guatemala
Holland	Mexico	New Zealand	Norway	South Africa
United States
†Delegates from Belgium and France represented all of French-speaking Europe.

    The theme of the WSM was “Our Common Welfare” [below: World Service Meeting images—Big Book display, map of nations represented, East Room of the Roosevelt, pamphlet display].

October 8 in A.A. History

In 1937, Bill W. [right: mid to late 1930s] lost his job at Quaw & Foley^†, and at that time, he was still owed one of his two weeks of vacation. Bill claimed he was let go due to the March 1937 market crash; indeed, the market losses on 10 March 1937, are ranked as the second-worst day in U.S. financial history. Following this all aspects of the nation’s business remained depressed for well over a year, with unemployment reaching about 18%. Lois’s diary notes that Quaw & Foley were forced to let Bill go “because they nearly failed.” This would be the last substantive job Bill would ever hold outside of Alcoholics Anonymous.
[William Schaberg, in Writing the Big Book: The Creation of A.A., asserts at this point in the story (p. 24) that…

Wilson was never happy with his ongoing lack of real employment and he would spend the rest of his life chasing the occasional job opportunities that came his way, while just as constantly trying to resign from the central leadership position that was always being forced back on him by the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous.^* In many ways, these two factors defined Bill Wilson’s life from this point forward: he never again held a job outside of A.A. and he was never able to completely let go of the reins that controlled A.A.…

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*Dipping into any of the folders containing Wilson’s voluminous thirty-five years of correspondence that are carefully preserved at Stepping Stones will provide ample support for both of these observations. However it must be noted that Bill Wilson’s desire to hand over the leadership of A.A. to others was always tempered by a conflicting desire on his part to continue “running the show.” He was a complicated and fascinating man.]

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^†Quaw & Foley was a firm that specialized in stock market investigations and provided Bill W. with most of the professional work he did in the early 1930s.

In 1988, a memorial service for Lois [left, near the end of her life], Bill W.’s widow, was held in Bedford Hills, New York. About fifty family and friends gathered for an informal Quaker-style service in the living room of Stepping Stones, in front of a roaring fire in the stone fireplace. During the service, Michael Alexander, Class A (non-alcoholic) Trustee and chair of the General Service Board, spoke of her many talents and facets: not only was she the leader and organizer of Al-Anon, but she was also a writer, artist, poet, musician, highly sought-after speaker, lover of nature, homemaker, tireless hostess, and devoted wife. “She was a remarkable and great lady and we shall sorely miss her.”

October 7 in A.A. History

	In 1903, test pilot Charles Manly attempted to make the first-ever manned flight, in Professor Samuel Pierpont Langley’s heavier-than-air craft, which was launched by catapult. Although it had been largely designed and built by others, Manly contributed to the design and engineering. The craft lacked landing gear and had controls only for pitch and yaw, but none for roll [left]. It plunged into the Potomac River “like a handful of mortar,” according to one reporter. Langley claimed that the crash resulted from a wing clipping part of the catapult.

    Seven-and-a-half years earlier, on 6 May 1896, Langley had launched—also from a catapult—the 25-pound [~11 kg] Aerodrome Number Five [right], a model which made two flights, one of 1,005 meters [~3,300 feet] and another of 700 meters [~2,300 feet] at 40 kph [~25 mph] landing in the water, as planned. This was 10 times farther than any previous heavier-than-air flying machine, making it the world’s first successful flight of an unpiloted, engine-driven, heavier-than-air craft of substantial size. Six months later, on 11 November, his Number 6 model flew more than 1,500 meters [>5,000 feet].
    In 1898, based on the successes, Langley received two War Department grants to develop a piloted airplane, totaling $70,000 [~$2.7 million in 2025] from the Smithsonian Institution, of which he was secretary (top executive).
    Langley would make a second attempt in December, which also would end in failure. Newspapers would mock the unsuccessful flights, and some members of Congress would harshly criticize the project. Remarkably, Manly would survive both crashes.
    The Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, makes reference to these events in “We Agnostics” (p. 51) [below: newpaper articles about and photos of these flights, the leftmost image by Alexander Graham Bell].

In 1978, the Finnish Alcoholics Anonymous Convention, which celebrated the 30th anniversary of A.A. in Finland, opened with several delegates in attendance from the 5th World Service Meeting held in Finland in the days prior.

		In 2009, The Red Book [far left: cover; near left: p. 119], a red leather‐bound folio manuscript created by the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung [right, c. 1905–15] between 1915 and about 1930, was published, in both German and English. Although The Red Book isconsidered a central work in Jung’s œuvre, the estate of Jung, who died in 1961, would not permit its publication prior to 2000, when they began instead to make preparations for its release.

    The book recounts and comments on Jung’s psychological experiments conducted between 1913 and 1916, drawing from earlier manuscripts—seven private journals—journals—known collectively as the Black Books [right], which he first drafted in 1913–15 and 1917.

October 6 in A.A. History

	In 1937, Paul [left] and Hildreth S. wrote to Bill and Lois W. [right, mid-to late1930s] about their upcoming visit to Akron, Ohio, on October 10. The letter said, in part:

Dr. S—— just told me that we are to expect a visit from you over the week-end, and that two other couples, the P–―s and the R–―—s, are coming with you. Needless to say, we are looking forward to this visit with a great deal of anticipation and pleasure, as are all the folks with whom we spend so much time…
    We have made arrangements for a little dinner party at our house on Sunday. There may be a few of us who will be tied up in a little meeting for an hour or so. Then we are planning on having an evening session at T. Henry [Williams]’s house after that.
    We hope we are not laying out a program that would seem to be too strenuous for you, but we feel certain that you will be amply repaid for the inconvenience that such a trip may cause by the pleasure that you will afford us by your coming.

In 1941, a dinner honoring Dr. Bob Smith [left], attended by 900 guests, was held in Cleveland, Ohio.

In 1944, the first A.A. meeting in Maine took place at Chan R.’s house in Cape Elizabeth [right: U.S.S. Constitution passes Portland Head Lighthouse in Port Elizabeth on 23 July 1931], attended by Chan, Jim M., Clint W., and one other person. Chan had become sober in Florida A.A. before relocating to Cape Elizabeth. Clint had written to the New York A.A. office for help; they referred him to Chan. Meanwhile, Jim M. from Newport, Maine, had attempted a geographic cure by moving in with his sister in Brooklyn, New York, but his drinking only worsened. In desperation, he contacted Kings County Hospital in 1942, and they directed him to A.A. He attended meetings in New York City for two years before returning to Newport in 1944.

October 5 in A.A. History

In 1943, The Bangor (Maine) Daily News published an interview with Jack Alexander titled “Writer Whose Saturday Evening Post Article First Made ‘Alcoholics Anonymous’ Known Tells Daily News of Early Skepticism” [right]. Here is an excerpt from the interview:

    “Four AA’s called to see me one afternoon,” he said. “They were well dressed and seemed affluent—apparently men of affairs. And as they sat drinking Coca-Cola, which was all they seemed to want, they talked smoothly of their own experiences.
    “Was I convinced? Far from it. My skepticism only grew. I remember thinking: ‘They could be Broadway actors from some casting bureau.’
    “I had talks with a man I will call Bill—a disarming guy, who, as I once wrote, knew the folklore of alcoholism. And, with him, I attended two meetings of an AA group in downtown New York—West 22nd Street, I believe. Here, anyway, were men it was easy to recognize as genuine alcoholics. And I learned that once a week they were bringing from a certain asylum for the insane some supposedly helpless inmates—sufferers from ‘wet brain’—and working on them. I learned, too, from asylum officials, that some were being cured.
    “Well, I was impressed—quite deeply impressed—but the skepticism remained. I didn’t want the Post victimized, intentionally or through a mistaken crusading spirit. And yet, and yet—
    “Was I being unjust? Was I trying to shut my eyes to something and big and vital and needed by suffering humanity? I decided to investigate in other cities.
    “I first drove to Philadelphia, where two AAs took me to the psychopathic ward of the Philadelphia General Hospital. I saw how the AAs worked upon the alcoholic patients, some of them shaken from tremendous ‘binges.’ When they got out, I was told, they would be taken to a general meeting, and it would be the start of their cooperative cure.
    “Deeply interested by this time, I next went to Akron, where the movement had started. And it was in this Ohio city, I believe, that I at last became convinced. Here I paid hospital visits, attended meetings, heard testimonials. I began to see that it all fell into a general pattern, whatever the community.
    “Followed, then, a visit to Cleveland, where the movement was growing like a snowball rolling down hill; and to Chicago, where my conversion was complete. For here I met a man who had been assistant city editor of a daily paper at a time when I was supposed to be the star reporter. He was a city editor now and getting along well. Yes, he had been an alcoholic: and he told me how he had walked through the shadows. We talked the same language and it was a language that didn’t lie.
    “The climax for me came in St. Louis, which is my home town. Here, in A. A. group meetings, I met old friends—school chums, some of them, Even I hadn’t guessed they were alcoholics, What they told me was convincing: I was sold, if ever a man was sold.”

In 1988, Lois Burnham W. [left], 97, Bill’s widow, died peacefully at Northern Westchester Hospital in Mt. Kisco, New York, near Stepping Stones, her home in Bedford Hills. She made significant contributions to Alcoholics Anonymous and was a founder of Al-Anon Family Groups. Michael Alexander, former Class A trustee and chairman of the General Service Board of Alcoholics said, “Many A.A.s today feel their lives are owed to Lois as well as Bill, Dr. Bob and Anne S—–.”

Today in A.A. History—October 5–7

In 1972, the 2nd World Service Meeting (WSM) took place at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City. The theme was “Our Primary Purpose.” The meeting was attended by twenty-nine delegates from sixteen countries listed below, from across five continents, and included trustees and staff from the US/Canada General Service Office (GSO) and the A.A. Grapevine office:

Australia	Belgium	Canada	Columbia	Costa Rica
England	Finland	France	Germany	Guatemala
Holland	Ireland*	Mexico	New Zealand	Nicaragua*†
Norway	South Africa	Sweden	United States	England
*First-time attendees; struck-out = countries not returning; †represented Central America, including Costa Rica and Guatemala.

    Discussion topics included anonymity, the A.A. Grapevine, professional relations, publishing and literature policies, finance, and the service structures of the fifteen General Service Offices represented. For the first time, the delegates also addressed the internal organization and procedures of the WSM; their recommendations have been followed ever since, with certain amendments. However, the agenda items of greatest interest were likely the location and timing of the next World Service Meeting—if there was to be one—as well as financing and voting procedures.

In 1978, the 5th World Service Meeting (WSM) took place at the Hanasaari^* Hotel on Hanasaari Island [right], in Espoo, Finland, near Helsinki. The theme was “Recovery, Unity, Service—Worldwide.” The countries represented were:

Australia	Belgium	Brazil	Canada	Colombia
El Salvador	Finland	French Europe†	Guatemala	Honduras
Ireland	Mexico	New Zealand	Nicaragua	Norway
South Africa	Sweden	United Kingdom	United States	West Germany
†Delegates from Belgium and France represented all of French-speaking Europe.

    A proposal for an Asia-Oceania Service Meeting (AOSM) was introduced by Bob P. from New Zealand, who initially conceived the idea. This marked the beginning of discussions that ultimately led to the first AOSM meeting in Tokyo, Japan, in 1995.

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^*Hanaholmen in Swedish, literally meaning “rooster-hen.”

October 4 in A.A. History

	In 1943, John Henry Fitzhugh “Fitz” M. [left], 46, died of cancer. He would be buried [right: headstone] on the grounds of Christ Episcopal Church in Owensville, Maryland, where his father had been pastor. He had been one of Bill W.’s first two sponsees in New York City and, when he had died, he was eight years sober.

     Fitz had run away from school to join the Army in World War I, registering for the draft on 24 August 1918, but the Armistice was signed the day he arrived in Atlanta to enlist. He had registered for the draft for World War II on 16 February 1942, and reported for military service on 12 September 1942. Shortly thereafter, he had been diagnosed with cancer, dying less than a month later. When Fitz’s good friend Jimmy B. died in 1974, he was buried in the same cemetery, a few feet away.
    Fitz’s story, “Our Southern Friend,” appears in all four editions of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous.

October 3 in A.A. History

In 1945, Bill W. wrote a letter to the secretaries of more than 600 groups, announcing that the A.A. Grapevine had been adopted as the national periodical of Alcoholics Anonymous [right: announcement in the November 1945 issue of the A.A. Grapevine].

In 1973, M’Cready “James” H. [left], 82, died in Los Gatos, California. He had been a founder of Alcoholics Anonymous in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1940.
    He had worked as a teacher, a writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, editor of the South Bend (Indiana) Times, contributor to humor magazines, and author of many short stories and at least thirteen books: Huling’s Quest (1925), The Big Show (1927), Dear Senator (1928), The King of Spain’s Daughter (1930), Salesman from the Sidelines (1932), The Family Meal Ticket (1933), Solid Citizen (1933), The Right People (1949), The Prodigal Brother (1952), Saving Grace (1954), The Gates of Brass (1956), The Clouded Fountain (1959), and The Platinum Yoke (1963).

In 2021, the first episode of the A.A. Grapevine, Inc. podcast, The Half-Hour Variety Hour, was released [right: 1st podcast as it appeared on the A.A. Grapevine website]. 

    The hosts, long-time A.A. members Don and Sam, introduced themselves to the listeners. Their guest was Michael M. from New York, whose story “We Showed Them” had been featured in the October 2021 issue of the A.A. Grapevine. For the previous four years, they had anonymously produced their own bi-weekly podcast about sobriety in A.A., called The Boiled Owl Coffee Club AA Recovery Podcast, from what they referred to as “The Boiled Owl Coffee Club” [left: former home page of their podcast]. This was a virtual location, as Don was in North Carolina and Sam was in California.