January 28 in A.A. History

1947: At 10 o’clock in the morning, the switchboard operator at the Alcoholic Foundation office in New York City received a signal from the local transatlantic telephone operator.
    “Will someone there be available for a call from Nordholz, Germany, at 2:30 p. m. tomorrow?” she asked.
    “Yes, of course. Can you tell us the nature of the call?”
    “No, but I can say that the call is urgent,” the operator replied. [Stay tuned.…]

January 27 in A.A. History

1952: About 200 people attended the 2nd anniversary meeting of the Alco Anon club at the Knights of Columbus clubrooms, located at 152 Lincoln Way W. in Massillon, Ohio [left: p. 3 article from The Evening Independent of Massillon, 28 Jan 1952]. Many members of the clergy, medical professionals, civic leaders, and industry representatives were present. Out-of-town visitors traveled from Akron, Canton, Cleveland, Minerva, North Canton (all in Ohio), and Florida, as well as from various other areas around Massillon.
    Warren C. from the Cleveland Group of Alcoholics Anonymous was the main speaker. He spoke about the A.A. program and how it works, emphasizing the importance of sincerity in the desire to quit drinking and the necessity of acknowledging that life is unmanageable when one first joins A.A. He stated,

    Belief in a Power greater than ourselves is one of the basic principles of the A.A. program.… The help we receive is contingent on the help we are willing to give others. In order to keep our sobriety we must work the A.A. principles in all our affairs.

1953: Daniel Doherty “Dohr” S. [near right], 62, died in Indianapolis, Indiana [far right: gravestone]. He is regarded as the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous in that city.

1971: The District of Columbia’s The Washington Post published an obituary for Bill W. written by the owner’s son, Donald E. Gra­ham [left].

January 26 in A.A. History

1941: Michigan’s The Detroit Evening Times published a syndicated column [right] by Walter Winchell^* [left] that included a strange mix of truth and misinformation about A.A. [ellipses in original]:

    THERE IS A GROUP called “Alcoholics Anonymous” in New York, the moving spirit being a well-known transatlantic flier… The group’s aim is to “straighten out any fellow who will even admit he drinks too much”… They meet at an illustrators place and have big “rallies.” These “rallies” are attended sometimes by hundreds of lushes, many of whom have been in institutions for alcoholics, etc… They’ve succeeded where doctors and psychiatrists have failed, working on the theory that only a drunk knows how to talk to a drunk.

---

^*Winchell (born Winchel, 1897–1972) was a U.S. gossip columnist and radio news commentator who held considerable influence in the United States during the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s. His opinionated, often inconsistent reporting garnered both admirers and detractors. Biographer Neal Gabler noted that Winchell’s popularity and influence “turned journalism into a form of entertainment.” In 1936, Winchell hired Herman Klurfeld as a ghostwriter. Klurfeld wrote four newspaper columns per week for Winchell that year and continued working for him for 29 years.

1971: The New York Times—on page 1 [below left]—and The Evening Star of Washington, D.C. [below right], both published obituaries for Bill W., who had died two days earlier.

January 25 in A.A. History

1915: After 17 years of courtship, Dr. Bob S. and Anne Ripley married [right: wedding invitation; left: Anne in her wedding dress] at Anne’s mother’s 
home in Chicago, Illinois.
    The reason for the long delay is unclear. During those years, Dr. Bob focused on his education, completing an internship and working, while Anne taught school in Oak Park, Illinois. She may have hesitated to marry a drunk, waiting until he showed signs of sobriety. Throughout those 17 years, they met and corresponded regularly.
    After their wedding, they would settle at 855 Ardmore Ave. in Akron, Ohio. The first three years of their marriage would be free from the grief that would later ensue.

1971: The U.S./Canada General Service Office (GSO) in New York City announced the death of Bill W., the remaining co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, in Miami, Florida, the previous day.
    Bob H., General Manager of GSO, sent telegrams to central offices [left: p. 1 of telegram to Vancouver (British Columbia) Central Office] and Dr. Jack Norris, Chairman of the General Service Board, wrote a letter [right: Spanish version] addressed to “Dear friends” [“Queraos amigos”].

January 24 in A.A. History

1918: Bill W. and Lois Burnham [right: in their wedding attire, 1918] were married.
    At the time, Bill was stationed at Ft. Adams near Newport, Rhode Island. Spurred by rumors that Bill’s unit might soon be deployed overseas, they moved their wedding date up from the originally scheduled February 1. The ceremony took place at the Swedenborgian Church of the New Jerusalem in Brooklyn, New York, officiated by Rev. Julian Smyth [left].
    Rogers Burnham [right], Lois’s brother and Bill’s childhood friend, served as best man. Lois’s sister, Katherine “Kitty” [left], along with four friends from Packer Institute, were bridesmaids. Her childhood friend, Elise Valentine Shaw, was matron of honor, while her sister Barbara served as maid of honor. Unfortunately, Bill’s mother, Emily Griffith Wilson, had the flu and was unable to come from Boston, Massachusetts; his sister Dorothy stayed behind to care for her. Also absent, likely due to the sudden change in date, were Fayette and Ella Griffith, Emily’s parents, who had raised Bill and Dorothy in East Dorset, Vermont, since Bill was about ten years old.
    As one of Bill’s biographers noted,
    But nothing, not even a lack of family on the groom’s side, could dim the quiet glow of the occasion, a young lanky soldier beside his bride—and no one who was at the church or at the reception on Clinton Street was apt to forget them.

1945: The first documented Black Alcoholics Anonymous group was established in St. Louis, Missouri, with five members in attendance. Proud of their achievement, they named themselves the “AA-1 Group.” They elected Torrence S. as their secretary.
    However, they avoided publicity, meeting only in private residences, not in any public venue. They wrote to Margaret “Bobbie” B. [right], National Secretary of the Alcoholic Foundation in New York City, that “to retain [sic] publicity about our group as it might cause controversial debates about racial issues within AA.” The existence of this Black A.A. group remained almost totally secret. Eventually, Father Ed Dowling [left], spiritual advisor. a significant figure in St. Louis A.A., and a long-time friend to the Black community, may have played a crucial role in helping this group gain acceptance within the larger community.

1954: On Bill and Lois W.’s 38th wedding anniversary, Lois suffered a heart attack that severely limited her activities for a year.

1968: Bill and Lois W. celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary [right: Bill & Lois, 1960s].

1971: Bill W., 75, co-founder of A.A.. 36 years sober, died at the Miami Heart Institute in Miami Beach, Florida on his and Lois’ 53rd wedding anniversary. Bill was the architect and author of the Three Legacies of Alcoholics Anonymous: Recovery, Unity and Service. He wrote the documents that explained them. It was an amazing accomplishment, as he had no training as a writer, organizer, or administrator.

January 23 in A.A. History

1933: Dr. Bob and Anne S. first encountered the Oxford Groups when Frank Buchman visited Akron, Ohio [right: photo at Union Station, 11:00 AM, from the Akron Beacon Journal, 19 January 1933, “As Oxford Group Reaches Akron,” p. 1].
    After getting sober, Dr. Bob would write in his story, “Doctor Bob’s Nightmare” in the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, that

    … through high school I was more or less forced to go to church, Sunday School, and evening service, Monday night Christian Endeavor and sometimes to Wednesday evening prayer meeting. This had the effect of making me resolve that when I was free from parental domination, I would never again darken the doors of a church.

    Accordingly, Anne initially had to push her husband to attend Oxford Group meetings. However, he eventually became captivated by their message, as he would later describe in his story:

    … I was thrown in with a crowd of people who attracted me because of their seeming poise, health, and happiness. They spoke with great freedom from embarrassment, which I could never do, and they seemed very much at ease on all occasions and appeared very healthy. More than these attributes, they seemed to be happy. I was self-conscious and ill at ease most of the time, my health was at the breaking point, and I was thoroughly miserable. I sensed they had something I did not have, from which I might readily profit. I learned that it was something of a spiritual nature, which did not appeal to me very much, but I thought it could do no harm.

1961: Bill W. [far left] sent Dr. Carl Jung [near left] a letter of appreciation for his contributions to A.A., which Bill felt were long overdue. After introducing himself, Bill wrote:

    … I doubt if you are aware that a certain conversation you once had with one of your patients, a Mr. Roland [sic] Hazard, back in the early 1930’s, did play a critical role in the founding of our Fellowship.
    … Our remembrance of Roland Hazard’s statements about his experience with you is as follows:

    Bill then shared what he knew about Rowland Hazard [left], who had visited Jung and found sobriety through the Oxford Group. Rowland’s message had reached Bill at the lowest point of his alcoholism through Ebby T. [right]. This had been followed by Bill’s spiritual experience at Towns Hospital, his founding of A.A., and the spiritual experiences of many thousands of A.A. members since. Bill continued:

    This concept proved to be the foundation of such success as Alcoholics Anonymous has since achieved. This has made conversion experience… available on an almost wholesale basis.

    Bill concluded his letter graciously:

    As you will now clearly see, this astonishing chain of events actually started long ago in your consulting room, and it was directly founded upon your own humility and deep perception.
    Very many thoughtful A.A.’s are students of your writings. Because of your conviction that man is something more than intellect, emotion, and two dollars’ worth of chemicals, you have especially endeared yourself to us.…
    Please be certain that your place in the affection, and in the history, of our Fellowship is like no other’s.

January 22 in A.A. History

1935: Sam Shoemaker [left, 1940] wrote to Bill W. [right], saying, in part:
    I hope you realize the guided-ness of your having known Jim Williams previously, as I understood you did, in business. His wife, Margaret, is full time [sic] in the [Oxford] group and he has held out for a long while. You may be just the person that cracks the shell and brings him over. He drinks a lot and is desperately unhappy and inferior and needs what you have got for him. I am grateful for what you did for [Dr. Frederick E. “Fred”] B――[, Sr.].
    Dr. B. [left] was a prominent chemist who had recently served as president of the American Institute of Chemists and chair of the chemistry department at Brooklyn College. He had become Bill’s first serious prospect on Christmas Eve, just six days after Bill was discharged from Towns Hospital.

1942: Bill and Lois W. [right: in front of Stepping Stones, c. 1941] returned home from a successful cross-continental trip, which included stops in all the major cities where Alcoholics Anonymous was active. However, shortly after their return, Bill fell into a suicidal depression that would last until 1955.

January 21 in A.A. History

1942: Island Press published Drunks are Square Pegs [left] by Charles C., Jr. [right, 1938]. Charles was from Bedford Hills, New York, and had been an Oxford Grouper. He had worked with Rev. Sam Shoemaker but struggled to stay sober. In October 1935, Charles sought and received help from A.A. founder Bill W., and was then able to get and stay sober. His book The Big Bender (also published in 1938) tells this story. Additionally, he wrote Drinking’s Not the Problem, published in 1949, which was reviewed in the December 1949 issue of the A.A. Grapevine.

January 20 in A.A. History

1841:Gardner Griffith, Bill Wilson’s maternal grandfather, was born in Dorset, Vermont. He and his wife, Ella Brock Griffith, would raise Bill from the age of about 10 [right: the Griffiths].

1933: Members of the Oxford Group were welcomed at the Mayflower Hotel by prominent citizens of Akron, Ohio. The next evening, the Akron Beacon Journal reported [left]:

    A formal dinner for 130 preceded the regular meeting and the photographer snapped F. A. Seiberling, president of Seiberling Tire & Rubber Co., and Miss Olivia Jones, member of the group and former president of the National Education association [sic], as they walked from the private dining hall. 
    The Oxford movement has been called “religion in every day clothes” and the camera caught three of the group in full evening dress, as they prepared to enter the meeting hall. Mrs. Ruth Buchanan, the fox-hunting member from Virginia is talking to Sir Walter Windham, English business man, while Frau von Cramon, German schoolmistress is adding her comments in a pleasant German accent.

1937: The State of Delaware issued Articles of Incorporation to Henry G. P――, Inc. [right: 21 Jan 1937 notice of incorporation in the Wilmington Morning News and Journal-Every Evening, both based in Wilmington, Delaware].

January 19 in A.A. History

1939: The first published reference to Alcoholics Anonymous anywhere appeared in The Hackettstown (New Jersey) Courier-Post in an article titled “There Is Hope” [left]. Written by noted journalist, book editor, and author Silas B. [near right] the article recounts the story of Hank P. [far right] without naming him or anyone else, nor did it provide information on how to contact A.A. Silas was likely the third member of A.A. in New York City, but would experience a “spectacular slip” within a year.

1940: Dorothy S. [left] of Cleveland, Ohio, wrote to Ruth Hock, the National Secretary of the Alcoholic Foundation in New York City, describing Larry J. [right] as a brilliant newspaperman who, at 40, was down and out “owing to John Barleycorn.” She requested assistance from the Foundation office to help Larry start a group in Houston, Texas, which they provided.
    Larry’s story had begun in Cleveland in late 1939. Weighing just 100 lbs [45 kg], he was found in freezing weather without a coat, suffering from a collapsed lung due to tuberculosis, and near death in terrible physical condition. In a Cleveland hospital, he had been slowly recovering from delirium tremens, malnutrition, and exposure. Local A.A. members, including Clarence S. [left], Dorothy’s husband, had visited and cared for him regularly. Due to his health issues, Larry had been advised to move to a warmer climate. Without ever having attended an A.A. meeting, he boarded a train for Houston, Texas with only a copy of Alcoholics Anonymous. As he read it on the train, he had a spiritual awakening and went on to found A.A. in Texas.

1944: Bill W. returned home with Lois to Stepping Stones after his first major A.A. tour, which had begun on 24 October 1943.

1999: Francis “Frank” M., G.S.O. Archivist since 1982, died in Vero Beach, Florida, just eight days shy of his 65th birthday [right: gravestone]. Frank, who had been sober since 10 June 1970, was widely recognized as a dedicated A.A. member and historian. He served 21 years at the General Service Office, initially as an administrative assistant and, until his retirement in 1998, as the G.S.O. Archivist. Frank often referred to himself as “the Happy Archivist.” In his many talks about the G.S.O. Archives, he emphasized that the primary purpose of having archives is so “we don't forget where we’ve come from.”

2015: Dr. Ernest “Ernie” K. [left], 79, the author of Not-God: A History of Alcoholics Anonymous, died of from pancreatic cancer at his home in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

January 18 in A.A. History

1939: The Alcoholic Foundation Board of Trustees met and unanimously agreed to add two new trustees: one Class A (non-alcoholic) and one Class B (alcoholic). They then unanimously elected Dr. Leonard V. Strong (Bill W.’s brother-in-law) [left] and Harry B. [right] (whose story, “A Different Slant,” appeared in the first edition of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous), to fill these positions. Dr. Strong would serve on the board until October 1954 as secretary, after which he became a trustee emeritus, until July 1960. Harry was elected as the second chairman of the board, following William “Bill” R. However, he would soon return to drinking and would be replaced in December 1939, having served lessthan a year. For the next 85 years, until 2024, the chairperson of the board was always a Class A trustee. The trustees appointed their own successors and were, as Bill W. stated, “chartered to do everything under the sun.”
    Bill W. [left, 1937] provided a lengthy report on the book, tentatively titled 100 Men. The minutes note that “the Alcoholic Foundation does not have any legal connection whatsoever with the organization or operation of this to-be-formed publishing company”; however, they agreed to accept “a contribution of 35¢ per volume [~$8.16 in 2026] sold if and when the book is published and put on sale” (emphasis added).  Nevertheless, “the sentiment [of the board] to render all such possible assistance [as individuals] was unanimous,” and at least three of the Class A trustees purchased stock in that to-be-formed company, i.e. Works Publishing, Inc., within days.

1948: United Press’s “Wire Briefs” [right] on page 2 of The Sunday Morning Star of Wilmington, Delaware, reported on what they referred to as A.A.’s “first international conference”:

DETROIT—The first international conference of members of Alcoholics Anonymous opened here last night in perhaps the driest convention on record. Some 3,000 delegates from throughout the midwest and two Canadian provinces toasted their first meeting with a soft drink punch in an unannounced part of the city.

1950: The Fort Payne (Alabama) Journal published a brief unsigned article [left], offering two glimpses “inside” Alcoholics Anonymous from the perspectives of its members in different locations. The first was a talk described as “very fine and impressive,” while the second was termed “a soul stirring [sic] address along the lines of what Alcoholics Anonymous has meant to him and what it can mean to others.” Regarding A.A. itself, the article stated, “We have nothing but praise,” calling it “a great organization doing a great work. And we believe it to be an inspired one.”
 

1954: Henry “Hank” P. [right], 58, died at Mercer Hospital in Trenton, New Jersey, after a long illness at Glenwood Sanitarium. Lois Wilson said that the cause was alcoholism. 
    Hank’s story in the first edition of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, was “The Unbeliever.” Ruth Hock wrote, “If it weren’t for Bill W., the Big Book would never have been written. If it weren’t for Hank P., the Big Book would never have been published.” Hank is credited in several sources with writing Chapter 10, “To Employers,” in the Big Book. He also added a key portion of Bill’s story—the first four full paragraphs on p. 12—as a handwritten edit to the multilith manuscript master copy.