June 13 in A.A. History

1935: Dr. Bob Smith’s blackout, which had begun the previous day in Atlantic City, New Jersey, continued. He may also have arrived at Akron, Ohio’s Union Depot [right: West of S. College St, South of W. Market St.] on this date.

1936: Dr. Frederick B., Bill W.’s first “prospect” and Chair of the Brooklyn College Building Committee, replied to Mr. Fletcher Cooper of the New York World Telegram regarding an information request for their New World Almanac. Dr. B.’s reply [left: cover letter] was a two-page description of the new college, detailing its history, organization, and the first five buildings, then under construction [near right: sketch of new campus (c. 1935); far right: library nearing completion (1936)]. The buildings—financed by a $5.5 million [~$132 million in 2026] loan and grant from the Federal Emergency Administration of the Public Works Administration—were being built to accommodate the college’s 10,000 students, 5,500 of whom attended the Day Session, and 4,500 the Evening Session.

1939: On their arrival at Hank and Kathleen P.s’, Bill and Lois W. [far left] found Hank [center left] in a very bad mood. Lois recorded in her diary that she and Kathleen [near left] had attended a meeting in Bert T.’s apartment on 72nd Street in New York City. She noted that Kathleen had “stayed in town to go to a broadcast with some of the gang and [would] ride back later with Morgan R. But it rained so hard that she and Jean and Tyler M. and Margaret spent the night in Bert’s apartment.” She added that they had “found Hank in a murderous mood because Kathleen had just phoned him [to say] that she was staying at Bert’s apartment.”

June in A.A. History—day unknown

1946:  The Oklahoma City Group of Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) held the first meeting in its new brick building, the Kelley Club, located at 2300 N. Kelly Ave. [right: 2011]. The group, which had grown to 200 members since its founding in September 1941, built the facility for themselves. It featured a 400-seat auditorium, a dining room, a kitchen, and various amenities. The land had been donated by a resident whose son A.A. had helped.

1946: Twenty-three existing groups in the New York City metropolitan area united to form the New York Inter-Group [left: logo]. This new organization replaced the New York City Central Committee, which had operated out of the A.A. Clubhouse at 334½ W. 24th St. The founding groups represented the following counties: Bronx, New York (Manhattan), Richmond (Staten Island), Kings (Brooklyn), Suffolk (western Long Island), and Westchester (encompassing the cities of Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, Peekskill, Rye, White Plains, and Yonkers).

1946:The A.A. Grapevine published an announcement [right] regarding The March of Time documentary film “Problem Drinkers.”

    Release date for The March of Time documentary film on alcoholism has been announced as June 14.
    The picture includes scenes taken at the A.A. Central Office in Manhattan; the NCEA (Nat’l Committee for Education on Alcoholism); New York’s Knickerbocker Hospital; the Yale School for Alcohol Studies; and at the clubrooms of one A.A. group--chosen by The March of Time people because it seemed typical.
    A.A.s anonymity has been respected throughout. No A.A.s face is shown in the film. The faces distinguishable in the shots taken at the Central Office are those of non-alcoholics. And those seen at the group’s clubrooms are actors’.
    The one exception is Marty M., who emerged from her anonymity when called upon to become executive director of NCEA.

June 12 in A.A. History

1931: Rowland Hazard [right] departed on a three-month family trip to Europe. According to the Hazard Family Papers in the Manuscripts Division of the Rhode Island Historical Society, he was in France on July 9, Italy on July 20, and apparently left for England on August 13. There is no evidence to suggest that Hazard visited Switzerland during this trip, making it highly unlikely that he saw Dr. Carl Jung, despite suggestions to the contrary.

1935: Dr. Bob S., who had checked out of his Atlantic City, New Jersey hotel the previous night, entered a drunken blackout that would likely last two or three days.

1941: Ruth Hock [far left] wrote to Henry S., a printer and member of A.A. in Washington, D.C., to inquire about the cost of printing the Serenity Prayer as a wallet card. She had received a clipping [right] of the prayer from Jack C. [near left, c. 1938], a newspaperman and A.A. member. Jack had found the prayer in the “In Memoriam”  section of the 28 May 1941 edition of the New York Herald Tribune. The prayer read:

    Mother—God grant me the serenity to accept things I cannot change, courage to change things I can, and wisdom to know the difference. Goodby.

    Ruth initially wanted to keep the clipping to include copies in outgoing mail. However, Horace C. had suggested printing the prayer as a card and paid for the initial printing. In response to Ruth’s request, Henry S. printed 500 cards [right: a vintage, undated such card] at his own expense and sent them to her, offering to provide more at no cost.

June in A.A. History—day unknown

1945: Nancy Flynn, the author of “The Independent Blonde” in the second edition of Alcoholics Anonymous, got sober in New York City at 39. Her mother had died when she was three, and her father remarried when she was fourteen. Soon after, her stepmother kicked her out.

    When you’re thrown out, you don’t feel like you’re anything. You know something’s got to be wrong with you or they wouldn’t have thrown you out. And they tell me that, psychologically, I felt abandoned by my mother.

    She had attempted several “geographic” cures, but none were effective. Fearing job loss, she preemptively quit multiple jobs rather than waiting to be fired. Her introduction to A.A. began at the New York City clubhouse on 9th Avenue and 41st Street. Expecting to find a group of down-and-out bums, she dressed casually to avoid appearing superior. To her surprise, she encountered people who resembled “Park Avenue types.” She was particularly impressed to meet a countess (Felicia Gizycka, author of “Stars Don’t Fall” in the 2nd and 3rd editions of Alcoholics Anonymous). Nancy noted that during that period, everyone in A.A. knew each other because they all frequented the same clubhouse. She later remarked,

    And I was so welcome. It was the first time I felt welcome.

    When Nancy first arrived, she was an atheist and wanted nothing to do with the topic of God. However, she eventually began to explore her beliefs, became a Quaker, and took on the role of teaching English to migrant workers. Once sober, she attended high school in her 50s and went to college in her 70s. There, she studied for nine and a half years, graduating cum laude with a degree in behavioral science. Nancy owned a small beauty shop where she often gave permanents to members of Alcoholics Anonymous, regardless of their ability to pay.
    Nancy and another young woman, possibly Marty Mann, were frequently invited to visit hospitals and “drying-out” facilities that catered to the wealthy, as they were both young and “presentable.” (Later, when Marty was involved with the National Council on Alcoholism, she wanted to hire Nancy as a speaker, but Nancy declined.) During these visits, they would wear little black dresses, pearls, and charming hats adorned with flowers. On one occasion, they went to the apartment of a famous actress, who captivated them with such wonderful stories that they completely forgot the purpose of their visit. Years later, Nancy reflected on this experience.

    We didn’t have the nerve to tell her that she was a drunk. Later she did get sober.

Initially, she disliked working with families.

    I was mad at the families. I wouldn’t talk to anybody but the alcoholic. I was so eager to give what I had, I went right from the First Step to the last Step. For me it was just wonderful. I got in with people and I cared for somebody. You see, I had never cared for anybody, not even myself. When you care for somebody, you begin to heal yourself. You don’t even know it.

    She frequently sought Dr. Silkworth’s advice.

    If we were in trouble, we’d go to Dr. Silkworth. If we were in a situation and we didn’t know how to get out of it or were afraid we might get drunk, we could talk it over with him. He was a very simple, wonderful man. He said to me once, “The day that you can sit down and just be honest with yourself in this situation, you will know what to do.” That was the kind of a man he was.

    Every day, Nancy visited the clubhouse from its 11:00 AM opening until it closed at night; it was the only place where she felt safe. For the first five years, she did nothing but attend A.A. meetings because she didn’t know what else to do. For the next fifteen years, she also participated in a women’s meeting, founded by Marty Mann, held on 58th Street in midtown Manhattan, in the home of a woman whose husband was an alcoholic.

June 11 in A.A. History

1935: On the first day of the annual American Medical Association Convention in Convention Hall [left, on its opening day in 1929], aka Convention Center or Boardwalk Hall, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Dr. Bob S. started drinking in the morning. He likely checked out of his hotel later that day, beginning a binge that could well have lasted for three days.

1938: After what he described as “a very good week” selling car polish in New England, Jim B. [right] was taken out to lunch by two of his customers. He had been sober for just over five months, so when they each ordered a round of beers, he refrained from drinking, leaving both glasses untouched. In his story, “The Vicious Cycle” (in the second, third and fourth editions of Alcoholics Anonymous), he says:

    Then it was my turn—I ordered, “Three beers,” but this time it was different; I had a cash investment of thirty cents [~$6.80 in 2025], and, on a ten-dollar-a-week salary [~$227 in 2025], that’s big thing. So I drank all three beers, one after the other, and said, “I’ll be seeing you, boys,” and went around the corner for a bottle. I never saw either of them again.

    The story of “Ed” on pages 143-45 of Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions is Bill W.’s inaccurate recounting of this part of Jim’s story.

1947: Works Publishing, Inc. published the 11th printing of the first edition of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous [left: copyright page]. In this printing, the term ex-alcoholic was replaced throughout with either ex-problem drinker or non-drinker.

1969: Bonna Lee G. [near right], the 23-year-old granddaughter of Anne and Dr. Bob S., shot and killed her six-year-old daughter, Sandy [far right]—Dr. Bob’s great-granddaughter—before killing herself. Bonna was the daughter of Sue S. G. W. and Ernie G. (A.A. #4), whose story, “The Seven Month Slip,” appears in the first edition of Alcoholics Anonymous. Sue and Ernie had divorced four years prior, and Sue believed Bonna was an alcoholic and abused diet pills.

1971: Ernest “Ernie” G. [left], referred to in the Big Book (p. 159) as “the devil-may-care chap,” died at 66. Sue wrote, “Ernie never got over [Bonna’s death], and he died two years later to the day…”

2016: The Anchorage Dry Dock Club [right], officially incorporated as The Dry Dock of Anchorage, Inc., was established in March 1982 by Alcoholics Anonymous members in Alaska. Its original purpose was “to create a permanent meeting place for meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous available to recovering alcoholics in the South Anchorage area.” Today,

    … the Anchorage Dry Dock operates a social club where recovering alcoholics and addict [sic], their families and friends can spend leisure hours in an alcohol and drug free environment. The Anchorage Dry Dock provides space where groups of Alcoholic Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, Al-Anon, Pills Anonymous or any other recovery group can hold meetings.

June in A.A. History—day unknown

1945: The A.A. Grapevine announced that Bill W. would serve as a senior editorial advisor and, presumably, continue to contribute articles.

June 10 in A.A. History

1935: This generally accepted date for Dr. Bob S.’s last drink marks the official founding of Alcoholics Anonymous [right: co-founders Bill W. and Dr. Bob S. with circle and triangle]. Most historians, however, believe the founders incorrectly reconstructed the 
date, and that Dr. Bob’s last drink actually occurred on June 17.
    On June 10, Dr. Bob actually spent most of the day traveling to the annual American Medical Association Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He began drinking on the train that morning and likely checked into his hotel later that day [left: Chalfont-Haddon Hall, a possible good choice for Dr. Bob with modestly priced rooms, at ~$2–3 a night (~$49–73 in 2026)].
    As to the historicity of Dr. Bob’s dry date, for example, William “Barefoot Bill” L. [left] confirmed through the American Medical Association (AMA) Archives in Chicago, Illinois, that the 1935 AMA Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey, was held from Monday to Friday, on 10–14 June 1935.

      Another historian who investigated this is Arthur S. [right], who in his Narrative Timeline of A.A. History, says,

ACOA [Alcoholics Anonymous Comes Of Age on p.] 147, DBGO [Doctor Bob and the Good Oldtimers on p.] 72 and PIO [Pass It On on p.] 147 all erroneously state that the AMA meeting began the first week of June 1935. The AMA Archives has confirmed that it began in the second week on Monday June 10 [1935]. Allowing for 3-plus days of binging and blacking out in NJ [New Jersey] followed by three days of sobering up in Akron, Dr Bob’s sober date appears to be June 17 not June 10.
There are clues in AA literature for a reasonable deduction.…

Estimate of timeline based on the preceding [list of clues]:

June	Dr Bob
09 Sunday	Started drinking on the train on the way to Atlantic City, NJ. Bought several quarts and checked into an Atlantic City hotel
10 Monday	Stayed sober until after dinner
11 Tuesday	Started drinking in the morning - later checked out of the hotel.
12 Wednesday	In a blackout (likely greater than 24 hours)
13 Thursday	Blackout continues (may have arrived at Akron train station)
14 Friday	Picked up by his nurse in the morning at the train station. Then picked up by Bill W at the nurse’s house (5 days after leaving). Day 1 of a 3-day drying out period with Bill
15 Saturday	Day 2 of a 3-day drying out period with Bill
16 Sunday	Day 3 of a 3-day drying out period with Bill
17 Monday	Day of the surgery - Bill gives Bob a beer and a goofball

    An alternative theory speculates that Dr. Bob attended specialty meetings (e.g., for proctologists) before the convention, during which he started drinking. This would have prevented him from attending the main event and led him to go home early. 

June 9 in A.A. History

1886: John Mark Whalon [right: listening to phonograph records, late 1942], commonly known by his middle name, was born. He would become one of Bill W.’s closest and longest-lasting friends. Mark was featured in a 1943 Life magazine photo essay titled “Life Rides the Route of a Rural Mailman in Vermont” [for which this photograph was taken].

1924: Bill W.’s maternal grandfather, Gardner Fayette Griffith, died in Dorset, Vermont, from valvular heart disease complicated by rheumatism. He and his wife, Ella A. Brock, had begun raising Bill and his younger sister, Dorothy, when Bill was about ten years old. Gardner was buried in the East Dorset Cemetery [left: death record, gravestone].

1935: A month after meeting Bill W. and immediately sobering up, Dr. Bob S. set off on his yearly trip to the American Medical Association Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Bill supported his attending, but his wife, Anne, harbored serious doubts about the trip. True to her fears, Bob began drinking on the train and bought several quarts of liquor before checking into his hotel.

---

As a contract surgeon for the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad, Dr. Bob held an employee pass that granted him free travel, not only on the B&O but likely on other lines as well. His probable itinerary was:

• Akron, Ohio, to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on the B&O (3–4 hours)
• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) (6–7 hours) [near right: B&O system map, 1935]
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Atlantic City, New Jersey, on the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines (P-RSL) (1½–2 hours) [far right: PRR system map, 1935]

    With typical connection waiting times of 30–90 minutes in Pittsburgh and 30–60 minutes in Philadelphia, the entire journey would have taken 11½ to 15½ hours.

Today in A.A. History—June 9–10

1945: Alcoholics Anonymous in Cleveland, Ohio, celebrated its 10th anniversary by hosting a two-day “Big Meeting” at the Cleveland Music Hall and the Carter Hotel^* [left], located at 1012 Prospect Avenue. Approximately 2,500 attendees participated, representing 36 states, two Canadian provinces, and (one from) Mexico.
    Bill W. reflected on his relationship with Dr. Bob S., stating, “Although we have had many differences, we have never had an angry word.” Dr. Bob shared that he had averaged at least an hour of reading each day for the past 10 years, consistently returning to the fundamental teachings found in the Sermon on the Mount, the Book of James, and the 13th chapter of I Corinthians in the Bible.

---

^*At the time, the chef of the hotel’s swanky Rainbow Room was Ettore “Hector” Boiardi—better known today as Chef Boyardee.

Today in A.A. History—June 9–11

1978: The 21st International Conference of Young People in Alcoholics Anonymous (ICYPAA) was held at the Downtown Marriott in Atlanta, Georgia. Its theme was “Love Will Keep Us Together” [right: registration form, program cover].

June in A.A. History—day unknown

1944: Bernard B. Smith [far left] joined the Alcoholic Foundation Board as a Class A (non-alcoholic) Trustee, replacing Margaret “Daisy” Farrand [near left].

June 8 in A.A. History

1923: In its “University and Educational Notes,” Science magazine indirectly announced [left] that U.S. Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover [near right, 1922 ±1] had made “the appointment of Professor Frederick E. B―― [far right, 1923] as chemical trade commissioner to Germany.”

Today in A.A. History—June 8–9

1991: El X Congreso Zonal de Alcohólicos Anónimos [izquierda] se celebró en la ciudad colombiana de San José de Cúcuta. (The 10th Zonal Congress of Alcoholics Anonymous [left] was held in the Colombian city of San José de Cúcuta.)

June in A.A. History—day unknown

1941: [Very early, the 1st?] After a six-week freighter cruise to South America, Lois W. returned to Stepping Stones [right: 1957] in Bedford Hills, New York. She and Bill had moved into the house just days before her departure, and upon her return, Lois discovered Bill had suffered significantly during her absence. “He had tried to create order out of chaos,” said Lois. “The fireplace was the only source of heat in the house, and a bad cold had settled in his chest.” In her memoir, Lois Remembers, Lois recounted the story:

    His cough was getting worse and worse, so he went to the drugstore for medicine [left: Cheracol With Codeine, a typical cough medicine of this era, 3% alcohol (very prominently labeled)]. Like many alcoholics he figured that if the recommended dose was helpful, two or even three times that amount would do more good, so he sipped and sipped from the medicine bottle. When it was about half empty, ideas popped into his head. “Lois is away. I’m alone. Very few people know where I am. Whiskey is what I need to stave off this cold. It would cure me in no time, and no one would know the difference.”
    Quickly he recognized the crazy thinking. He hadn’t thought this way for years and then only twice, not long after he stopped drinking. What had caused this distorted notion? He read the label on the medicine bottle and found there was a high percentage of alcohol in the cough mixture. That was it. Even the small amount of alcohol his system had absorbed was enough to change his thinking. This was a great lesson to us all.

1941: The Minneapolis Group of Alcoholics Anonymous—the first in Minnesota—relocated to larger quarters at 200 E. Franklin Ave. [right, Oct 2008] just two months after its establishment.

1942: Irwin “Irv” M. [left, 1940s–50s] reported there were three sober A.A. members in New Orleans, Louisiana: Albert B., Bruce L., and Alec J.

1942: The first Alcoholics Anonymous group in Parkersburg, West Virginia [right, Feb 1940], began with two members and one prospect.

June 7 in A.A. History

1925: On his way to Mass, 69-year-old Matt Talbot [left: restored photo] collapsed and died of heart failure on Granby Lane in Dublin, Ireland. A manual laborer who spent most of his life alone, Talbot might have gone unnoticed had it not been for the cords and chains found on his body after his death. He was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery [lower left] in Dublin on June 11. In 1972, his remains were moved to a tomb at Our Lady of Lourdes Church on Seán McDermott Street, Dublin [right: “Irish Tribunal Exhumes Body of Matt Talbot,” The Catholic Times, Columbus, Ohio, 11 Jul 1952, p. 3] . Although not formally recognized as a saint, he has been declared Venerable and is considered a patron of those struggling with alcoholism.
    While not directly associated with the history of Alcoholics Anonymous, Talbot’s story is significant and his name is familiar to many A.A. members. By the age of 28, he was considered a hopeless alcoholic, but “took the pledge” (renounced alcohol) and remained sober for the last 40 years of his life.

1933: James Hodges “Jim” R. got sober, more than 18 months before Bill W. Like Bill, he would stay sober for the rest of his life. Jim’s battle with binge drinking led him to The Keswick Colony of Mercy [left, 1920], a religious recovery mission in Whiting, New Jersey, where he would remain for 10+ months before returning home to Baltimore, Maryland. In 1940, he and Jim Burwell started Alcoholics Anonymous in Baltimore. However, when he first learned about and became involved with A.A. remains unclear.

1997: The Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal published the article “AA Meeting a Piece of History” [left], which discusses the upcoming Founders’ Day celebration.

June in A.A. History—day unknown

1938: [Late] Marty M. [right: at Blythewood, 4 July 1938] arrived at Blythewood Sanitarium in Greenwich, Connecticut, as a charity patient after spending several months at Bellevue Hospital in New York City. She walked in sober and described the difference between the two facilities as “like going from hell to heaven.” Carrying a suitcase of second-hand clothes, she brought with her all her worldly possessions. Marty herself reported

    Worst of all, I had lost my self-respect, confidence, courage and humanity They were far more important losses than material goods. Material possessions could be regained relatively easily, but emotional and spiritual losses take time and hard work.

1940: Stock certificates were issued to the 44 individuals who purchased shares in Works Publishing before May 1940. In April 1942, all of these certificates were sold back and returned to the Alcoholic Foundation [left: one of only two known to be in private hands, dated 20 June 1940].