October 5 in A.A. History

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 remarked, “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 5–6

1943: [November?] The Bangor Daily News (Maine) 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; the speaker is Mr Alexander:

“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 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 [sic]; 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.”

Today in A.A. History—October 5–7

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 the fifteen countries listed below (counting Canada and the U.S. separately), spanning five continents, and included trustees and staff from the U.S./Canada General Service Office (GSO) and the A.A. Grapevine, Inc. office:

Australia	Belgium	Colombia	England	Finland
France	Germany	Ireland*	Mexico	New Zealand
Nicaragua*†	Norway	South Africa	Sweden*	U.S./Canada

---

^*First-time attendees

^†Representing Central America, in place of Costa Rica and Guatemala, who did so at the 1st WSM.

Holland had been represented at the 1st WSM in 1969, but sent no one to the 2nd.

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 WSM—if there was to be one—as well as financing and voting procedures.

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
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 first conceived the idea. This marked the beginning of discussions that ultimately led to the first AOSM meeting in Tokyo, Japan, in 1995.

---

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

October 4 in A.A. History

1943: John Henry Fitzhugh “Fitz” M. [right], 46, died of cancer. He was one of Bill W.’s first two sponsees in New York City and died eight years sober.

Fitz had run away from school to join the Army during World War I, registering for the draft on 24 August 1918. However, the Armistice was signed on the day he arrived in Atlanta to enlist. He registered again for the draft for World War II on 16 February 1942, and reported for military service on 12 September 1942. Shortly thereafter, he was diagnosed with cancer. He died less than a month later. Fitz was buried [left: headstone] on the grounds of Christ Episcopal Church in Owensville, Maryland, where his father had served as pastor. When his good friend Jimmy B. died in 1974, he was buried in the same cemetery, just a few feet away from Fitz.

Fitz’s story, “Our Southern Friend,” appears in all four editions of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous.

October in A.A. History—day unknown

1927: [September?] On their way home from Havana, Cuba, where Bill W. had gone to investigate the Cuban Sugar Co., he and his wife, his wife, Lois, stopped in Miami Beach, Florida, to see Bill’s father, Gilman W. [right], and his second wife, Christine Bock W. There, Bill met his half‑sister, Helen W. [left, 1931], who had been born in 1915, when he was nine days short of being 21 years old.

1935: [November?] John Henry Fitzhugh “Fitz” M. [top right], of Cumberland, Maryland, left Towns Hospital to become the second, third, or possibly even fourth A.A. member in New York City, following Bill W., Hank P., and perhaps Bill R.

Fitz’s story, “Our Southern Friend,” has appeared in all four editions of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous.

1938: The term “Alcoholics Anonymous” was first used, according to Bill W., whose recollection was notoriously poor, especially when it came to dates.

1938: [November?] Hank P. [right] created a 14-page prospectus [left: p. 14, subscription form] for a “One Hundred Men Corporation,” aimed at producing a book titled One Hundred Men, which would eventually be published as the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous. He then began selling shares. The prospectus said, in part:

It is an indisputable fact that over the past four years over one hundred true alcoholics have recovered, who from the standpoint of medicine and psychiatry, were considered hopeless. These men have dubbed themselves Alcoholics Anonymous.

Regarding the book, he said, “Ten chapters have now been written.”

October 3 in A.A. History

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: the announcement in the November 1945 Grapevine].

1973: M’Cready “James” H. [left, c. 1925], 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, an editor of the South Bend Times (Indiana), a contributor to humor magazines, and an 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).

2021: The first episode of the A.A. Grapevine, Inc. podcast, The Half-Hour Variety Hour, was released [right: the first podcast as it appeared on the A.A. Grapevine website]. The hosts, longtime Alcoholics Anonymous member Don and Sam, introduced themselves to 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, Don and Sam had anonymously produced their own biweekly podcast about sobriety in A.A., The Boiled Owl, from what they called “The Boiled Owl Coffee Club” [left: logo]. The club was a virtual location, as Don lived in North Carolina and Sam in California.

October in A.A. History—day unknown

1916: The Bureau of Municipal Research and Training School for Public Service published Part I of The Engineer in Public Service [right], by Dr. Frederick Ernest B. [left, 1919] A prefatory note calls it

an introductory review of the whole field of engineering as a career and a picture of the engineering service of the government of the United States.

Here are some excerpts from Dr. B.’s conclusions:

Taking it all in all, public service in engineering is a good stepping stone but a poor career.…

There is another thing which ought to be considered. President Wilson recently called attention to the fact that the dominating problems of our early history were of a legal nature. In consequence we find the lawyer omnipresent in government. But it is equally true, as the President also points out, that the governmental problems of the present are those which are calling more and more for men of other vocations. For the solution of these problems, the engineer is singularly well fitted.

A comparison of the governmental budgets of late years with those of some time ago will show that the newer functions of government call, more and more, for technically trained men. Water systems, the control of gas and electricity, sanitation, public health, street cleaning, bridges, canals, docks, ferries, the control of railroads, reclamation, the mobilization of natural and social forces, all these involve problems of an engineering nature.

In 2015, Nabu Press republished it [right], saying,

We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

October 2 in A.A. History

1944: The National Committee for Education on Alcoholism (NCEA), founded by Margaret “Marty” M. [right], opened a tiny office in the New York Academy of Medicine building [left, 1927] on E. 103rd Street in New York City. For the next four years, the office was staffed by Marty and a secretary. The first-year budget was $13,000 [~$247,000 in 2026]. In 1950, the NCEA was renamed the National Council on Alcoholism (NCA); in 1990, it became the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD); and in 2021, it was acquired by JBKM Ltd. and rebranded as “Recovered.”

1958: CBS-TV aired a live production of “Days of Wine and Roses” on Playhouse 90 (season 3, episode 3). It starred Cliff Robertson [far right] as Joe Clay; Piper Laurie [center right] as Joe’s wife, Kirsten Arnesen Clay; and Charles Bickford [near right] as Kirsten’s father, Ellis Arnesen. A.A. contributed to the making of both this production [left: scene from near the end of the Playhouse 90 production] and the later movie version. The story centers on Joe’s testimony at an A.A. meeting. It ends with Joe in recovery while Kirsten continues to drink, abandoning Joe and their daughter.

October in A.A. History—day unknown

1906: During a picnic, Bill Wilson and his sister Dorothy [left, 1905] were told by their mother, Emily [right, 1905], that their father had left for good. The news devastated Bill. The next day, Emily left for Boston, Massachusetts, to attend osteopathic medical school, leaving Bill and Dorothy in the care of her parents, Gardner Fayette and Ella Brock Griffith.

1913: After separating from the Emmanuel Movement, the Jacoby Club established its own clubhouse at 127 Newbury St. [left, recent] in Boston, Massachusetts, and incorporated. This anticipated move was reported in a small notice titled “Jacoby Club [right], Takes Larger Quarters,” on p. 11 of the Boston Post on 1 October. It read:

The Jacoby Club… took a step forward yesterday when it was announced that beginning today the club’s quarters will be at 127 Newbury Street, Boston, because of the increased growth of the club. The membership now has increased to 65.

The Jacoby Club’s motto was “A club for men to help themselves by helping others.” Membership was free; the sole requirement was “an expressed desire to lead an honorable life and a willingness to aid other men less fortunate.” The club provided social services to individuals struggling with alcoholism and to needy older men. Meetings, held each Saturday night, offered food, entertainment, and lectures on relevant topics.

October 1 in A.A. History

1941: Local news organizations reported the establishment of the first Alcoholics Anonymous group in New Haven, Connecticut, [right: aerial view, c. 1944], which had actually formed 6½ months earlier, on 15 March.

2022: William “Bill” G. B. [left: with Lois W. near the end of her life], 89, died at his home in Stratford, Connecticut. He had been sober since 8 April 1962, and was a close friend of Lois W., Bill W.’s wife, for the last 16 years of her life.

Bill began his career at the New York Journal-American newspaper and went on to work for several newspapers and magazines, as well as creating syndicated radio shows. In 1969, he founded Borchert-Barrett Associates, a public relations firm in New York City.

Three years later, he became a partner in Artists Entertainment Complex, an independent film and talent management company that produced films such as Kansas City Bomber (1972), Serpico (1973), and Dog Day Afternoon (1975).

In the community of Alcoholics Anonymous, Bill is best known as the screenwriter and author of the film My Name Is Bill W. (1989), based on the true story of Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder Bill W.; he was nominated for an Emmy for this work. He later wrote a book about Lois, titled The Lois W―― Story: When Love Is Not Enough (2005). A CBS-Hallmark TV movie of the same name, based on his book, was released in 2010.

Bill’s other books include 50 Quiet Miracles That Changed Lives (2009); 1,000 Years of Sobriety: 20 People x 50 Years, co-authored with Michael F., which tells the stories of twenty Alcoholics Anonymous pioneers from the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand (2010); When Two Loves Collide: The Inspiring Story of Dr. John and Dot Mooney (2013); and How I Became My Father … a Drunk (2015).

Bill was a member of the Writers Guild of America and a long-time volunteer at Stepping Stones Foundation, the former home of Bill and Lois in Katonah, New York. He also served on the Board of Directors of Stepping Stones Foundation from 1997 to 2006.

October in A.A. History—day unknown

1872: Jerry McAuley [near right] opened the Water Street Mission [far right, c. 1899] in New York City’s notorious Fourth Ward [left: coffee & sandwiches before a Mission meeting, 1892]. This marked the beginning of the urban mission movement that would spread across America, with The Salvation Army leading the way. The movement focused its message on the alcoholics of Skid Row, a population largely ignored by traditional religious institutions. In 1884, after McAuley’s death, S. H. Hadley [right] succeeded him.

Hadley’s example of recovery from alcoholism was cited in William James’ book The Varieties of Religious Experience. Hadley’s son, Harry Harrison Hadley II, would later work with Rev. Sam Shoemaker to establish the Calvary Mission at 246 East 3rd Street, not far from Calvary Episcopal Church in New York City.

September 30 in A.A. History

1939: Liberty magazine [near right: cover] published “Alcoholics and God” by Morris Markey [far right]. Bill W. thought the article “a bit lurid” and worried that the title would scare off alcoholics. The article generated “800 frantic inquiries,” all of which were answered by Ruth Hock. While letters arrived from across the U.S., only a few could be directed to the three existing groups in Akron, Ohio; Cleveland, Ohio; and New York City.

Charles B. Towns [far left], proprietor of Towns Hospital, had encouraged Markey to write the piece. Liberty editor Fulton Oursler [near left], the author of The Greatest Story Ever Told, became a close friend of Bill and later served as a Class A [non-alcoholic] Trustee of the Alcoholic Foundation, A.A.’s headquarters (as it was then called) in New York City, and a member of the A.A. Grapevine editorial board.

1955: A.A.’s General Service Headquarters in New York City distributed a 6-page flyer titled “The Structure and Services of A.A.” [right: front cover], written by Frank B. It included the first service structure diagram and summaries of A.A.’s five service agencies:

1. General Service Board of A.A., Inc.; 
2. General Service Headquarters;  
3. A.A. Publishing, Inc.; 
4. The General Service Conference; and
5. The A.A. Grapevine, Inc.

The description of A.A. Publishing, Inc. states:

The General Service Board, with the approval of the General Service Conference, has also granted to Bill [W.], as the surviving co-founder of the movement, a 15% royalty on sales of the A.A. book. These royalties represent Bill’s only income from A.A. sources.

The back cover [left] listed the Twelve Traditions in short form, as published in the November 1949 A.A. Grapevine.

1975: Hazelden Publishing released Bill W.: The Absorbing And Deeply Moving Life Story Of Bill Wilson, Co-Founder Of Alcoholics Anonymous [right: 1st edition cover], written by Robert Thomsen [left].

2003: Searcy W. [right], 93, died in Dallas, Texas, with 20,962 days (57 years, 4 months, 20 days) of sobriety.

In 1949, Searcy began establishing treatment clinics in Dallas (the Texas Clinic-Hospital for Alcoholism [left, c. 1990], where Ebby T. sobered up), Houston, Lubbock (all in Texas), and Carlsbad, New Mexico. Alcoholics came for a week and paid $125 [~$1,760 in 2026], all-inclusive. Then they went to A.A., and 75% supposedly stayed sober.

Searcy’s motto was, “Trust God, clean house, help others. And it doesn’t have to be done in that order!”

A.A. History—month & day unknown

2000: Mongolian A.A. groups opened their doors in the Аймгууд (provinces) of Орхон (Orkhon), Дарх`ан-Уул (Darkhan-Uul), Дорнод (Dornod), Өвөрхангай (Övörhangai), and Сэлэнгэ (Selenge), as well as in other дүүргүүд (districts) of Улаанбаатар (Ulaanbaatar) [right: map of these locations within Mongolia].

2001: [Early] The Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, [far left: cover] and Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions [near left: cover] were published by the Mongolian Service Structure. They had been translated by Mongolians, presumably in an iterative process with Alcoholics Anonymous World Service, Inc.’s Publications department, which would have checked for clarity and for adherence to the sense and spirit of the original English before granting a license to the Mongolian Service Structure. They were likely reviewed, possibly updated, and then approved by a group conscience vote within that structure before being published.

2002: The timeline given in the article “From Akron to the Internet: a Time Line of AA Communication” from the October 2002 A.A. Grapevine [right:cover] had a single short sentence to described a particular “event”:

Representatives of online A.A. groups had met to discuss the establishment of a service conference for A.A. in “cyberspace.”

The full story is much more interesting.

In November 2001, members of the Online Intergroup of Alcoholics Anonymous (OIAA) decided to (again) study how online A.A. groups might best fit into the worldwide Fellowship, particularly through participation in a general service structure. The OIAA chairman, Mark E., appointed a study committee headed by Ewart F. of South Africa, who invited a mixed group of online members, some with long experience of the issues, to take part.

The committee quickly realized that online groups had only a few ways to join together in pursuit of a meaningful group conscience:

1. Online Group in Existing Area, 
2. Online Area for Online Groups, or 
3. Online Conference for Online Groups.

All members agreed that only an Online Service Conference offered real hope of meaningful participation in the group conscience process. Its potential future participation in the World Service Meeting or a conceptual “World Service Conference” was an attractive, if uncertain, possibility. The remaining question was whether online groups would understand and support a conference of their own.

The committee produced an Online General Service Statement and offered it to online groups for endorsement. It read,

We, the members of Alcoholics Anonymous who share our experience, strength and hope on the internet, now assemble to discuss our common purpose and establish the Online Service Conference to unify our voice in the worldwide Fellowship of AA.

The committee then reported to the OIAA chairman that its work was finished and recommended that it be dissolved, so that it could reassemble and continue outside the intergroup. This ended the affiliation between the intergroup and the yet-to-be-formed general service structure.

Former committee members took on the tasks of identifying online groups and inviting them to meet, and set up procedures to keep the confusion of a new organization to a minimum. These included a new “Steering Committee” to act in the role of a General Service Office between Conference meetings in “cyberspace.” Six members were designated as the “Interim Steering Committee” to guide the first meetings, and an agenda was prepared for the first meeting, which had been set for July 1, 2002.

September 28 in A.A. History

1873: Etheldred Frances Folsom [right] was born to Frances Elizabeth Fuller and George Folsom, members of a wealthy, well-educated family in New York City.

She identified herself as a book illustrator and landscape artist, but today she is better known as a visionary and healer. As an adult, she became a follower of Emma Curtis Hopkins [left], a renowned teacher with a following of 50,000. Known as “The Teacher of Teachers,” Hopkins was a key founder of the New Thought movement, which influenced early members of Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) and continues to influence religious groups such as Christian Science, Moorish Science, Positive Thinking, Prosperity Gospel, and Unity Church.

Folsom preferred to be called Sister Francis, in honor of her favorite saint, St. Francis of Assisi, and most A.A. members knew her by that name. In 1939, she purchased Joy Farm, which since 1926 had served as a residential community for spiritual seekers who were disciples of Hopkins, and renamed it High Watch Farm [right]. She transformed it into a spiritual retreat center where she disseminated Hopkins’ teachings under the name “The Ministry of the High Watch.” After meeting Marty M. and Bill and Lois W., Folsom founded the High Watch Recovery Center, which some have claimed was the world’s first 12-step treatment center.

1918: Bill W. and his unit arrived in Nexon, France [far left: map showing location of Nexon]. They would remain there until 27 October for additional training [near left: men of Bill’s unit in Nexon].

1928: Dr. Bob S. and Sister Ignatia [right: with two of her alcoholic patients] first met at St. Thomas Hospital in Akron, Ohio. Sister Ignatia, a member of the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine, was working as the hospital’s registration clerk. Initially, she was unaware of Dr. Bob’s drinking problem, though Bob later share this with her. Later, Dr. Bob, who loved nicknames, called her “Angel of Alcoholics Anonymous,” “Little Angel of AA,” and “Ig.”

A.A. History—month & day unknown

1998: The Grateful Recovering Online Women’s (GROW) Group of Alcoholics Anonymous, an email group, was founded. It continues to operate today.

1999: The second Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) group in Монгол (Mongolia), called Итгэл (Trust), was established in the capital, Улаанбаатар (Ulaanbaatar) [right: aerial view, late 1990s].

2000: Mongolian A.A. groups opened their doors in the Аймгууд (provinces) of Орхон (Orkhon), Дарх`ан-Уул (Darkhan-Uul), Дорнод (Dornod), Өвөрхангай (Övörhangai), and Сэлэнгэ (Selenge), as well as in other дүүргүүд (districts) of Улаанбаатар (Ulaanbaatar) [left: map show these locations within Mongolia].