Aa history Lovers 2004 moderators Nancy Olson and Glenn F. Chesnut page

Stones, was shown for the first time in Toronto. It was well received and has

been reproduced in several languages since then.

One person who made Toronto such a significant convention: Al S.. Al, an

advertising and film man in New York, had joined the fellowship in March 1944.

"Within a month," Nell Wing reports, "he was 'into action,' as the Big Book

says. Among his many contributions to A.A., he helped re-form the Manhattan

group, and also helped organize another club for A.A.s on Forty-first Street.

He helped structure the New York Intergroup, for which he served as secretary

and director. While there, he and another member, George B., were instrumental

in persuading Knickerbocker Hospital to set aside a ward just for alcoholics

under the sponsorship of A.A. -- the first such general hospital in New York

to do so."

Nell notes that by late 1948, Al had become editor of the Grapevine. During

the time he worked on the Grapevine, he also served as a director of A.A.

Publishing, Inc. (an earlier name of AA World Services, Inc. From 1958 to

1961, he was a director of the A.A. Grapevine, Inc., and a trustee on the

General Service Board.

He attended, until his death, every International Convention and contributed

to the success of them all. He was a valued friend of Bill's, according to

Nell, and Bill solicited Al's views and comments on all his books and other

writings. Nell adds: "Lois put it succinctly: 'Bill and Al were buddies.'"

It was also Al S. who composed the "I am Responsible" pledge for the

convention in Toronto.

Nell writes:

"I will never forget -- nor will anyone who was there -- the moving ceremony

of rededication on Saturday evening in the Maple Leaf Gardens auditorium. The

crowd of more than 10,000 rose and joined the conference delegates, trustees,

and A.A. representatives from 21 countries up on the stage in repeating the

declaration. They clasped hands and loudly pronounced in one tremendous,

strong voice: 'I am responsible when anyone, anywhere, reaches out for help, I

want the hand of A.A. always to be there. And for that: I am responsible.'

"There was a special spirit about the Toronto Convention. Many people say it

was the best ever."

Source:

Grateful To Have Been There, by Nell Wing

__________

A.A. International Convention, Miami, 1970.

The fifth AA International Convention was held in Miami in 1970. It was the

first one that I attended.

Nell Wing, Bill's secretary, wrote: "More than 13,000 members and their

families came from all over the world to see the cofounder and hear him speak,

as he had at all previous conventions, and to participate in the wide-ranging

program."

Arriving at the Fountainbleu Hotel, where the convention was held, I was

thrilled to meet members from many countries. Nell said there were many from

Latin America.

I also was delighted -- typical A.A. member that I am -- to see that free

coffee was being offered in the lobby. But when I looked for some later it was

all gone. Nell explained that the host committee in Miami, chaired by Wes P.,

"one of the more colorful members," had raised about $10,000 from local groups

to provide complimentary coffee. But $10,000 worth of coffee doesn't last

long, especially at hotel prices, with that many A.A. members hanging around.

It may have been Wes P. who drove me around Miami one day. When I noticed

people on the street pointing at the car and smiling, he explained that the

license plate on the front of the car read "Alcoholism is a Treatable

Disease." He gave me one of these license plates to take back to Washington as

a gift for Senator Harold Hughes, an AA member.

On another occasion, a taxi driver taking me to the Fountainbleu, asked if I

were there for the AA convention. I told him I was. He admitted his worry

about his own drinking, and I wound up spending considerable time doing 12th

step work.

Other memories of the convention include the wonderful entertainment. An A.A.

member who was a professional comedian did an act in which he pretended to be

drunk. He pretended he was doing live commercial breaks during a movie being

shown on TV. During each pretended commercial break he would take a drink of

the alcoholic product, talking about it's fine bouquet, excellent flavor, etc.

Each time he did the live commercial, of course, he was a little more drunk.

He said at the end "I can't tell you how many thousands of dollars it cost me

to learn that routine."

A Florida A.A. member told me a few years ago that she thinks it was Foster

Brooks, "who always did a drunken skit, even though he was a very sober member

of AA at the time." He often appeared on the Dean Martin show, and was also

appeared with Rowan and Martin. He, like Bill Wilson, died as a result of his

addiction to cigarettes.

I also remember the "Alkathons," AA meetings going on constantly 24 hours a

day. I had been invited by GSO to speak at one of them. (Senator Hughes had

been invited to speak at one of the big meetings, but declined because of the

legislative schedule at the time. Well, that was his excuse anyway. I think he

really declined because he knew he had been invited because of the celebrity

he was then receiving as the leading "dark horse" for the Presidential

Democratic nomination. He hated being invited to speak at A.A. functions

because he was a "big name."

At the opening session, we were disappointed not to see Bill. As Nell wrote:

"His life long cigarette habit had caught up with him in the form of

emphysema, even though he had given up smoking the year before."

He had suffered a fall in the spring of 1969, from which according to Nell, he

had never fully recovered. (However, when he came to Washington to testify

before Senator Hughes' Subcommittee in July of 1969, he seemed in good health.

I don't remember whether he was smoking, but if he had already given it up

because of his emphysema, it must have grieved him to see Senator Hughes --

who also died of emphysema -- chain smoking the entire time.) But a year

later, at the time of this convention, Bill's health had deteriorated greatly.

That April he was unable to complete his opening talk at the annual General

Service Conference.

Despite his ill health, he had flown to Miami with Lois and Nell a few days

before the convention. But it became clear that he was not going to be able to

keep his scheduled appearances. Once or twice a day he was taken back and

forth to the Miami Health Clinic. Nell reported that: "Lois, Bob H., general

manager of A.A.'s General Service Office, and Dr. Jack were spread pretty thin

trying to cope, trying to keep the huge convention going and easing anxiety

caused by Bill's failure to appear. I was caring for Bill in their suite

upstairs at the hotel. It was during that week that he began hallucinating,

imagining he had made a long-distance call. It was terribly distressing for

Lois."

She remembers Lois's courage and determination to carry on with the Al-Anon

programs. Nell thinks that Al-Anon more than ever "came of age" at this

convention, with its own program of events and big crowds in its own

headquarters hotel, the Eden Roc, next to the Fountainbleu.

When the press conference was held the Wednesday afternoon before the

convention began, Marty Mann and Dr. Jack Norris substituted for Bill. Bernard

Smith, a past chairman of the GSO Board, substituted for Bill at the opening

session. Nell said that Bernie Smith was a "little disgruntled" to be called

down from New York on short notice, and asked her to help him adapt a talk

from a previous conference. They finished the talk by one or two o'clock,

after which he got in some golf. On Sunday, he apologized to Nell for his

irritability the day before.

Poor Nell was so exhausted that she slept in Sunday morning and missed the

program. But I was there, with the thousands of others. And I was not

disappointed. Late in the morning, a wheelchair appeared from the back of the

stage, and there was Bill. He was hooked up with tubes to an oxygen tank, and

had insisted on wearing one of the orange-colored blazers that identified the

Miami host committee.

When we realized it was Bill, we rose as one and exploded with applause and

cheers. Bill was wheeled to the front of the stage and pulled himself up to

his full height at the rostrum. He spoke for only a few minutes, but his voice

was strong and clear. He seemed almost like the old Bill so many of us

remembered.

He talked of how happy he was about the large attendance, especially the

members from other countries, and about how much it meant to him to see A.A.'s

enormous growth and to have been a part of it. And then he ended by saying:

"As I look out this morning on this vast crowd, I know in my heart that

Alcoholics Anonymous will surely last a thousand years -- if it is God's

will!"

When he lowered himself into his wheelchair we all jumped to our feet in

thunderous applause. Nell says "Many times since I've thought about the

coincidence, the similarity of the final exit of the two cofounders twenty

years apart."

Later that day, Bill returned to the hospital. He and Lois remained in Miami

until August, when they returned home to Stepping Stones. Bill's health

steadily declined. He required oxygen constantly and his hallucinations were

much worse. Soon he needed nurses around the clock. Bill was returned to a

Miami hospital for treatment, and died in Miami less than six months after

this convention.

One of my many regrets is that I did not save a copy of the last message he

wrote Senator Hughes. It was a post card which he and another AA member at the

hospital both signed. They wrote: "We only hope we live long enough to see you

become President."

Sources:

"Grateful to Have Been There," by Nell Wing

Unpublished diary of Nancy Olson.

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++++Message 1700. . . . . . . . . . . . A.A. International Conventions -- Part

Two

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A.A. International Convention, Denver, 1975.

The sixth AA International Convention was held in Denver in 1975. It was the

first at which neither Dr. Bob nor Bill was present. But to remind everyone

that they were still there in spirit, the platform of Currigan Hall was

decorated with portraits of them, with a 30-foot replica of the Big Book

between them.

Lois, of course, was there, and as active as ever. Al S., Bill's good friend

of whom I wrote in my post on the 1965 convention in Toronto, led the huge

"spiritual meeting" and Lois gave a very moving talk.

Nell Wing, Bill's secretary, said that her predominant impression of the

Denver convention was "crowds, crowds, crowds." GSO had planned for 12,000 and

about 20,000 showed up. The workshops and panel meeting rooms were "hopelessly

jammed," and at the big meetings the crowds overflowed Currigan Hall into a

sports arena across the street where the talks were carried on a

closed-circuit TV screen. Nell remembers that the fire department was a bit

alarmed at the overcrowding of the halls.

Nell attended this time, not as Bill's assistant, but as the A.A. archivist,

working with George G., chairman of the Trustees' Archives Committee. As of

1992, when Nell's book was published, George was still serving as a consultant

to the Trustees' Archives Committee. Nell was grateful for his "contributions

to the organizing and supervision in the earliest days of the archives," and

for his friendship. Nell and George spent most of their time in Denver seeking

out the early members and interviewing them on tape. Nell said it was a

heart-warming experience, and she kept up with these old-timers by mail.

Anticipating the great demand for coffee, an "entrepreneur" rigged the world's

largest coffee maker with servers on both sides of the balcony at the

convention hall. Nell reports that "It had a capacity of 50,000 cups a day.

The coffee was brewed in huge tanks or vats and piped to a bank of dozens of

spigots where we helped ourselves after paying a quarter a cup. It worked fine

and was the talk of the convention, but the coffee itself -- well, I've tasted

better!"

The opening session on Friday night began with a flag ceremony. As the name of

each country was called over the public address system, spotlights shown on

the flag, and, with music from the country (perhaps its national anthem) being

played, its flag was carried down the aisle and onto the stage. A.A.s from 29

countries paraded their flags. When they arrived on the stage, each flag

bearer stepped up to the microphone and repeated the conference theme, "Let It

Begin With Me," in his or her native language.

Alkathon meetings ran each day. One such meeting, the "drum and dance meeting"

was presented by Indian A.A. groups. Ernest Kurtz reports that between each

talk, "the huge drum spoke in tribute to the Higher Power that the leader

chose to call the Great Spirit, and A.A.s in the regalia of many tribes went

on to the Arena floor to dance -- but not alone. They reached out their hands,

and soon white A.A.s and black A.A.s were on the floor with them."

Source:

Grateful To Have Been There, by Nell Wing.

Not God, by Ernest Kurtz

__________

A.A. International Convention, New Orleans, 1980.

The seventh AA International Convention was held in New Orleans, LA, in 1980.

The big meetings were held in the immense, air-conditioned Superdome. Nell

Wing, Bill's secretary and now A.A. archivist, said that the Superdome was

comfortably chilled and acoustically perfect.

A mock Mardi Gras parade was held on Thursday night, and "famed Bourbon Street

turned into ice-cream and coffee street," according to Nell, with mobs of

A.A.s taking over. There were signs in the windows of the jazz establishments

welcoming A.A.s.

On Friday night, at the opening session, there was a 30 foot-high world map

outlined on a blue background behind the stage. The theme of this conference

was "Joy of Living," and during the flag ceremony, as each flag bearer spoke

these words in his or her native tongue, the country represented was lit up on

the map.

An archives workshop -- the first at an international convention -- was held

and a large, enthusiastic crowd attended. The films "Bill's Own Story" and

"Bill Discusses the Traditions" were shown continuously throughout the

convention. Also shown continuously was a recently completed film strip of the

archives called "Markings on a Journey." This was the idea of Mike R., a

pioneer member from Oklahoma who was also chairman of the Trustees' Archives

Committee.

He noted the fact that some 2,000 members visited the archives in New York

every year to gain an awareness of how it all began. "But Mike felt that since

it was impossible to bring all the fellowship in to see the archives, we

should in some way take the archives to the fellowship," Nell wrote. "Markings

on a Journey" was their attempt to accomplish that.

There were also meetings of archivists after the workshop to discuss the value

of circulating a newsletter among the archivists.

Presentations were made by non-A.A. members, including judges, physicians,

psychiatrists, clergymen, educators, prison officials, media specialists,

government officials, a labor leader, an industrialist and alcoholism agency

officials.

Special workshops were scheduled for gay members and for young people as well

as for doctors, lawyers, and women.

This convention also was the first to have a marathon meeting running

continuously, day and night, from Thursday midnight to Sunday morning.

According to Nell, "A man who had sobered up just two days before in the

marathon meeting was introduced before the crowd of 23,000."

On Sunday morning Lois gave a brief talk and was presented with the first Big

Book in Italian, by Roberto C., who had done the translation. He told how A.A.

was growing in Italy.

Then a surprise guest came to the microphone and introduced himself as Bob S.,

a member of Al-Anon. He explained that he was probably the only person there

who had been present when Bill W. met Dr. Bob first met. He was the only son

of Dr. Bob Smith. Bob Smith, "Smitty," shared some of his early memories of

Bill's living in their Akron home that summer in 1935.

The 1980 convention was the first to feature women, and Marty Mann, of course,

was the keynote speaker. She, like Dr. Bob and Bill before her, was very ill

when she gave this last major talk to A.A. Like Bill in 1970, she arrived in a

wheelchair. But when she was introduced she rose from the wheelchair and

walked slowly to the podium as a prolonged ovation shook the rafters. She

stood tall and the old gleam came back in her eye.

When the ovation finally ended, Marty looked out over the thousands of women

(and many men, as well) and said: "Talk about tears -- I can't tell you what

it feels like to be a great-great-great-great grandmother to so many women.

Because that's what you are, all of you. You're my children, and I'm so, so

proud of you."

The hall erupted with a roar and gave her a long ovation.

Marty Mann was not only the first woman to achieve long-term sobriety in A.A.

(see her story: "Women Suffer Too" in the Big Book), she was the person most

responsible for removing the stigma from the disease of alcoholism by

educating the public.

She told a U.S. Senate subcommittee in 1969: "I had discovered the strength of

the stigma that lay on alcoholism. I had discovered the conspiracy of silence

that existed about it. I had discovered that families were inclined to protect

their alcoholic and that they were totally unaware of the fact that this

protection was actually preventing their alcoholic from getting help."

Marty had gained the support and backing of two eminent scientists at Yale

University, Dr. Howard W. Haggard and Dr. E. M. Jellinek, who had been working

on this problem for some years. And they gave her the support and

encouragement - as did Bill Wilson - to start an organization originally

called the "National Committee for Education on Alcoholism," which later

became the National Council on Alcoholism (now NCADD).

Marty Mann died just two weeks after she returned from New Orleans, July 22,

1980, having survived three of the most-often stigmatized health problems of

the 20th century: alcoholism, tuberculosis, and cancer. She died suddenly from

a massive cerebral hemorrhage.

Sources:

Slaying the Dragon, the History of Addiction Treatment and Recovery in

America, by William White.

Grateful to Have Been There, by Nell Wing.

__________

A.A. International Convention, Montreal, 1985.

The eighth AA International Convention was held in Montreal in 1985. The was

the second to be held outside the United States, both in Canada. It drew more

than 44,000, representing fifty-four countries, and began again, with a flag

ceremony.

Nell Wing wrote that "Because the emphasis of the whole event was Alcoholics

Anonymous history, but mostly, I think, because I was accompanying Lois, I was

on the platform in the middle of the vast Olympic Stadium Friday night for the

opening ceremonies."

"Lois Wilson, a tiny, stooped figure now at age 94, was assisted by her

secretary, Francis H., to the microphone, where she delivered a short but

touching speech in a strong voice with her sense of humor evident," according

to Nell.

Ruth Hock, Bill's first secretary who typed the original manuscript of the Big

Book in 1938, was there and was presented with the five-millionth copy of the

Big Book.

Nell wrote that Ruth "was much more than a gifted secretary, she was a major

factor in the stability and functioning of that early office. In fact, she was

a balancing factor in the debate between Jim B[urwell] the former atheist, and

Fritz M[ayo], who was strongly religious, that resulted in the use of the

phrase 'God as we understood Him' in the Steps -- certainly one of the most

significant decisions ever made in A.A."

Nell adds "What would later be called the 'Serenity Prayer' was brought to her

attention in June 1941. She sent it to an A.A. member (who was a printer) in

Washington, D.C., and he printed it on small cards for distribution from

G.S.O. to interested members." Ruth died in the spring of 1986.

Dave B. ("Gratitude in Action" in the 4th edition of the Big Book), the

founder of A.A. in Montreal, was to have been honored at the convention, but

he died only a few weeks before and was represented by nonalcoholic past

trustee Dr. Travis Dancey, who had first tried to bring the A.A. message to

Dave.

Dr. Jack Norris, Dr. Milton Maxwell, and Dr. Bob's son and daughter and Bob's

wife Betty were at this convention. And among the attendees was 89-year-old

Ken S., a "long-timer" from Kansas, and Sybil C., the first woman member in

Los Angeles.

Workshops were held on archives, and there were "old-timers' meetings and

pioneers' meetings. The closing talk Sunday morning was by Joe McQ., the first

black member in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1962. Joe McQ has joined with

Charlie P. to participate in Big Book seminars in the USA, Canada, and

overseas. "His was a stirring and moving story," says Nell.

Several hundreds of A.A. members and their families could not find rooms.

Every hotel room within eighty miles of Montreal was booked, and some were

housed as far away as Burlington, Vermont. Many who found themselves without a

room left early or slept on the floors of rooms of friends. One reporter noted

that few chose to sleep in parks or other public places, which seemed to

surprise the reporter.

On Friday night historic figures were introduced, including Lois Wilson and

Ruth Hock Crecelius, who was presented with the five-millionth copy of the

book Alcoholics Anonymous. As secretary to Bill Wilson and Hank Parkhurst

("The Unbeliever" in the 1st edition), Ruth had typed the original

manuscript."

Many laughed that the House of Seagram paid tribute to Alcoholics Anonymous by