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SEE ALSO Message 6257 "Bob E. (AA #11)" AND ALSO Message 6265 "Re: Bob E. (AA #11)" IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 6272. . . . . . . . . . . . Bill W. Died Today (Jan. 24) in 1971 From: Bill Lash . . . . . . . . . . . . 1/24/2010 2:06:00 PM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII In the summer 1966 two A.A. members from the White Plains NY area drove to Stepping Stones & had an appointment with Bill W. One of these members, John S., went in & talked with Bill W. for about a half hour while the other memebr, Bob C., waited outside. Bob C. was a sponsee of John S., John S. was a reporter for the New York Times & Bill W. had asked him to come. What Bill wanted was to write his own obituary because he knew that if someone else tried to do it they may not get it right. This all happened five years BEFORE Bill finally died on this date (January 24) in 1971. Also at that time in 1966, Bill W. gave John permission to break Bill's anonymity in the article that John put out at the time of Bill's death. Bill also asked John not to say anything about the pre-written obituary until Bill died. That is why the original New York Times obituary (below) had no reporter's name, because John S. really didn't write it, Bill did. All that John added to the article was the particulars around Bill's death. The story about Bill's obituary has been left unknown until a few years ago when Jack H. from Scottsdale AZ had a conversation with Bob C., who was living in Mesa AZ at the time & who just recently passed away at age 82 with over 50 years sober. This same Bob C. was the man who waited outside for John S. & Bill W. when the original obituary was written in 1966.
Barefoot Bill Bill W., 75, Dies; Co-founder Of Alcoholics Anonymous Jan. 27, 1971 - New York Times News Service NEW YORK — William Griffith Wilson died late Sunday night and, with the announcement of his death, was revealed to have been the Bill W. who cofounded Alcoholics Anonymous in l935. He was 75.
insane as a hopeless drunk 36 years ago but – after what he called a dramatic spiritual experience – sobered up and stayed sober.
alcoholics in 15,000 A.A. groups throughout the United States and in 18 other countries.
England origin, died of pneumonia and cardiac complication a few hours after he had been flown by private plane to the Miami Heart Institute in Miami Beach from his home in Bedford Hills, NY. At his bedside was his wife, Lois, who had remained by him during his years as a “falling down” drunk and who later had worked at his side to aid other alcoholics. She is a founder of the Al-Anon and Alateen groups, which deal with the fears and insecurity suffered by spouses and children of problem drinkers. Mr. Wilson last spoke publicly last July 5 in a three minute talk he delivered after struggling from a wheelchair to the lectern at the closing session of A.A.'s 35th anniversary international convention in Miami, attended by 11,000 persons. He had been admitted three days earlier to the Miami Heart Institute, his emphysema complicated by pneumonia.
for the first time to attend the A.A. banquet at which his “last-drink anniversary” has been celebrated annually. His greetings were delivered by his wife to the 2,200 A.A. members and guests at the New York Hilton. Mr. Wilson gave permission to break his A.A. anonymity upon his death in a signed statement in 1966. The role of Dr. Robert Holbrook Smith as the other founder of the worldwide fellowship was disclosed publicly when the Akron Ohio, surgeon died of cancer in 1950. As Bill W., Mr. Wilson shared what be termed his “experience, strength and hope” in hundreds of talks and writings, but in turn – mindful that he himself was “just another guy named Bill who can’t handle booze” – he heeded the counsel of fellow alcoholics, and declined a salary for his work in behalf of the fellowship. He supported himself, and later his wife, on royalties from four A.A. books — “Alcoholics Anonymous,” “The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,” “Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age” and “The A.A. Way of Life.” Explained Anonymity In fathering the doctrine that members should not reveal their A.A. affiliation at the public level, Bill W. had explained that “anonymity isn’t just something to save us from alcoholic shame and stigma; its deeper purpose is to keep those fool egos of ours from running hog wild after money and fame at A.A,’s expense.” He cited the example of a nationally known radio personality who wrote an autobiography. disclosing his A.A membership and then spent the royalties crawling the pubs on West 52nd Street.”
augment the family income. Over the years, the gaunt, 6-foot cofounder’s wavy brown hair turned wispy white, and his step slowed. In 1962 he retired from active administration of A.A. affairs and returned to part-time activity in Wall Street. He continued to speak in New York at dinner meeting celebrating the anniversaries of his recovery.
simplicity and frankness of his A.A. “story”: In his native East Dorset, VT., where he was born Nov. 26,1895, and where be attended a two-room elementary school, he recalled, “I was tall and gawky and I felt pretty bad about it because the smarter kids could push me around. I remember being very depressed for a year or more, then I developed a fierce resolve to win – to be a No. 1 man.”
deep sense of inferiority, yet became captain of his high school baseball team. He learned to play the violin well enough to lead the school orchestra. He majored in engineering at Norwich University for three years, then enrolled in officers training school when the United States entered World War I. He married Lois Burnham, a Brooklyn physician’s daughter he had met on vacation in Manchester, Vt. At Army camp In New Bedford, Mass,, 2nd Lt. Wilson of the 66th Coast Artillery and fellow officers were entertained by patriotic hostesses, and Bill W. was handed his first drink, a Bronx cocktail. Gone, soon, was his sense of inferiority. Wife Concerned “In those Roaring Twenties,” he remembered, “I was drinking to dream great
dreams of greater power.” His wife became increasingly concerned, but he assured her that “men of genius conceive their best projects when drunk.”
self-confidence failed to drop. “When men were leaping to their deaths from the towers of high finance,” he noted, “I was disgusted and refused to jump. I went back to the bar. I said, and I believed, ‘that I can build this up once more.’ But I didn’t. My alcoholic obsession had already condemned me. I
became a hanger-on in Wall Street.” Numbing doses of bathtub gin, bootleg whisky and New Jersey applejack became Bill W.’s panacea for all his problems. Visited by Companion Late in 1934, he was visited by an old barroom companion, Ebby T., who disclosed that he had attained freedom from a drinking compulsion with help from the First Century Christian Fellowship (now Moral Rearmament); a movement founded in England by the late Dr. Frank N. D. Buchman and often called the Oxford Group. Bill W. was deeply impressed and was desperate, but he said he had not yet reached that level of degradation below which he was unwilling to descend. He felt he had one more prolonged drunk left in him.
later into Towns Hospital, an upper Manhattan institution for treatment of alcoholism and drug addiction. Dr William Duncan Silkworth, his friend, put him to bed. Mr. Wilson recalled then what. Ebby T. had told him: “You admit you are licked; you get honest with yourself… you pray to whatever God you think there is, even as an experiment.” Bill W. found himself crying out:
anything!” “Suddenly,” he related. “the room lit up with a great white light. I was
caught up into an ecstasy which there are no words to describe. It seemed that a wind not of air but of spirit was blowing. And then it burst upon me that I was a free man.”
reaction among drunks, one carrying the message of recovery to the next. Emphasizing at first his spiritual regeneration, and working closely with Oxford Groupers, he struggled for months to “sober up the world,” but got almost nowhere. “Look Bill,” Dr. Silkworth cautioned, “you are preaching at those alkies.
You are talking about the Oxford precepts of absolute honesty, purity, unselfishness and love. Give them the medical business, and give it to ‘em hard, about the obsession that condemns them to drink. That – coming from one alcoholic to another – may crack those tough egos deep down.” Mr. Wilson thereafter concentrated on the basic philosophy that alcoholism is a physical allergy coupled with a mental obsession – an incurable though arrestable – illness of body., mind and spirit. Much later, the disease concept of alcoholism was accepted by a committee of the American Medical Association and by the World Health Organization. Still dry six months after emerging from the hospital, Mr. Wilson went to Akron to participate in a stock proxy fight. He lost, and was about to lose another bout as he paced outside a bar in the lobby of the Mayflower Hotel. Panicky, he groped for inner strength and remembered that. he had thus far stayed sober trying to help other alcoholics.
Smith, a surgeon and fellow Vermonter who had vainly sought medical cures and religious help for his compulsive drinking.
eventual release from compulsion. “Bill was the first living human with whom I had ever talked who intelligently discussed my problem from actual experience,” Dr. Bob, as he became known, said later. “He talked my language.”
From: Frank Nyikos . . . . . . . . . . . . 1/24/2010 9:42:00 AM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII The Milford Study Meeting held on Thursday nights in Milford, Indiana has been
going on continuously now for over four and a half years (we were hoping for 6 months at best in the beginning). We are currently on our seventh book and as you can see below time is not the
element: **Little Red Book - 8/11/05 - 6/29/06 (we had copies of the current edition, but
also copies of the original 1946 edition and the 1949 edition, the last one where Dr. Bob had any input) **Changed By Grace - 7/6/06 - 3/2/07 **Emmet Fox, Sermon on the Mount - 3/29/07 - 11/15/09 **Ernie Kurtz, Shame & Guilt - 11/29/07 1/17/08 **Father Ralph Pfau, Sobriety & Beyond - 1/24/08 - 9/4/08 **God & Spirituality - 9/11/08 - 10/22/09 **William James, Varieties of Religious Experience - 10/29/09 - present People have been driving from an hour away or more, even through the snow and
ice of a northern Indiana winter. We do not call it an AA group or meeting (since others are invited) nor is it formally registered with General Service Office so that the question of what books we can or cannot read becomes a dead letter. However, we DO send contributions regularly to GSO as the Milford, Indiana Study Meeting. This has been acceptable since contributions come from AA
people. When AA newcomers show up we do suggest that they go to a regular AA meeting which goes over the basics but still encourage them to attend here for extra information if they are so inclined.
people
who have continued to attend regularly have 'slipped,' reverted to drinking again, or diminished in the least their dedications, attendance, and continuing work in AA. Although we have had a few newcomers who showed up for a few weeks and then disappeared we have no idea how AA itself affected them or if they did stop drinking since we had no further contact, leaving us unknowing what if any effect may have happened. As mentioned before, those who continue to attend are still deeply involved in sponsorship, conference planning, committees and other activities of the sort over the years. We do NOT see this study group as a substitute for participation in the regular AA fellowship, but merely as a SUPPLEMENT. We also abide by group conscience in all matters. At the beginning, back in 2005, every member of our group gave suggestions about
books that might be worthwhile reading. So now, when we approach the end of one
book, we look at that list and just take a group conscience on which one to read
next. We read through these books sentence by sentence and then discuss each part as much as we feel is necessary, stopping wherever and then continuing where we left off so we don't just speed through them.
place where you could find one, would be Charlie Bishop's list of Fifty Books Tracing AA's History at http://hindsfoot.org/fiftybk.html I am posting this because I recently learned from John S. in Fort Wayne, Indiana, who comes to Milford every week, that our idea here at Milford seems to be spreading to other places. John writes the "John Barleycorn" A.A. column -- good stuff -- for a couple of examples see "The Right Side of the Page" http://hindsfoot.org/barright.html and "Whack-A-Mole" http://hindsfoot.org/barmole.html Anyway, John told me the other day: ______________________________ "One of the men I sponsor named Tommy R. told others in his home group about Milford and they decided to start a similar group north of the Fort. My son John and some of his friends in Wisconsin are talking about starting a book study group there too. There's so much knowledge and wisdom recorded in books since
the printing press was created and it's a real shame that most of it is going
undigested because of modern electronic media. Perhaps I'm resistant to change,
but it seems to me the more television and electronic games that are played, the
dumber our civilization is getting? I cannot change such a trend but nevertheless choose to keep on reading." ______________________________
interested in trying something like this.
successfully and we would be happy to share should anyone have questions. You can contact at the following email address: fenyikos@hoosierlink.net IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 6274. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Early meeting format AND Bob E. (AA #11)
From: mdingle76 . . . . . . . . . . . . 1/23/2010 11:37:00 PM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII I like to speak for the "All Addicts Anonymous" people for I work for 24 Communications — the publishing group of AAA — which originally put out 24 Magazine. The article that J. Lobell refers to was written for 24 Magazine in September 1976 (6 months before the book "Dr. Bob and the Good oldtimers" was on the launching pad.) Yes, J. Lobell is right — the interview that we recorded of Bob E. (used in the Sept 1976, 24 Magazine) was later used in the "Dr. Bob" book. (It is believed that we still have the tape recording of this interview and that there was much more said by Bob E. not used in the article — although, I haven't bumped into the tape in our archives yet.)
Alcoholics Anonymous in length of sobriety. He was the eleventh man to join the fellowship. He still lives today in Akron, Ohio, as he did when he came into the Akron group
— the first Alcoholics Anonymous group — back in 1936. Not long ago he shared
with us the following recollections of what AA was like in the days when he came
in . . . " Now, in 1990, 24 Communications tried to publish several 12 step books through
Harper (one was called "Bill Wilson and the 12 Steps," another one was "Dr. Bob
and the 12 Steps," etc., etc.) Well, the "Dr. Bob and the 12 steps" book had featured the Bob E. article with a few minor changes — on of them being the death date of Bob E. as 1984. It said: "Bob E., until his death in 1984, was the senior living member of Alcoholics Anonymous in length of sobriety. He was the eleventh man to join the fellowship. . ." Does anybody else have any ideas or information about this? Matt D. --- In AAHistoryLovers@yahoogroups.com, "J. Lobdell" > > The date of death for Bob E., given by All Addicts Anonymous as 1984, does not agree with any primary source I can find. The passages quoted in their article are clearly from the same recording quoted in DR BOB, a book which was begun March 1977, very shortly after Bob E. died in Akron (according to the Record of Ohio Deaths 1958-2002) on 9 February 1977 -- at which time he would still have been the longest-sober member of A.A. > > But after 1977 and until his own death in March 1984, Clarence S. (DLD Feb 1938) was regarded both by himself and by others as the longest-sober member,
which suggests the accuracy of the putative 1977 deathdate for Bob E. > > Perhaps some member of HistoryLovers can fill us in on the 1984 death date in the AAA publication. > > - - - - > > Message 5300 says (as referred to in Message 6262 > "Re: Early meeting format"): > > "SHORTLY BEFORE HIS DEATH IN 1984, > Bob E. shared ... the following recollection > of what AA was like when he first joined" > > IT THEN REFERS US TO THE ALL ADDICTS ANONYMOUS WEB SITE AT: > Yüklə 25,47 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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