SEE ALSO Message 6257 "Bob E. (AA #11)"
AND ALSO Message 6265 "Re: Bob E. (AA #11)"
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++++Message 6272. . . . . . . . . . . . Bill W. Died Today (Jan. 24) in 1971
From: Bill Lash . . . . . . . . . . . . 1/24/2010 2:06:00 PM
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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.
Just Love,
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.
The retired Wall Street securities analyst had expected to die or to go
insane as a hopeless drunk 36 years ago but – after what he called a
dramatic spiritual experience – sobered up and stayed sober.
He leaves a program of recovery as a legacy to 47,000 acknowledged
alcoholics in 15,000 A.A. groups throughout the United States and in 18
other countries.
Wife Aided Work
Mr. Wilson, whose twangy voice and economy of words reflected his New
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.
Last Oct. 10, he was under hospital care for acute emphysema and was unable
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.”
Frankness Impressed
In the program’s early years, Mrs. Wilson worked in a department store to
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.
Mr. Wilson shunned oratory and euphemisms and impressed listeners with the
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.”
Strength Limited
Bill, whose physical strength and coordination were limited, was goaded by a
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.”
In the crash of 1929, Mr. Wilson’s funds melted away, but his
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.
Sick, depressed and clutching a bottle of beer, Bill W. staggered a month
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:
“If there is a God, let him show himself, I am ready to do anything,
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.”
Recovering slowly and fired with enthusiasm, Mr. Wilson envisioned a chain
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.
Through Oxford Group channels that night, he gained an introduction to Dr.
Smith, a surgeon and fellow Vermonter who had vainly sought medical cures
and religious help for his compulsive drinking.
Bill W. discussed with the doctor his former drinking pattern and his
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.”
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++++Message 6273. . . . . . . . . . . . AA book study group in Milford
From: Frank Nyikos . . . . . . . . . . . . 1/24/2010 9:42:00 AM
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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.
Most of us have around twenty or more years in the program. None of the
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.
If you are not sure what would be a good list of books to consider, another
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."
______________________________
Perhaps there are other parts of the world where AA people might be
interested
in trying something like this.
If so, there are many other items that have come up which we have solved
successfully and we would be happy to share should anyone have questions.
You
can contact at the following email address: fenyikos@hoosierlink.net
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++++Message 6274. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Early meeting format AND Bob E.
(AA #11)
From: mdingle76 . . . . . . . . . . . . 1/23/2010 11:37:00 PM
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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.)
The Sept 1976 article said: "Bob E. is the senior living member of
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" wrote:
>
> 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:
>
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