Hi Group,

I have heard that Bill W. wrote a foreword or
introduction to/in another recovery book. This
supposedly came from a tape by Bob Earl???

I have searched the AAHL site but I didn't get
results with the wording I was using.

Does anyone have any information to share with
me as to whether this is fact, or fiction?

Best regards,

Byron B.

Location of Henrietta Seiberling's grave???

- - - -

At 15:04 8/30/2008, Kevin Dew wrote:

>It was brought to my attention that Henrietta
>Seiberling, is from and is buried in
>Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, (home of Wild Turkey
>and Four Roses whiskey). She introduced Bill
>to Bob, as we all know.

- - - -

Within the last year or so, someone was
searching for the exact location of
Seiberling's grave.

My daughter lives outside Lawrenceburg and
I have driven by the cemetery where she is
probably buried.  I'd like to visit the
grave, but it's a large tract and I don't
know that I would be up to searching for
it w/o directions.

Has anyone come up with a good set of
directions for it?

Tommy H in Baton Rouge

- - - -

PHOTO OF GRAVESITE AT:

http://hindsfoot.org/photos1.html

Hi Gang,

Don't know if I've ever posted before, but
had to send this.

Apparently, Kentucky has more influence on
the birth of AA than it just being the state
that makes the majority of the bourbon
whiskey consumed by qualifying members.

It was brought to my attention that Henrietta
Seiberling, is from and is buried in
Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, (home of Wild Turkey
and Four Roses whiskey). She introduced Bill
to Bob, as we all know.

Bill Dotson was a Kentuckian ... first AA
after Bill and Bob.

Doesn't count for much, just feeling
particularly proud to be a Kentuckian today.

Kevin, from KY

- - - -

From the moderator:

I have been told that AA in Louisville,
Kentucky, was founded by contact with the
AA group in Indianapolis, Indiana.

But I have never been able to verify this
from any archival sources, either in
Indiana or Kentucky.

The Indianapolis group had been started on
October 28, 1940 by Doherty Sheerin (with
help from James D. "J. D." Holmes, an
Akron newspaperman who was the tenth person
to get sober in AA). Dohr was the person
who sponsored Ralph Pfau (the Father John Doe
who wrote the Golden Books).

I think it would be great if all the states
in the union could put together historical
websites like the one which the Indiana AA
historians are the process of constructing:

http://hindsfoot.org/Nhome.html

I would particularly like to see a good
website established for Florida AA history,
to help in my project of writing about
Richmond Walker, the author of the 24 Hour
book.

Glenn C. (South Bend, Indiana)

In Message 5195, Glenn C. cited the Grapevine
article which mentioned the AA clubroom in
the Beauregard-Keyes house in New Orleans.

>Grapevine, Jan 47
>
>Doctor, Psychiatrist Speak.--Signing the letter
>"A-lways A-chieving," the A.A. Grapevine
>correspondent from New Orleans reports Tuesday
>night open meetings have heard a prominent
>doctor of psychiatry, who agrees with the A.A.
>program, and a national business executive
>who recommends it. Visitors from many places
>have visited the club room at 1113 Chartres
>Street in the basement of General Beauregard's
>former home and good Louisiana coffee is
>promised to all who come that way.
>
>as quoted from AAHistoryLovers Message 1333

- - - -

To locate it a bit more precisely than Glenn
did, for the sake of visitors to New Orleans
the Beauregard-Keyes house is four blocks up
Chartres St. from St. Louis, across the street
from the Ursuline Convent. I like to stay in
the Hotel Provincial, across Ursuline St.
from the convent at 1024 Chartres.

The house is depicted here

<http://www.prairieghosts.com/beauhouse.html>

and here

<http://www.asergeev.com/pictures/archives/compress/2006/544/08.htm>

I do believe by "basement" they mean the street
level story. There are very few underground
basements in New Orleans.

Along the line of this thread, the first A.A.
meeting in Baton Rouge, about 70 miles as
the hurricane wanders NNW of New Orleans,
was held on December 10, 1944, at 720
Laurel Street.  I'm not real sure when the
first group was organized.

Tommy H in Baton Rouge

Forwarded by:
<Shakey1aa@...> (Shakey1aa at aol.com)
"John Blair" <jblair@...> (jblair at wmis.net)
"Tom Hickcox" <cometkazie1@...> (cometkazie1 at cox.net)

August 26, 2008
 
With sorrow at his passing but filled with
joy at having known this grand man, I
regretfully report to you that Muir “Easy”
Edney of Montgomery, Alabama, completed his
journey of 95 years peacefully this morning
and left for the Big Meeting.
 
For the past few years,  Easy Edney was the
longest sober member of Alcoholics Anonymous. 
Easy got sober Nov. 15, 1942, in Jacksonville
Florida, and then moved back to his home of
Montgomery where he helped start AA there. He
knew Bill Wilson.
 
Easy was in remarkably good shape to the end. 
He still attended meetings and sponsored a
number of men until the last.  I last saw
him in April at the Alabama/NW Florida Area
Assembly,  which he faithfully attended over
the years.
 
Less well known is that Edney got his nickname
"Easy" from his hobby as a pool shark.  Easy
was one of the 20th Century’s greatest pool
players, who successfully competed (sober!) 
against such legends as Willie Mosconi and
Minnesota Fats.
 
One of the great rewards of AA has been the
opportunity to know men such as Easy.  We
shall miss him.

Please feel free to forward this around, and
if more info is desired you may call me at
985/640/5552 or e-mail me at

jamestapes@... (jamestapes at aol.com)
    
James Murrell  7/11/81

Friday I went to St. Johnsbury, Vermont, where
the childhood home of Dr. Bob is. His childhood
home is now a recovery drop-in center open to
the public

297 Summer Street, phone 802/751/8520,
email stjkrc@...
(stjkrc at charterinternet.com)

and even has daily AA meetings there.  I was
able to visit young Bob's bedroom (above the
front porch), which is being renovated for
visitors to get a better sense of what it
might have looked like in the late 1800s.

Two blocks away is a small Core Library of
Dr. Bob archival materials (I was a little
disappointed because only about 5% of it is
actual Dr. Bob family stuff). It is housed
in the North Congregational Church library
at 1325 Main Street, St. Johnsbury, Vermont
05819 (telephone 802/748/2603).

     Just Love,
     Barefoot Bill

P.S. -- I also just got a good map of where
Ebby T.'s gravesite is near Albany, New York
(if you've ever been there before you'll
agree that it's hard to find).  If anyone
wants a copy of this map please email your
request directly to me at

barefootbill@...
(barefootbill at optonline.net)

and I will email you back the pdf file.

Namaste.

Does anyone have information about the origins
of AA in New Orleans?

Thanks.

Gerry Rault

- - - -

From the moderator:

The first step on this kind of thing is usually
to do a search in our past messages, using
the little box at the top to look for a specific
word or phrase.

The following is what I found. But what else do
our historians know about the beginnings of
AA in New Orleans?

Glenn C. (South Bend)

- - - -

Message 4299

Significant May Dates in A.A. History

May 3, 1941 - The first AA group in New
Orleans, Louisiana, was formed (sometimes
dated as May 2, 1943)

- - - -

[NOTE: but the June 1946 Grapevine said
that the New Orleans group was started
on March 30, 1943, and the Aug 1947
Grapevine said that they had only about
15 members as of May 10, 1944.]

- - - -

Message 3864

Venetian blind salesman Irwin M who was from
Cleveland .... was a big man, over 250 lbs.
He went to Atlanta, and Jacksonville, New
Orleans etc. He had an unorthodox style of
12 stepping and started many AA groups.

Yours in Service
Shakey Mike Gwirtz

- - - -

Message 1385

Grapevine, Aug 1947

C. G. K. of the New Orleans Group writes in
to say that he went to his first meeting on
May 10, 1944, when the membership was about
15. Nobody could have told him then, he
writes, that three years later the group
would number approximately 150, with another
400 or so A.A.s active elsewhere throughout
the state.

- - - -

Message 1347

Grapevine, Feb 1947

Group Branches Out. -- Covington, La. Group
has started to include the towns of Hammond,
Bogalusa and surrounding rural areas since
its founding in November, 1945. After the
usual growing pains about a dozen are
continuously sober with two new members
celebrating their first year at a supper
recently. Bogalusa will have its own group
in the near future and Hammond is expected
to have a separate one soon. The three towns
may then hold an open meeting each month with
each town holding its own weekly meeting.
Much cooperation has been received from the
New Orleans Group.

- - - -

[NOTE: Covington and Hammond are about 25
miles (45 km) to the north of New Orleans, on
the other side of Lake Pontchartrain. Bogalusa
is about twice as far away, on the Mississippi
state line.

- - - -

Message 1333

Grapevine, Jan 47

Doctor, Psychiatrist Speak.--Signing the letter
"A-lways A-chieving," the A.A. Grapevine
correspondent from New Orleans reports Tuesday
night open meetings have heard a prominent
doctor of psychiatry, who agrees with the A.A.
program, and a national business executive
who recommends it. Visitors from many places
have visited the club room at 1113 Chartres
Street in the basement of General Beauregard's
former home and good Louisiana coffee is
promised to all who come that way.

- - - -

[NOTE: 1113 Chartres Street is in the old
French Quarter of New Orleans, one block
away from the Mississippi river, two blocks
down from Bourbon Street, and three blocks
over from St. Louis Cathedral]

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:FQ29Jan07ChartresPetitTheater1.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/septembermorn/image/58611317

http://www.art.com/asp/sp-asp/_/pd--10391683/Chartres_Street_New_Orleans_Louisia\
na.htm

http://picasaweb.google.com/nwweinberg/TheQuarterHouseResortNewOrleansFrenchQuar\
ter/photo#5221590602611018002

http://www.foodhistory.com/foodnotes/road/la/no/napoleon/01/

http://www.pps.org/great_public_spaces/one?public_place_id=790&type_id=3

- - - -

Message 1311

Grapevine, Oct 46

A.A.s from New Orleans addressed the Hammond,
La., Group; attending were members from
chapters which derived from the original
New Orleans Group: Hammond, Covington, and
Houma, La.; Tylertown and Gulfport, Miss.
Quite a few veterans are coming into the
New Orleans chapter, direct from the Veterans
Hospital -- where the medical staff is 100%
for A.A.

- - - -

Message 1260

Grapevine, June 1946

The New Orleans, La., Group, started March 30,
1943, has grown to an active membership of
almost 200. They have been instrumental in
assisting to organize groups in Covington,
Abbeville, and Pollack, La.; and Tylertown,
Miss. The latest one started on the Mississippi
Gulf Coast includes members from Gulfport,
Biloxi, and other towns in the vicinity.
This group was suggested by the major in
charge of the Veterans Hospital at Gulfport,
who is interested in A.A. work. The same
applies to the Marine Hospital in New Orleans,
where the chief psychiatrist is a friend of
A.A. and has made some several talks before
the group.

- - - -

Message 1229

Grapevine, February 1946

Baton Rouge, La., A.A.s, at their first
anniversary meeting, were hosts to representa-
tive groups from New Orleans, Covington,
Bogalusa, Hammond, Franklinton, Gonzales,
Plaquemine, and Tylertown, Miss. One of the
guest speakers was the Rev. Henry A. Rickey
of Bogalusa, who attended the Yale School of
Alcohol Studies last summer; another was
Dr. Glenn J. Smith, superintendent of the
East Louisiana Hospital at Jackson, who spoke
of how much the people of the state were being
benefited by the work of A.A.

- - - -

Message 795

From Lois Remembers, various notes on Bill
and Lois W's travels .... 1943-4 trip
[pg 143-4] .... New Orleans, La

Esther is credited with starting AA in Dallas.
For more, see:

http://www.aadallas.org/dalhistory.htm

Mike B.

From the story IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN WORSE
(4th edit., page 354)

"It didn't say I had to finally live on skid
row and drink bay rum, canned heat, or lemon
extract. It did say I admitted I was powerless
over alcohol -- that my life had become
unmanageable."

Paul

- - - -

Original message: "rollemupjohnson"
<rollemupjohnson@...> wrote:
>
> Can anyone direct me to any AA literature
> discussing drinking "Bay Rum"?
>
> I'm sure I've heard it before, but can't
> find it.
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> John K.

- - - -

From: "oldtimer672000" <twdtx@...>
(twdtx at sbcglobal.net)

Bay Rum is an after shave lotion one puts on
after shaving, to smell pertty, it also gives
a cooling and refreshing effect to the face
and doesn't taste too bad either if I remember
right it has a slight tinge of lime as well.

- - - -

From: Baileygc23@...
(Baileygc23 at aol.com)

I was aware of bay rum from years ago. Although
I never used it as a refreshment, I did not
know its reputation as the down and outers use
of it on occasion.

- - - -

From: James Flynn <jdf10487@...>
(jdf10487 at yahoo.com)

Yuk.  I use to know some winos who drank Aqua
Velva aftershave lotion, they called it green
lizard.

- - - -

From: "hartsell" <hartsell@...>
(hartsell at etex.net)

Of course Bay Rum is shaving lotion, as is
Green Lizard but Bay Rum is primarily a Hair
Tonic still used in my barber shop! :-)
Of course I go to an Old Folks barber, not
a "Stylist" :-)

Aint it fun to be sober and able to enjoy
just funnin? and of course the discussion
IS Historically pertinent as the subject
is mentioned in our literature.

Sherry C.H.

--- In AAHistoryLovers@yahoogroups.com, "Aloke Dutt" <alokedutt@...>
wrote:
>
> I do remember seeing results of a survey
> conducted on the streets of some US cities
> asking people if they had heard of AA.
>
> If I recollect right, in the states in which
> AA was featured often on radio & newspapers
> more people on the streets knew about AA.
>
> Can I get some more information on this?
>
> In our Intergroup here in North India,
> some feel it's waste of money & effort to
> publicize AA in the media.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Aloke

- - - -

In Canada as well as all of AA world wide we provide statistics to
cooperate with the professional community(CPC) so that we can keep
with our primary purpose.We also provide pamphlets phone numbers and
PSV's This also is helpful with PI or piblic information where we
reach out to the still suffering alcoholic who may need help and
doesn't know where to go for help. Providing
information..pamphlets ..phone #'s, etc that reach's out and helps to
carry the message( our primary purpose).Some professionals work with
alcoholics who want help and we are helping them to help others by
providing the information that is very important. The long hours and
dedication of those in this service are endless .. yet rewarding.We
have seen so many new faces at meetings through the resources we
provide.The AA website provides the  latest statistics for 2008.
Freely we receive freely we give.

A while back "Shakey" asked for information on Esther E -- here's what
I have, courtesy of Searcy W.

FIRST WOMAN IN A.A. IN TEXAS – ESTHER E.

(Editor's note: Esther E. is deceased.  However, her story did not die
with her. We found a tape that had been made of a talk she made when
she was twelve years sober [in 1953?] and this is what she said.
[Additional note: Esther E. was apparently b. around 1901/2, d. in
Dallas June 7 1960.  Frank was b. in New Orleans Sept 9 1899 and d. in
Kerrville TX Sept 1979.])

"I'm Esther and I am an alcoholic. Through following the program of AA
to the best of my ability, I have been sober since May 16, 1941. The
only way I can maintain my sobriety is to remember always what it was
like twelve years ago this weekend.
"I think we have to do time in AA before we realize that it is going
to work for us. I only know that it does work if you desire it with
your whole heart without reservation.
"I came from a family where alcohol was socially accepted. We lived in
New Orleans, Louisiana and there was plenty to drink everywhere –
cocktail lounges and bar rooms. I'm an Episcopalian and we bless our
sacraments with wine. I can't remember a dinner at home that we did
not have white wine and claret on the table. The family drank sherry
now and then – a cordial after dinner. My sister, brother and I liked
crème de menthe. However, I never really knew the effects of alcohol
because our drinks had very little alcohol in them.
"In fact, it was not until about 1931 that my drinking first caused
any comment. After seven years of marriage I decided that I would
divorce my husband, Frank. I went home to my parents. We were living
in Dallas at the time and it only took one month to get a divorce.
Well, I had a time. Finally, I couldn't stand living with my parents
any longer – them watching me everything I did – and Frank was coming
to see me there. I had such a feeling of insecurity – finally I went
back to Dallas and remarried my husband. We left Dallas and moved to
Tulsa. That was the period when all the boys and Esther got drunk and
the wives didn't and they would talk about it.
"We were in Tulsa for about three years and we moved back to Dallas. I
began drinking heavier and heavier. Every night when Frank was in town
he would come home to find me passed out. When he went on a trip
connected with his work, he would come home to find me passed out.
Finally, one morning, he said to me, `Esther, why do you do this?'
"It was decided that a psychiatrist might help me. I went to talk to
the doctor, got drunk again and wound up in a booby hatch where they
kept me for seventeen days. I came out of there in worse shape than I
went in. And I was very resentful of my husband for putting me in that
place. From then on, my drunks ended up with me in a nursing home or
at home with a trained nurse to sober me up. This was in 1936 or `37.
"For Christmas that year my husband gave me a dog, a cocker spaniel.
We were living in an apartment and, in consideration of the new dog, I
found a house and rented it. I began taking the "Samaritan treatment"
to sober up. That is an excruciating way to get sober, the "nip"
treatment. Nothing helped. The church tried to help me; a doctor in
the congregation took an interest in helping me - he thought I had a
vitamin deficiency and shot me hill of vitamins, Of course, that did
not keep me sober. I would take my vitamins, stop at the Triangle Drug
Store and drink two beers, stop by the liquor store and get a pint of
gin and go home.
"Finally, in 1940 we went down to Houston. My husband thought a change
of scene might help me stay sober. That was my last year to drink –
nothing left but to try to stay sober. Nothing really helped. Then in
April 1941 I got drunk and decided to take my dog for his daily walk.
I staggered down the sidewalk and suddenly the patrol car stopped,
drove my dog home and drove me to jail. I was in jail only a few hours
when they called my husband to come and get me. That was the day I hit
bottom.
"Just a week before that (I later learned) someone had sent my husband
the article in the Saturday Evening Post by Jack Alexander about AA.
He was afraid to show it to me right then. I was so resentful of
everything he did. He waited another week or two while I continued to
drink. He was out of town and came home to find me passed out again.
The next morning he came to my room and said, "Esther, I'm not going
to lecture you or criticize any more, but I want you to read this
article about how some people are staying sober in AA." Frank said if
I would try this new thing, he would go along with me but if I did
not, l would have to go home to my parents…  He could not stand by and
watch me destroy myself anymore.
"When he left me, I took several drinks to get my eyes to focus and I
read the article – through and through. From the very first paragraph
something began happening to me. I realized there were other people in
this world like me, that I was sick with a disease called alcoholism.
It was feeling of relief and I wanted to learn more about it. For the
first time I realized there was something horribly wrong with me. The
article was the first thing that had ever reached me. I told my
husband I wanted to try this AA. I wrote to New York and received a
personal note from Ruth Hock giving me the name of Larry Jewell. I
telephoned him and learned that he was in the hospital. So, naturally,
I got a pint of White Swan Gin and stayed drunk from Monday to Friday.
"That Friday night, May 16, 1941, at five minutes to 6:00 p.m., I had
a half water glass of White Swan Gin and with it, I humbly asked God
to help me. I have not had a drink since. The next day I went to
Larry's house and talked with his wife Bonita. And I met Ed H. and Roy
Y. and all those first members ... and the happiest life I have ever
known."

Bay Rum was shaving lotion

What was the actual date of Bill W's Winchester
Cathedral visit, as close as we can tell?

Message 5167 from "iouaa"
<philip.thompson80@...> (philip.thompson80 at virgin.net)
has already asked this question, but I have
seen no attempts to answer it.

- - - -

From the moderator:

Pass It On pages 58-61 says that Bill W. left
the U.S. for England in August 1918.

And it says that he had left England and had
been in France for a while by the time the
Armistice was signed on November 11, 1918.

So his visit to Winchester Cathedral was
somewhere between those two dates, but can
we pin it down any closer than that?

Glenn C. (South Bend, Indiana)

1961 he retired from the Air Force as a
Senior Master Sergeant. He signed a contract
to establish a treatment center in Lubbock,
Texas, and became the director of the
Arnett-Benson Rehabilitation Center as it
was called.

Early 1962 his father died, and Bill
decided ....

- - - -

Having sobered up in Lubbock in 1976, the
Sarge may have been associated with Reese Air
Force base West of town that was originally
part of the Army Air corps.  I believe that
clinic helped many, but had a short life.

Lubbock eventually became the home of a med
school that was very proactive in the treatment
of alcoholism, having a dean (George T) who
had begun his recovery in 1969 in Co.  That
medical school was awarded four career teacher
awards in alcoholism in the 1970's.  One was
in recovery, three others were not.  It was
George's belief that it helped if you were
in recovery to treat the illness but in some
cases (albeit rare) people not in recovery,
could do a good job.

George and Bill D (IDAA) from Morristown NJ
started AA/medical meetings that were held in
El Paso and San Antonio discussing medical
issues associated with substance abuse and
then having separate open AA meetings.  These
took place in the late 70's and into the 80's.

Texas Tech University now is one of three
universities(started at Tech) that offer
opportunity to students in recovery.  I saw
a woman in her 60s get a degree a few years
ago who would never had the chance without
this program.  Many, many stories out of
this program started by Carl Anderson in the
80s and taken to its present level by Kitty
Harris Wilkes.

Texas Tech University
Center for the Study of Addiction and Recovery
Lubbock, Texas:

http://www.depts.ttu.edu/hs/CSA/

It was Shep C and he reputedly visited Bill at
his home in Brooklyn more than once (together
with Ebby).

From my own readings there are documented
inferences that the relationship between Bill
and Rowland was somewhat more cordial than
is reflected in the previous postings on this
topic.

Rowland was one of the attendees at Stewarts
Cafeteria after Oxford Group meetings (along
with Bill W, Ebby T, Cebra G and Shep C). This
is a further inference that Rowland was also
a meeting attendee.

In his autobiography Bill W notes that Rowland
was a regular visitor to the Calvary Rescue
Mission (together with Cebra G, Shep C and
Ebby T) to help work with alcoholics.

Finally, as noted in a previous post by
Jared L, both Bill and Rowland served on the
Oxford Group's Businessmen's Team.

Cheers
Arthur

Noon on Saturday, August 23, 2008

Memorial service for "Sgt. Bill"

William E. Swegan
at Duggan's Mission Chapel
525 W. Napa Street,
Sonoma, California 95476
Phone: 707/996/3655

In lieu of buying flowers, his wife Mary has
suggested that A.A. members might drop an
extra dollar or so in the basket in memory of
Bill at the next A.A. meeting they attend.

For non-A.A. people, the other vocation to
which Bill devoted himself over his long
career in helping people was the Red Cross
blood donor program, which he always said he
regarded as a spiritual program because we
gave of ourselves to save another human
being's life. So a similar donation there
could also serve as a suitable honor to
Bill's memory.

When Bill and Lois went to Maryland they would
stay  with Fitz Mayo and his wife. This was
during the time our basic text was being
written. His house was on land that was given
to him by the Burwell  family. Bill did not
write when he visited there but Lois did take
care of  Fitz's wife during her illness. Bill
and Fitz were close friends. There is  very
little known about Fitz M.(see my previous
posts on Jimmy B. and Fitz M. for  more
information). He may have been the glue that
held AA in NY together when battle lines were
being drawn on the Higher Power and God as
I understand Him issue.(Please correct me if
I am wrong; This is only my opinion)

On the early visits to Philadelphia, Bill and
others were put up in the homes of AA's and
AA's Associate Members like Dr's A. Weise
Hammer and Dudley Saul. These non-alcoholics
made it possible for A.A. to grow and survive.
We owe a great debt to these men and women.
The travel during this time was sometimes by
car but mainly by train. Arrangements were
made by post or by Western Union telegraph.
Telephones were somewhat of a luxury at the
time. This is why we have such fine records
of our early history. Once telephones became
commonplace we began to lose a lot of our
history.

PUBLIC INFORMATION COMMITTEE

The first committee after the Gripe Committee
in Philadelphia A.A. was P. I. (Public
Information Committee) It was felt that we
needed to tell our story rather than someone
else who was unfamiliar with us. P. I. is
essential in Intergroups and in Area structure.

The dirty windows at AA's second clubhouse and
1st "fully functional" Clubhouse led to the
formation of the "Gripe Committee."

Yours in Service,
Shakey Mike Gwirtz
Going to E Dorset for the Archives weekend at
the Wilson House this  upcoming weekend with
Mitchell K., Barefoot and others.

William E. Swegan
(Sgt. Bill S.)
Dates in his life

June 29, 1918 Bill Swegan born in Niles, Ohio

November 11, 1918 the Armistice ends World War I

1923 death of his mother

1926 his father remarried

May 20-21, 1927 Charles A. Lindbergh flew from
Roosevelt Field (near New York City) to Paris
in the Spirit of St. Louis in 33 hrs. 39 min.

October 1929 the stock market crash began the
period of the great depression

March 4, 1933 banks closed and business
virtually at a standstill for a more than a week

June 1936 Bill Swegan graduated from high school

December 24, 1939 Christmas Eve, Bill's first
drink, got drunk (working for the local
Firestone Service Store). Turned in his
resignation three times, but returned to
working for Firestone each time, there for
the next three years.  He transferred to
Portsmouth, Virginia, then quit.  Came back
to Ohio and was hired again as Service Manager.

1938 Bought his first automobile (1929 Model
A Ford), Service Manager at the Firestone in
Ohio.

September 1, 1939 Germany invaded Poland
(Great Britain and France declared war on
Germany on Sept. 3)

December 1939 Bill enlisted in the Army Air
Force for the first time. (Did not see his
family "for almost four years."  This put him
back in the states on furlough in the summer
of 1943.) Army Air Force recruit training at
Langley Field, Virginia, in December 1939.
Sleeping in tents in the damp and cold.
December 24th it started to snow.  Then he
volunteered to go to Hawaii (via Fort Slocum
on a small island near New Rochelle, New York,
a troopship through the Panama Canal, and
San Francisco).

April 1940 arrived in Hawaii

December 7, 1941 the Japanese attack on Pearl
Harbor and Hickam Army Air Base (which was
right next to the harbor). Bill runs through
the rain of bombs and bullets; his best
friends are all killed.

June 13, 1942 Bill was promoted to first
sergeant, which at that time was a rank in
addition to being a position (at 23 years old,
the youngest first sergeant ever in Air Force
history), 362nd Material Squadron, Hickam Field.

June 1943 Bill was shipped back to the states
in the summer of '43, to go to Aviation Cadet
School in LaGrande, Oregon (with courses at
Eastern Oregon College beginning July 6, 1943,
but washed out of the program as a result of
a drinking escapade.

Nov. 26, 1943 transferred to Goldsboro, North
Carolina, and shipped to New Guinea. Stationed
at Nadzab, New Guinea (where he caught dengue
fever and also picked up his malaria).  Then
the island of Biak, then Mindora in the
Philippine Islands.

At some point prior to the Japanese surrender,
Bill was shipped back to the United States and
sent to Camp Atterbury (about 35 miles south
of Indianapolis, Indiana) prior to discharge.

August 14, 1945 Japan accepted surrender terms.
Bill was at Camp Atterbury, on pass to the
nearby town of Columbus, Indiana, and was hit
on the head and knocked unconscious by an
object thrown from a window. (Japan did not
actually sign the surrender until September 2.)
The death of Bill's stepmother in August 1945
fits in here somewhere.

August 19, 1945 discharged from the service.
Worked for General Electric, in the lamp
division, eventually fired for showing up
drunk for work too many times.

February 1946 the divorce became final, and
Bill's first marriage came to an end. There
was a daughter whom he only saw once again,
many years later. He had gone to work at a
General Motors plant, which went on strike at
the time he was put in the hospital for malaria
(and for his drinking).  Wife granted a divorce
when the judge found out.  Refused admission
to a Veteran's Hospital because of the alcoholism.
First contact with A.A.  His ex-wife eventually
told him she would never remarry him even if
he did stop drinking.  He reenlisted in the Air
Force in Toledo, Ohio.  His first duty station
was Wright-Patterson Air Force base in Dayton,
Ohio.  Then he was sent to the Reserve Training
Base at Romulus, Michigan.

May 2, 1946 married his second wife Ann on
May 2, 1946. She already had two children.

May 1947 Ann had become pregnant.  Bill quit
drinking for a few months, his second contact
with A.A.

Ann gave birth in May 1947 to a little boy
(who became the third child in their combined
family).  Summer of 1947, Bill was transferred
to Offut AFB in Omaha, Nebraska.

July 5, 1948 got sober in AA while stationed
at Mitchel Air Force Base on Long Island,
New York. He attended meetings with Yev
Gardner, Mrs. Marty Mann's right hand man.
Marty pulled strings and got the Air Force
to appoint Bill Swegan to work full time with
alcoholics at Mitchel AFB. This was the first
officially sanctioned AA-related alcoholism
treatment program in the U.S. military.

1949 Bill attended the Yale School of Alcohol
Studies, where he studied with E. M. Jellinek.
Searcy Whaley (who had gotten sober on May 5,
1946, and therefore had two more years of
sobriety than Bill) was also a student there,
and took young Bill under his wing.

1951-1953 Bill was appointed to teach in the
Air Force ROTC program at Kent State University,
right outside Akron, Ohio. He spent a year
going into St. Thomas Hospital and talking with
Sister Ignatia whenever he could get off work,
and observing the way her alcoholism treatment
program there was run.

1953-1961 at Lackland Air Force Base in San
Antonio, Texas, officially assigned by the
Air Force once more to work with alcoholics
full time.  He was initially assigned to the
chaplain's office as a "Chaplain's Assistant,"
but the head of psychiatry at the military
hospital there, Dr. Louis Jolyon "Jolly" West,
had him re-assigned to psychiatry as a
psychiatric social worker.

June 1956 Bill authored (with Dr. West) "An
Approach to Alcoholism in the Military Service,"
in the American Journal of Psychiatry, where
he documented the way he had achieved a fifty
percent success rate in treating military
alcoholics (with others who had gone through
his program getting sober later on). Their
program emphasized the psychological side of
A.A. instead of the spiritual side.

1957-1961 after Dr. West's departure in 1957
(he ended up as head of the Psychiatry
Department at UCLA), Bill's position at
Lackland began to erode.  Bill had to go
through three years of continuous struggle,
with no support from higher up, before he
could in his 21 years of Air Force service
and retire.

1961 he retired from the Air Force as a
Senior Master Sergeant.  He signed a contract
to establish a treatment center in Lubbock,
Texas, and became the director of the
Arnett-Benson Rehabilitation Center as it
was called.

Early 1962 his father died, and Bill decided
to move back to Ohio. Living in Niles, Ohio
with his wife Ann and five boys (David, Robert,
Bill, Albert, and Alfonso), working for
Sanzenbacher Motors for three months.

1963-1965 Director of the Blood Donor Program
for the American Red Cross in that county.
They lived in the old homestead.

1965-1971 hired by the San Jose, California,
Red Cross Chapter to head their Donor
Recruitment Program, and worked there for
six years.

1965 Navy Commander Richard Jewell and Captain
Joseph Zuska, M.D., founded the world famous
Navy alcoholism treatment program at Long Beach,
California, in 1965. While they were setting
it up, Jewell brought Bill Swegan to Long Beach
to tell them how his program at Lackland had
been set up in the 1950's (a comparison of the
two programs will show the many similarities).
The U.S. military had a working, officially
sanctioned alcoholism treatment program once
again, this time in the Navy.

1971-1978 Bill took up a civil service position
as Chief of the Alcoholism Program at Fort Ord
in California, attempting to start an alcoholism
treatment program in the U.S. Army.

1978-1983 Bill took an EAP position at the
Naval Air Rework Facility at Alameda  Naval
Air Station in California for the last five
years of his work career.

1983 He had made a pledge to retire at 65,
and when that day finally arrived, retired
from his job at the Naval Station. Upon
retirement, he received the Meritorious Service
Award, the Navy's highest award for a civilian
at a duty station.

1993 his second wife Ann began to have
difficult mental problems.

January 10, 2000 Ann died from aspiration
pneumonia due to cerebrovascular accident.
Seven years of difficult times before that:
agitated dementia, schizophrenia, and sick
sinus syndrome.

March 15-17, 2002 Indiana State A.A. Conference
in Columbus, Indiana. Bill began working on
his book "On the Military Firing Line" telling
the story of his life and describing his
alcoholism treatment method.

The last six years of Bill's life:  He
continued living in Sonoma, California, and
traveling around speaking to AA conferences
and gatherings, including giving the keynote
address at the 8th National Archives Workshop
in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 2003. He
married Mary, daughter of Dr. Louis Jolyon West;
theirs was a truly loving and devoted
relationship. On April 23, 2007, President
George W. Bush sent Bill a presidential
citation and a letter thanking him for his
service to the country. In October 2007,
Bill was given an honorary certification
from the California Certification Board of
Alcohol and Drug Counselors, the only time
such a certification has ever been granted.

August 17, 2008 death

In Message 5179, Tom White <tomwhite@...>
(tomwhite at cableone.net) wrote:

> No, I think that was OG member "Shep" who
> visited Bill either in Towns or Brooklyn
> with Ebby in 1934.
>
> Tom W.

Yes, Shep was a much more immediate presence
in Bill's Oxford Group life than Rowland, and
he was not an alcoholic although he probably
did stop drinking out of respect for OG
clean-living tradition. There was no specific
rule against drinking for OG members. It all
depended on their individual guidance.

In her book "Lois Remembers," Lois says she
and Bill and Ebby and Shep were regular
attenders of the Calvary Church OG meeting.
My impression is that Rowland did not attend
that meeting. It was for ordinary OGs and not
the top team. Shep probably went to support
Ebby, Bill and others. I'm not sure how much of
Rowland's time was spent in New York in that
period -- apparently not very much, as he
had residences in Rhode Island, Vermont and
California. Shep, on the other hand, was deeply
involved in the OG (more so than Rowland) and
in New York full-time.

I've read speculation that Rowland visited
Bill in Towns hospital the last time Bill was
there, but Bill (I'm going primarily on
material in Dick B.'s book, "The Conversion
of Bill W.") never said so.  Also, Rowland had
been on a major OG mission to the "West,"
including Canada, over the previous couple of
weeks and there is no evidence he was in New
York at the time Bill was in Towns. Rowland
did keep in close touch with Ebby from the
summer of 1934 through late 1935, and brought
him to New Mexico in August 1935. I can't
believe Rowland could have missed being in
the same place with Bill at some point.

One intriguing detail: James Houck, the Oxford
Group old-timer who was involved with the AA
back-to-basics people, remembered attending
OG meetings in Frederick, Maryland, with Bill
in 1935-1937. That is quite a long period of
time and I'm not sure how many meetings Bill
could really have attended there, but I do know
that Rowland gave his testimony at a large
public OG meeting in Frederick in 1935.

Cora

I do remember seeing results of a survey
conducted on the streets of some US cities
asking people if they had heard of AA.

If I recollect right, in the states in which
AA was featured often on radio & newspapers
more people on the streets knew about AA.

Can I get some more information on this?

In our Intergroup here in North India,
some feel it's waste of money & effort to
publicize AA in the media.

Thanks,

Aloke
in North India

This can be only a partial answer to the
questions raised on payment for travelers to
AA functions.

On Anne and Dr Bob at Conventions, etc., of
course Anne died the year before the 1950
International, and Bob was driven over for
his brief appearance (and the registration
fee was $1.50, for what that's worth).

When Bob and Anne went up to the Camp Karephree
Founders' Day frolics, they drove, and stayed
over with friends.

When Bob came east in 1939 (I think it was),
he and Anne stayed at Bill and Kathleen R's
in Hackettstown.  After that I believe they
stayed with Bill and Lois or with family or
with other AA friends (or possibly at an Inn
in St Johnsbury?) -- no AA payments.

The files should show the degree to which
Bill's and Lois's expenses were underwritten
by AA at the Internationals, and then Lois's.

The Trustees at their Quarterly meetings at
the Crowne Plaza in recent years have their
rooms paid for by GSO (or AAWS/Grapevine) as
a bloc (cheaper that way), and are offered
reimbursement for travel and parking (but I
recall being told that they were told the
CP Parking Garage was too expensive so use
the cheaper Days' Inn garage down on the next
corner).

Non-AA Speakers at the Conventions have, from
the evidence I've seen, been put up as cheaply
as possible; I don't know their per-diem. AA
Members on panels have been assumed to be there
for themselves -- generally no reimbursement
and take what you get on quarters.

The local Area where I live voted not to cover
spouses' expenses at the Convention/Assembly
back in 1998: I can't say if that still holds
but suspect it does.

Our History & Archives Gathering has on a
couple of occasions put featured speakers up
for a night at a Holiday Inn Express ($75)
or approximate equivalent, and once paid full
and once partial expenses for long-distance
bus transportation to a couple of far-travelers
-- but Mel B. drove himself from Toledo to
Harrisburg at his own expense, and Glenn C.
twice from South Bend to Lebanon, Pennsylvania.

Back around the end of WW2, Joe F. did offer
to fly Bill W. to Karephree in the midst of
Bill's depression -- but that would have been
Joe's private gift to Bill (who was too
depressed to come in any case).

And over the years anecdotal evidence indicates
quite a number of travelers have declined to
have their ways paid by AA or even by members
of AA (except, by richer members, in cases of
extreme financial exigency).

- - - -

The original message was 5168
"Tradition 8 and convention speaker 'riders'"
from <stockholmfellowship@...> at
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/AAHistoryLovers/message/5168

- - - -

From: charles Knapp <cdknapp@...>
(cdknapp at pacbell.net)

Hello Group,

When Bill came to speak in Southern California,
there were any number of members that would
have been thrilled to put Bill or Bill and
Lois up in their home during their stay.  If
they were in the San Diego area they oftentime
they stayed with Bill's mother or Jimmy and
Rosa Burwell.

If in the Los Angeles area in the 1940's they
stayed with some of AA pioneers such as Doc H.,
Pete C., Cliff W., and Barney H.  Doc H. had
a cabin in the San Bernardino mountains that
Bill stayed at on more than one occasion.

Starting around the late 1940's and early
1950's Bill spent most of his visits at
Chuck C.'s  house.  After Chuck got sober he
did very well financially and had a big home
overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Laguna Beach.
Bill said he felt as if he could really relax
while at Chuck's place.  After the 1955
International Convention in St Louis Bill came
out and stayed about a week  at Chuck's home.

I have only heard of one time that Bill and
Lois' traveling expenses were paid by local
members and that was their visit in 1947.
Several groups pitched in to bring Bill and
Lois to the Long Beach, California, area.
The women gave a luncheon for Lois and big
meetings were planned to hear Bill talk.  I
am sure some of the more well off members paid
for train or plane tickets when they visited at
other times, but that part of the story was
never mentioned.

As for the International Conventions, I spoke
on the Archives Panel at the 2000 Convention
and I had to pay my own way. I received no
perks from the GSO and was told that when I
was invited.

Also if you read the Wilson-Burwell Letters you
will see Jimmy was a little put out at the fact
his expenses were not paid to attend the 1965
International Conventions. So I guess I was in
good company

   Hope this helps

   Charles from California

Shep Cornell was the putative sherry-sipper.

The Bill Wilson quote about sherries at the
cotillion can be found on pages 17 and 118
of Not God by Ernest Kurtz: "pantywaist[s]
whose nearest exposure to alcoholism has
been going wild one night on too many
sherries at a Junior League cotillion."
Kurtz cites Robert Thompsen's Bill W.
pp.211-12 as his source.
  
Rowland wasn't singled out by Bill Wilson,
but Rowland's patrician background would have
made him suspicious to Bill.  Wilson seems
to have been more irritated by "Ivy League[r]"
Shep Cornell, one of the three Oxford Group
members who rescued Ebby in Vermont, and who
also accompanied Ebby to a followup visit to
Bill in Towns Hospital in 1934.

John Lee
Pittsburgh

On Fri, 8/15/08, Baileygc23 at aol.com
<Baileygc23@...> wrote:

Wasn't Rowland H the person whom Bill W
described as probably having too many sherries
at a junior league coalition, or something like
that, when he was first introduced to the
Oxford group?

No, I think that was OG member "Shep" who
visited Bill either in Towns or Brooklyn
with Ebby in 1934.

Tom W.

On Aug 15, 2008, at 6:12 PM, Baileygc23@... wrote:

> Wasn't Rowland H the person whom Bill W
> described as probably having too many sherries
> at a junior league coalition, or something like
> that, when he was first introduced to the
> Oxford group?

Bill Swegan, the chief spokesman for the
wing of early A.A. which emphasized the
psychological aspects of the program, passed
away at 1 p.m. on Sunday, August 17, 2008.

Born June 29, 1918, sober July 5, 1948,
died August 17, 2008

90 years old, sober 60 years

In A.A. circles, Bill Swegan was a close
associate of Mrs. Marty Mann, Yev Gardner,
E. M. Jellinek, and Searcy Whaley.

Survived by his children, as well as his wife
Mary, the love of his life, whose father was
the noted psychiatrist Dr. Louis Jolyon
"Jolly" West.  Bill Swegan and Mary's father
worked together to create the pioneering
alcoholism treatment program at Lackland in
the 1950's.

Notes of condolence can be sent to Bill and
Mary's home address:

William E. Swegan
152 Bear Flag Road
Sonoma, California 95476

See Bill's article "The Psychology of
Alcoholism" at:

http://hindsfoot.org/BSV02Psy.html

along with the little pamphlet he used to
hand out to alcoholics who entered his
AA-based treatment program:

http://hindsfoot.org/BSV01Thr.html

For photos of Bill, Mary, and Dr. West, see:

http://www.geocities.com/glennccc@sbcglobal.net/aapix02.html

http://hindsfoot.org/essays.html

http://hindsfoot.org/kBS4.html

Bill was a dear friend, a truly good man,
and I am going to miss him more than words
could ever say.

Glenn C.

Re-sent with corrections

At 08:54 8/17/2008, Fred wrote:

>In trying to research the different editions
>of Emmet Fox's book, "The Sermon on the Mount,"
>I learned that the editions that they used
>in New york and Akron (1934 & 1935) did not
>have the chapter about The Lord's Prayer.
>
>This intrigued me as to what the letters below
>the Copyright information designates and what
>the sequence of their combinations actually
>mean.
>
>Does anyone know of or can refer me to a resource
>that describes this numbering/lettering system?
>

That is the code Harpers used to indicate when the book was printed.

It was explained on this list very well not too long ago, but I can't
find the post right now.

I recorded the following.  It was in a nicer form, but my cpu won't
reproduce it:


Harper & Brothers. Prior to 1912, the date on the title page should
match the last date on the copyright page. Began stating "First
Edition" on the copyright page in 1922. A letter code for the month
and year the book was printed, which would actually be earlier than
the official publication date, was introduced in 1912. In most cases
for first editions published between 1912 and 1922, the letter code
for the year on the copyright page should match (or precede) the date
on the title page.

Months:
A=January       E=May   I=September
B=February      F=June  K=October
C=March G=July          L=November
D=April H=August        M=December


Years:
M=1912  B=1927  R=1942  G=1957
N=1913  C=1928  S=1943  H=1958
O=1914  D=1929  T=1944  I=1959
P=1915  E=1930  U=1945  K=1960
Q=1916  F=1931  V=1946  L=1961
R=1917  G=1932  W=1947  M=1962
S=1918  H=1933  X=1948  N=1963
T=1919  I=1934  Y=1949  O=1964
U=1920  K=1935  Z=1950  P=1965
V=1921  L=1936  A=1951  Q=1966
W=1922  M=1937  B=1952  R=1967
X=1923  N=1938  C=1953  S=1968
Y=1924  O=1939  D=1954
Z=1925  P=1940  E=1955
A=1926  Q=1941  F=1956

My printing of Sermon on the Mount is coded K-P, so it was printed in
October, 1935.

The first printing of the 12x12 is coded D-C, indicating March, 1953.

I had not heard that the chapter on the Lord's Prayer was left out of
the original versions.  When I was in prep school in the mid-50s, we
had a vesper service before dinner and every year the Headmaster
would give a series of talks from Fox on the Lord's Prayer.  The book
brought back fond memories when I arrived in A.A. and read it.

I would be interested in when the addition was made.

Tommy H in Baton Rouge

Not long ago I was privileged to come into
possession of a copy of Anne Ripley Smith's
Journal 1933-1939.  It is the Journal she
kept and shared with Dr. Bob, Bill W., and
the early people in the Alcoholics Anonymous
movement.  It is supposed to have come from
AA's General Service Office in New York City.
I received 79 pages of which 28 are handwritten,
of which some appear to be duplicated.  There
are 51 typed pages that Dr. Bob and Anne's
daughter Sue Smith-Windows typed.

On the written pages I have tried to duplicate
it as it was written, but there are some areas
that are just not decipherable.  When the
original Journal was copied, there were pages
where some of the information on the pages
was cut off during the duplicating process.
I have not tried to alter or put in words
even when I thought I might know what was
intended to be said.  I will leave that up
to you to fill in the blanks.  Eventually
I will scan the complete document as I
received it and make those available also.

- - - -

From the moderator:

Since we cannot put attachments to
AAHistoryLovers messages, I have posted a
copy of these two transcripts (which are
in the form of Adobe Acrobat .PDF files) at

http://hindsfoot.org/annesmth.html

All those who wish, may take a look at
the two transcripts there.

Wasn't Rowland H the person whom Bill W
described as probably having too many sherries
at a junior league coalition, or something like
that, when he was first introduced to the
Oxford group?

Is the inventory real on page 65 of the Big
Book? If it is, whose is it?

In trying to research the different editions
of Emmet Fox's book, "The Sermon on the Mount,"
I learned that the editions that they used
in New york and Akron (1934 & 1935) did not
have the chapter about The Lord's Prayer.

This intrigued me as to what the letters below
the Copyright information designates and what
the sequence of their combinations actually
mean.

Does anyone know of or can refer me to a resource
that describes this numbering/lettering system?

Thanx,
Fred

AA archives or Brown University?

I thought that Smithy sold a copy of the
Big Book to AA. The price I remember was
$25,000.

But searching to verify the fact, I could only
come across something from  Brown University
saying they had Dr Bob's papers and the
Big Book and coffee  pot.

I am sure that I would have heard this when
I was on AA committees some twenty years or
so ago .... but ???

Possibly you can correct me, if I am in error.

George