FLORENCE RANKIN'S GRAVE:

In the Spring 2007 issue of "Markings" is an

article about the Washington (DC) Intergroup

(WAIA) locating Florence Rankin's grave.



It's a touching story about finding her burial

site in a rundown section of the cemetery

(George Washington Cemetery, Adelphi, Maryland)

and raising funds, privately, to purchase a

headstone. Apparently there was no headstone,

just a marker.



Bob W. and the WAIA archives committee are

doing a fantastic job!



ROLLIE HEMSLEY'S GRAVE:

Not long ago I learned, from reading old

baseball player bios, that Rollie Hemsley of

Cleveland Indians catcher 1940 anonymity break

fame, was buried at the same cemetery. I live

nearby and an AA friend and I visited both

gravesites recently. Quite an experience. If

anyone is interested in photos I'll be happy

to email them.



Contact me at:

<mfmargetis@...> (mfmargetis at yahoo.com)



Link to the Markings story, pg 4:

http://www.aa.org/en_pdfs/f-151_markings_spring07.pdf



Thanks,



Mike Margetis

Brunswick, Maryland



- - - -



From the Markings story:



Florence R. was among the first women to get

sober in A.A., and the only one to write a

story for the first edition of Alcoholics

Anonymous. (Her story, “A Feminine Victory,”

is now found in Experience Strength and Hope

with others from the first three editions of

the Big Book.)



We in the archives committee felt that as a

part of A.A. history she was deserving of some

commemoration, and so decided to locate her

grave. We called the cemetery offices and asked

if they had a grave site for Florence R. Their

search proved negative. We then recalled that

the death certificate was for Florence K. (her

married name) and called the cemetery again

with that name, and that did the trick. They

had such a gravesite recorded April 1943.



Making arrangements with the cemetery offices,

we arrived to continue our search. The

caretaker provided a map and a marker and

told us that they would give us help with

our search. Two cemetery workers arrived with

a shovel and a metal detector and off we went

—- to an unkempt part of the cemetery where

there were no grave stones –- just a lot of

weeds, trees, and leaves. After much pacing

off of distances, the two workers exclaimed,

“Here it is!”



The workers used the shovel to clear the area

so that the metal marker could be seen. We

planted the flag marker and laid down a single

flower.



The cemetery informed us how we could go about

purchasing a gravestone .... at our next

Washington Area Intergroup Association Board

meeting [the] consensus was that ... it was

inappropriate to use A.A. money. [But] when we

announced that private funds would be sought,

we left the meeting with sufficient pledges

to cover the cost of both the stone and its

installation.



- - - -



From Nancy Olson's biographies of the Big Book

authors:



http://www.a-1associates.com/westbalto/HISTORY_PAGE/Authors.htm#Florence%20Ranki\

n



A Feminine Victory -- Florence Rankin

New York City.

Original Manuscript, p. 217 in 1st edition



Florence was the first woman to get sober in

A.A., even for a short time.   She came to A.A.

in New York in March of 1937.  She had several

slips, but was sober over a year when she wrote

her story for the Big Book.



It must have been difficult for Florence being

the only woman.  She prayed for inspiration to

tell her story in a manner that would give

other women courage to seek the help that she

had been given.



She was the ex-wife of a man Bill Wilson had

known on Wall Street.  She thought the cause

of her drinking would be removed when she and

her husband were divorced.  But it was her

ex-husband who took Lois Wilson to visit her

at Bellevue.  Bill and Lois got her out of

Bellevue and she stayed in their home for a

time.  After she left their home she stayed

with other members of the fellowship.



In part, due to Florence having been sober

more than a year, "One Hundred Men" was

discarded as the name for the Big Book.



She moved to Washington, D.C. and tried to help

Fitz Mayo ("Our Southern Friend"), who after

sobering up in New York started A.A. in

Washington, D.C.



She married an alcoholic she met there, who

unfortunately did not get sober.  Eventually

Florence started drinking again and disappeared.

Fitz Mayo found her in the morgue.  She had

committed suicide.



Despite her relapse and death from alcoholism,

Florence helped pave the way for the many women

who followed.  She was in Washington by the

time Marty Mann ("Women Suffer Too"), the next

woman to arrive in A.A. in New York, entered

the program.  Marty only met her once or twice,

but her story in the Big Book no doubt encouraged

Marty.

Would some member of the group who knows how to

do these things, consider adding Memorials for

Florence Rankin and Rollie Hemsley to the FIND A

GRAVE website?



http://www.findagrave.com/index.html



You could include photos of their gravestones

in their Memorials. That way we could all make

a (virtual) visit to their Memorials and access

any photos posted thereon.  (Someone else might

have other photos that they could add?)



Several persons of interest already do have

Find A Grave Memorials.



Karl K.



- - - -



From the moderator: for example, Bill Wilson

and Lois Wilson, where Doug B. posted some

photos.



- - - -



In AAHistoryLovers@yahoogroups.com,

"Michael F. Margetis" <mfmargetis@...> wrote:

>

> FLORENCE RANKIN'S GRAVE:

> In the Spring 2007 issue of "Markings" is an

> article about the Washington (DC) Intergroup

> (WAIA) locating Florence Rankin's grave.

>

> It's a touching story about finding her burial

> site in a rundown section of the cemetery

> (George Washington Cemetery, Adelphi, Maryland)

> and raising funds, privately, to purchase a

> headstone. Apparently there was no headstone,

> just a marker.

>

> Bob W. and the WAIA archives committee are

> doing a fantastic job!

>

> ROLLIE HEMSLEY'S GRAVE:

> Not long ago I learned, from reading old

> baseball player bios, that Rollie Hemsley of

> Cleveland Indians catcher 1940 anonymity break

> fame, was buried at the same cemetery. I live

> nearby and an AA friend and I visited both

> gravesites recently. Quite an experience. If

> anyone is interested in photos I'll be happy

> to email them.

>

> Contact me at:

> <mfmargetis@...> (mfmargetis at yahoo.com)

>

> Link to the Markings story, pg 4:

> http://www.aa.org/en_pdfs/f-151_markings_spring07.pdf

>

> Thanks,

>

> Mike Margetis

> Brunswick, Maryland

>

Karl,



Rollie was already on "Find A Grave", I added

a photo that is "pending approval" from the

website. Hopefully that will be viewable soon.



I created one for Florence and submitted a

photo, so that should be viewable now. Remember

when looking up Florence use Kalhoun as her

last name, not Rankin.



  - Mike Margetis

    Brunswick, Maryland





--- In AAHistoryLovers@yahoogroups.com, "Karl Kleen" <kkleen9@...>

wrote:

>

> Would some member of the group who knows how to

> do these things, consider adding Memorials for

> Florence Rankin and Rollie Hemsley to the FIND A

> GRAVE website?

>

> http://www.findagrave.com/index.html

>

> You could include photos of their gravestones

> in their Memorials. That way we could all make

> a (virtual) visit to their Memorials and access

> any photos posted thereon. (Someone else might

> have other photos that they could add?)

>

> Several persons of interest already do have

> Find A Grave Memorials.

>

> Karl K.

>

> - - - -

>

> From the moderator: for example, Bill Wilson

> and Lois Wilson, where Doug B. posted some

> photos.

>

> - - - -

>

> In AAHistoryLovers@yahoogroups.com,

> "Michael F. Margetis" mfmargetis@ wrote:

> >

> > FLORENCE RANKIN'S GRAVE:

> > In the Spring 2007 issue of "Markings" is an

> > article about the Washington (DC) Intergroup

> > (WAIA) locating Florence Rankin's grave.

> >

> > It's a touching story about finding her burial

> > site in a rundown section of the cemetery

> > (George Washington Cemetery, Adelphi, Maryland)

> > and raising funds, privately, to purchase a

> > headstone. Apparently there was no headstone,

> > just a marker.

> >

> > Bob W. and the WAIA archives committee are

> > doing a fantastic job!

> >

> > ROLLIE HEMSLEY'S GRAVE:

> > Not long ago I learned, from reading old

> > baseball player bios, that Rollie Hemsley of

> > Cleveland Indians catcher 1940 anonymity break

> > fame, was buried at the same cemetery. I live

> > nearby and an AA friend and I visited both

> > gravesites recently. Quite an experience. If

> > anyone is interested in photos I'll be happy

> > to email them.

> >

> > Contact me at:

> > mfmargetis@ (mfmargetis at yahoo.com)

> >

> > Link to the Markings story, pg 4:

> > http://www.aa.org/en_pdfs/f-151_markings_spring07.pdf

> >

> > Thanks,

> >

> > Mike Margetis

> > Brunswick, Maryland

> >

>

For Rollie Hemsley, search in the famous names

section of Find a Grave for "Ralston Hemsley."



It has been there since 2006.



Charles from California





--- On Sat, 1/10/09, Michael F. Margetis <mfmargetis@...> wrote:



From: Michael F. Margetis <mfmargetis@...>

Subject: [AAHistoryLovers] Re: Florence R. and Rollie H.

To: AAHistoryLovers@yahoogroups.com

Date: Saturday, January 10, 2009, 8:54 PM



Karl,



Rollie was already on "Find A Grave", I added

a photo that is "pending approval" from the

website. Hopefully that will be viewable soon.



I created one for Florence and submitted a

photo, so that should be viewable now. Remember

when looking up Florence use Kalhoun as her

last name, not Rankin.



  - Mike Margetis

    Brunswick, Maryland

Silkworth and Dowling on "Find a Grave"



--- In AAHistoryLovers@yahoogroups.com,

"Michael F. Margetis" <mfmargetis@...> wrote:

>

> Karl,

>

> Rollie was already on "Find A Grave", I added

> a photo that is "pending approval" from the

> website. Hopefully that will be viewable soon.

>

> I created one for Florence and submitted a

> photo, so that should be viewable now. Remember

> when looking up Florence use Kalhoun as her

> last name, not Rankin.

>

>  - Mike Margetis

>    Brunswick, Maryland



Thank you Mike -- your photo of Rollie's

gravestone is indeed viewable now.



Earlier I had found the Find A Grave Memorials

for Bill, Dr. Bob and their wives.



Dr. & Antoinette B Silkworth have Memorials

also at:



http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Silkworth&GScid=99997&GRid\

=11339789&



and



http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSvcid=19285&GRid=11339783&



Fr Edward P. Dowling's Memorial can be found at:



http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSvcid=19285&GRid=16958125&



Thank you for adding the material that you did!



Karl K.