Aa history Lovers 2006 moderators Nancy Olson and Glenn F. Chesnut page
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>Gene in Westchester [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 3408. . . . . . . . . . . . Dr. Silkworth Birthday Celebration, W.Long Branch NJ, 7/22/06 From: Bill Lash . . . . . . . . . . . . 4/27/2006 10:51:00 PM
celebration! Saturday, July 22, 2006 at 3:00PM (rain date July 29, 2006) At his gravesite in Glenwood Cemetery, Route 71 (Monmouth Rd.), West Long Branch NJ. Speakers: Barbara Silkworth (a family member) and Mitchell K. (author of "How It Worked - The Story of Clarence H. Snyder and the Early Days of AA in Cleveland") Dr. William Duncan Silkworth is the author of the two letters in the "Doctor
's Opinion" in the Big Book "Alcoholics Anonymous" and is known as a friend to millions of alcoholics worldwide. He worked with Bill Wilson, AA's co-founder in N.Y.C., after Bill finally got sober in 1934. He gave deep understanding and great encouragement to an infant society in the days when a lack of understanding or a word of discouragement might easily have killed it. He freely risked his professional reputation to champion an unprecedented spiritual answer to the medical enigma and the human tragedy of alcoholism. Without his blessing, our faith might well have died in its birth. He was a luminous exception to the rule that only an alcoholic understands an alcoholic. He knew us better than we knew ourselves, better than we know each other. Many of us felt that his medical skill, great as that was, was not at all the full measure of his stature. Dr. Silkworth was something that it is difficult even to mention in these days. He was a saintly man. He stood in an unusual relationship to truth. He was able to see the truth of a man, when that truth was deeply hidden from the man himself and from everyone else. He was able to save lives that were otherwise beyond help of any kind. Such a man cannot really die. We wish to honor this man, a gentle doctor with white hair and china blue eyes. Dr. Silkworth lived on Chelsea Avenue in Long Branch, attended Long Branch High School where he has been inducted in that school's Hall of Fame, graduated from Princeton University, and lived for a while in Little Silver. He was born on July 22, 1873 and died on March 22, 1951.
If you have any questions please call Barefoot Bill at 201-232-8749 (cell). Directions: Take the Garden State Parkway (north or south) to Exit 105 (Route 36), continue on Route 36 approximately 2.5 to 3 miles through 5 traffic lights (passing Monmouth Mall, two more shopping plazas, and several automobile dealerships). Watch for green road signs stating "Route 71 South, West Long
Branch and Asbury Park" (this is before the sixth light). Take this turnoff
to the right, past Carriage Square and bear right onto Route 71 (Monmouth Road.) Glenwood Cemetery appears very quickly on the left. The entrance is marked by two stone pillars and the name. Once inside the cemetery, bear left, go up the hill and make the first right (a hard right). The gravesite is near the first tree on the right.
in such trouble? From: John Lee . . . . . . . . . . . . 4/27/2006 5:37:00 PM
that Ebby's visit to Bill was generated by Ebby's participation in the Oxford Group. After Ebby had been sober a few months, Ebby's small discussion Oxford Group received guidance that Ebby needed to witness to another drunk. To get the mission over as painlessly as possible, Ebby told his Oxford discussion group that he would find Bill Wilson and witness how God had entered Ebby's life.
pittsburgh ________________________ From the moderator: Does anyone in the group have a text or source from the early AA period establishing that this statement is true?
their group guidance sessions, tell him that they had received guidance that he needed to witness to another drunk? Or was Clancy simply speculating here, and giving his hypothesis about what he guessed might have happened?
to the 1930's, so that he is not a first hand witness to any of those events. On the other hand, he knew a lot of the oldtimers, and may have had good evidence for saying this.
please, and talk about historical facts that can be established by hard evidence. Clancy may have been correct, but speculating about that gets us nowhere. Is there independent evidence that what Clancy said was correct? Does anybody know the source of Clancy's information?
to ask.
Professor Emeritus of History Indiana University IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 3410. . . . . . . . . . . . Our greatest danger: Rigidity From: TomE . . . . . . . . . . . . 4/28/2006 10:10:00 PM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII *[Complete text from The 36th General Service Conference Final Report, 1989]* /At the closing brunch on Saturday morning, Bob Pearson (G.S.O. senior adviser), who is retiring early next year, gave a powerful and inspiring closing talk (excerpted below) to the 36th Conference. (This talk was rescheduled from Friday afternoon.)/ ** Our greatest danger: rigidity This is my 18th General Service Conference--the first two as a director of the Grapevine and A.A.W.S., followed by four as a general service trustee. In 1972, I rotated out completely, only to be called back two years later as general manager of G.S.O., the service job I held until late 1984. Since the 1985 International Convention, of course, I have been senior adviser. This is also my last Conference, so this is an emotionally charged experience.
for my sobriety and for the joyous life with which I have been blessed for the past nearly 25 years. But since this is obviously impossible, I will fall back on the Arab saying that Bill quoted in his last message, "I thank you for your lives." For without your lives, I most certainly would have no life at all, much less the incredibly rich life I have enjoyed.
bleeding deacons who decry every change and view the state of the Fellowship with pessimism and alarm. On the contrary, from my nearly quarter-century's perspective, I see A.A. as larger, healthier, more dynamic, faster growing, more global, more service-minded, more back-to-basics, and more spiritual--by /far/--than when I came through the doors of my first meeting in Greenwich, Connecticut, just one year after the famous Long Beach Convention. A.A. has flourished beyond the wildest dreams of founding members, though perhaps not of Bill himself, for he was truly visionary.
will not be because of any outside cause. No, it will not be because of treatment centers or professionals in the field, or non-Conference-approved literature, or young people, or the dually-addicted, or even the "druggies" trying to come to our closed
meetings. If we stick close to our Traditions, Concepts, and Warranties, and if we keep an open mind and an open heart, we can deal with these /and any other/ problems that we have or ever will have. If we ever falter and fail, it will be simply because of us. It will be because we can't control our own egos or get along well enough with each other. It will be because we have too much fear and rigidity and not enough trust and common sense.
would have to answer: the growing /rigidity/--the increasing demand for absolute answers to nit-picking questions; pressure for G.S.O. to "enforce" our Traditions; screening alcoholics at closed meetings; prohibiting non-Conference-approved literature, i.e., "banning books";
laying more and more rules on groups and members, laying more and more rules on groups and members. And in this trend toward rigidity, we are drifting farther and farther away from our co- founders. Bill, in particular, must be spinning in his grave, for he was perhaps the most permissive person I ever met. One of his favorite sayings was, "Every group has the right to be wrong." He was maddeningly tolerant of his critics, and he had absolute faith that faults in A.A. were self-correcting.
fall apart. We won't falter or fail. At the 1970 International Convention in Miami, I was in the audience on that Sunday morning when Bill made his brief last public appearance. He was too ill to take his scheduled part in any other convention event, but now, unannounced, on Sunday morning, he was wheeled up from the back of the stage in a wheelchair, attached with tubes to an oxygen tank. Wearing a ridiculous bright-orange, host committee blazer, he heaved his angular body to his feet and grasped the podium--and all pandemonium broke loose. I thought the thunderous applause and cheering would never stop, tears streaming down every cheek. Finally, in a firm voice, like his old self, Bill spoke a few gracious sentences about the huge crowd, the outpouring of love, and the many overseas members there, ending (as I remember) with these words: "As I look over this crowd, I know that Alcoholics Anonymous will live a thousand years--if it is God's will."
group to be wrong From: Glenn Chesnut . . . . . . . . . . . . 4/30/2006 4:35:00 PM
Conference, "Our Greatest Danger: Rigidity." The complete published text is available at http://hindsfoot.org/pearson.html#rigid The text was provided by Tom Enger (and can also be found in AAHistoryLovers Message 3410). ______________________________
Office from 1974 to 1984, and then served as Senior Advisor to the G.S.O. from 1985 to 1990.
gave a powerful and inspiring closing talk to the conference at the closing brunch on Saturday morning. It was an especially significant occasion, because he knew that he was going to retire early the next year, and that this would be his last General Service Conference.
in "The 36th General Service Conference Final Report, 1989," which is the version given on the internet at http://hindsfoot.org/pearson.html#rigid and in AAHistoryLovers Message 3410. ______________________________ Perhaps the most important sentence in Bob P.'s farewell speech was the following: "If you were to ask me what is the greatest danger facing A.A. today, I would have to answer: the growing rigidity -- the increasing demand for absolute answers to nit-picking questions; pressure for G.S.O. to 'enforce' our Traditions; screening alcoholics at closed meetings; prohibiting non-Conference-approved literature, i.e., 'banning books'; laying more and more rules on groups and members." And in that talk, Bob P. also pointed to one of the most basic and fundamental AA principles, which came straight from Bill Wilson's mouth. As Bob notes, "one of [Bill's] favorite sayings was, 'Every group has the right to be wrong.'"
alcoholics figures From: james.bliss@comcast.net . . . . . . . . . . . . 4/28/2006 6:02:00 PM
Nov. 15th, 1952 and the numbers given there. I found a few quick numbers which were a little surprising to me but: Roughly 6% of the US population was alcoholic per an HHS survey. A note regarding that survey is at: http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/pre1995pres/910930.txt
respectively was 2.55 billion / 3 billion from: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0762181.html and
http://geography.about.com/od/obtainpopulationdata/a/worldpopulation.htm The percentage of alcoholics surprised me as being low, at least from the numbers which I have been told (verbally, with no references) since I have been in the program. Jim IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 3413. . . . . . . . . . . . RE Was Doctor Bob an Episcopalian? From: John Lee . . . . . . . . . . . . 4/28/2006 7:36:00 PM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII Doctor Bob was raised in the Congregational and Christian Endeavor traditions. Puritans. He and his wife Anne were members of The Presbyterian Church in Akron. They also attended St. Lukes, Westside Presbyterian, and lastly, St. Paul's Episcopal in Akron. Bob's funeral was held at St. Paul's. Listing Doctor Bob as Episcopalian paints an incomplete picture of his church attendance.
that Bill was a "closet Christian." I don't mean to sound flippant but I don't know how else to describe him in this area. Dr Bob was an Episcopalian. IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 3414. . . . . . . . . . . . Bob P''s Rigidity Talk: 1986, not 1989
From: Rick Swaney . . . . . . . . . . . . 4/30/2006 5:11:00 PM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII Hello, correct year is 1986. Rick S. Ohio _________________________________ Rick, Thanks. I apologize for letting the mistake get through. This was one person's typo, which a number of others started copying, including me, without thinking about it. Arthur Sheehan sent in a photocopy of the report for that year, just to doubly establish that the 36th General Service Conference was held in 1986, and that you can read Bob P.'s speech in the official report for that year.
sessions that year, courtesy of Arthur Sheehan, see http://hindsfoot.org/archive3.html Bob P. is a very good man, and I should note that his story is in the Big Book. See: "AA Taught Him to Handle Sobriety," 3rd edit. (1976) pp. 554-561, and 4th edit. (2001) pp. 553-559. Apologies again for the error in the date. Glenn Chesnut, Moderator IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 3415. . . . . . . . . . . . AA photographs for framing From: marty_martyjs . . . . . . . . . . . . 5/1/2006 10:44:00 AM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII Our group is looking for a source of AA photographs that can be framed and put on the wall. Any suggestions? Thank you for your service. Marty S.
++++Message 3416. . . . . . . . . . . . Significant May Dates in A.A. History
From: chesbayman56 . . . . . . . . . . . . 5/1/2006 4:44:00 PM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII May 1919 - Bill returns home from service. (Dec 1934 to) May 1935 - Bill works with alcoholics, but fails to sober any of them. Lois reminds him HE is still sober. March-May 1938 - Bill begins writing the book Alcoholics Anonymous. May 1939 - Lois W Home Replacement Fund started at Alcoholic Foundation. May 1949 - The first AA meetings in Scotland were held in Glasgow and Edinburgh. May 1950 - Nell Wing became Bill W's secretary. May 1951 - Al-Anon is founded by Lois W. and Anne B. May 1, 1939 - Bank forecloses on 182 Clinton Street. (sometimes reported as April 26, 1939) May 1, 1940 - Rollie H, Cleveland Indians, first anonymity break on national level. May 1, 1941 - The first Wisconsin AA meeting was held at a hotel in Milwaukee. May 2, 1941 - Jacksonville, FL newspaper reported the start of an AA group in Jacksonville. May 3, 1941 - The first AA group in New Orleans, Louisiana, was formed. (sometimes dated as May 2, 1943) May 3, 1941 - Democrat Chronicle in Rochester, NY, reported first annual AA dinner at Seneca hotel with 60 attending. May 4, 1940 - Sunday Star reported founding of first AA group in Washington, DC. May 6, 1939 - Clarence S of Cleveland told Dr. Bob, his sponsor, he would not be back to Oxford Group meetings in Akron and would start an "AA" meeting in Cleveland. May 6, 1946 - The long form of the "Twelve Traditions" was published in the AA Grapevine. May 8, 1943 - Akron AA Group celebrates 8th anniversary with 500 present and sober. May 8, 1971 - Bill W buried in private ceremony, East Dorset, Vermont. May 10, 1939 - Clarence S announced to the Akron Oxford Group members that the Cleveland members were starting a meeting in Cleveland and calling it Alcoholics Anonymous. May 11, 1935 - Bill W made calls from the Mayflower Hotel and was referred to Dr. Bob. May 11, 1939 - first group to officially call itself Alcoholics Anonymous met at Abby G's house in Cleveland. (some sources say the 18th)
May 12, 1935 @ 5 pm - Bill W met Doctor Bob at the home of Henrietta Seiberling. May 15, 1961 - Bill W's mother, Dr Emily Strobell, died. May 16, 1941 - Ruth Hock finds that Joe W. (or V.), credited with coming up with the name Alcoholics Anonymous, has a "wet brain". May 17, 1942 - The Dayton Journal Herald published pictures of AA members wearing masks to protect their anonymity. May 17, 1942 - New Haven, Conn paper has article on AA. Picture shows faces of members sitting in a circle. May 18, 1950 - Dr. Bob tells Bill "I reckon we ought to be buried like other folks" after hearing that local AA's want a huge memorial. May 19, 2000 - Dr. Paul O., Big Book story "Doctor, Alcoholic, Addict" (renamed "Acceptance Was the Answer" in the 4th edition) died at the age of 83. May 28, 1974 - The first World Service Meeting of AA outside North America was held in London. May 29, 1980 - "Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers" was published. IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 3417. . . . . . . . . . . . Recent photos of John Seiberling From: Glenn Chesnut . . . . . . . . . . . . 5/3/2006 2:53:00 PM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII One of our members kindly sent in two recent photos of John Seiberling. http://hindsfoot.org/archive3.html John was Henrietta Seiberling's son, and is the last living person who was around when the original, early meetings between Bill W. and Dr. Bob occurred in the summer of 1935. Glenn Chesnut (South Bend, Indiana) [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 3418. . . . . . . . . . . . Ernest Kurtz on Bill W. and Sam Shoemaker falling out From: Glenn Chesnut . . . . . . . . . . . . 5/3/2006 2:56:00 PM
Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2006 To: Glenn Chesnut Subject: Re: Bill W. and Sam Shoemaker falling out? Glenn, In briefest outline, Bill and Sam fell out when Bill left the OG. After Buchman's 1939 praise of Hitler, Sam repented a bit and himself left the OG in 1941. His 1955 St. Louis talk reflected that. Copies of relevant correspondence may be at Brown, though more likely in Bill White's materials at Chestnut Hill in Bloomington. Cf. also this note from Not-God, which I think sums up the matter rather well:
Oxford Group, pp. 54, 80; Shoemaker (New York) to Wilson, 27 June 1949:
Bill, at least if not from the love of it -- from getting too much into it, and it is one of the biggest things about you.... If dear Frank could have learned the same lesson long ago MRA might have changed the face of the earth.'" ernie [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 3419. . . . . . . . . . . . Dr. Bob''s religious background From: Glenn Chesnut . . . . . . . . . . . . 5/3/2006 2:50:00 PM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII Message 3413 from John Lee johnlawlee@yahoo.com (johnlawlee at yahoo.com) said: Download 13.83 Mb. Share with your friends:
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