Episode 8: The slender threads of grace that created Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous turns 85 years old on June 10, 2020.
A.A. has never had a president, a budget or any dues for membership, just a bunch of drunks who want to stay sober plunking a dollar or two in a basket. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. Yet here it is, turning 85. How does it work?
Gail L. is the Archivist for Dr. Bob’s Home in Akron, Ohio and was the Akron A.A. Archivist from 1994 to 2009. She talks about all the detours and messy, magical moments that created A.A. and has kept it going ever since Dr. Bob Smith and Bill Wilson founded the fellowship in 1935.
Before Bill W. met Dr. Bob, alcoholics were doomed. They were called skid row bums and rum hounds. There was no cure and no hope; there were no rehabs and there were no hospitals that would treat alcoholics with dignity and respect. That all changed when a broke businessman from New York found himself desperate in Akron, Ohio at the Mayflower Hotel and reached for a phone instead of a drink.
That call led him to Robert Smith, a surgeon whose hands were too shaky to trust, whose home faced foreclosure. Together, they created a fellowship that has saved over two million lives. The bedrock of A. A. are the 12 steps, 12 traditions and “Big Book” that is now in 70 different languages.
Bio: Gail L. was privileged to meet Lois Wilson, the founder of Al-Anon and the wife of the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, Bill Wilson. Gail also met Nell Wing, Bill’'s secretary, in 1983. They urged her to preserve the history of A.A. so she began trying to collect and establish a permanent repository and archives in Akron, Ohio, where A.A. was born.
This involved purchasing Dr. Bob's Home in 1984 and the official opening of the Akron A.A. Archives in 1996. Her service to the Akron A.A. Archives lasted from 1994 to 2009. She became the archivist to Dr. Bob's Home in 2009 and remains so.
Websites of interest:
Dr. Bob’s Home: home is a National Historic Landmark. Due to the coronavirus, Dr. Bob’s Home is closed to the public until the order is lifted for it to re-open.
Founders Day : The annual celebration of the founding of A.A. will be held virtually during the weekend of June 12-14, 2020.
Stepping Stones: The historic home of Bill and Lois Wilson.