Slide-show of AA history

[BillJ]

Just received this from an e-mail list I'm on. Great photos, including several of Bill and/or Lois with the infamous Harley sidecar rig!

http://www.mensworkshop.org/AA_Galle...r._bob___b.htm

[Rarly Harley]

Thanks Bill. There is some pics on there I hadn't seen before. Right now I'm reading a biography of Bill Wilson by Francis Hartigan, that I bought on e-bay. Francis was Lois's assistant for the last years of her life and gave Francis an unprecedented look into Bill's life. I'm finding it spellbinding... On another note, I just got back from Canadian Tire. Air mattresses and sleeping bags were on sale. I'm ready for Indiana....Yeehaaaaaaaaw!

[BillJ]

Originally Posted by Rarly Harley

I'm ready for Indiana....Yeehaaaaaaaaw!

Cool!

I collect books and memorabilia: in particular, anything related to Harleys, bikers, or AA. I read Robert Thompson's Bill W. 20-some years ago, and wrote a college term paper on Bill using that as a source.

I've also read AA's own Pass It On: Bill Wilson and the AA Message; the companion volume, Doctor Bob and the Good Old Timers; and AA Comes of Age. I just recently started reading the storie section in the first edition of Alcoholics Anonymous. The text hasn't changed much in almost 70 years, but the stories sure have!

I've had copies of Lois's Al-Anon book, Lois Remembers, and Nell Wing's Grateful To Have Been There on my "to read" shelf for years, but haven't gotten to them, yet. I also recently acquired Susan Cheever's My Name Is Bill: Bill Wilson - His Life and the Creation of Alcoholics Anonymous, and her memoir, Note Found in a Bottle: My Life as a Drinker. They're also on my "to read" pile.

Hadn't heard about Francis Hartigan's book, but I'll be interested to learn what you think of it.

The history of AA fascinates me, and no matter how many times I read or hear it, it never fails to move me. That, after six months of frustration in New York, with every alky Bill tried to help getting drunk, Lois pointed out that Bill's efforts were, at least, keeping him sober. That Bill spoke with Dr. Silkworth before he went to Akron, and "Silky" passed on his ideas about allergies and alcoholism. That Henrietta Seiberling answered her telephone the afternoon Bill called. That Bill's first "12th Step" in Akron was to a physician who could appreciate Silkworth's disease theory, and was desperate enough to give Bill's ideas a go. That Sister Ignatia didn't run the pair of them out of her ward when they asked if she had any drunks they could speak with. And on and on...

It leaves me both humble and grateful. Just think: all that, just so I could get sober 43 years later!

What do you mean, it wasn't all for me? How could that be?

Well, even if it wasn't, I'm still pretty darn grateful! :andy:

[recoveringnky]

Originally Posted by BillJ

Cool!


The history of AA fascinates me, and no matter how many times I read or hear it, it never fails to move me. That, after six months of frustration in New York, with every alky Bill tried to help getting drunk, Lois pointed out that Bill's efforts were, at least, keeping him sober. That Bill spoke with Dr. Silkworth before he went to Akron, and "Silky" passed on his ideas about allergies and alcoholism. That Henrietta Seiberling answered her telephone the afternoon Bill called. That Bill's first "12th Step" in Akron was to a physician who could appreciate Silkworth's disease theory, and was desperate enough to give Bill's ideas a go. That Sister Ignatia didn't run the pair of them out of her ward when they asked if she had any drunks they could speak with. And on and on...

It leaves me both humble and grateful. Just think: all that, just so I could get sober 43 years later!

What do you mean, it wasn't all for me? How could that be?

Well, even if it wasn't, I'm still pretty darn grateful! :andy:

I LOVE the history of AA myself Bill. It's amazing how much AA has grown and how many people have been saved from an alcoholic death!

Grateful and full of peace,
Kym