Thanks Anna you seem to have found the keys to recovery on your own which I had to have shown/taught to me.
I really do not feel my dad looked down upon AAers, he to my knowledge only had the support of my mom at the time. He passed when I was 19, the only thing I ever really knew was that he was an alcoholic, there was no booze allowed in my house, I know that the subject of my dad being an alcoholic was openly discussed because my dad and mom wanted to make sure that my brother and I knew it ran in the family.
I just wish I knew how he recovered, because one thing he was not was a dry drunk, he was a great father and husband who loved life and I strive to be half the man he was before I die.