My grandfather was an alcoholic, but quit before I was born. Great grandfather on the other side died of alcohol poisoning also before my time. I didn't find out about either of them until I was an adult. No one in my immediate family drank when I was growing up, but my first (and every one after that) boyfriend at age 15 was an alcoholic, and would drive me around plastered. I've now been married to an alcoholic, who has alcoholism on both sides of his family, for 21 years. Funny how even though I was "protected" from my family history of the disease I went and chose relationships with alcoholics time after time.