Hank Parkhurst was a business dynamo who was the first alcoholic to recover in New York, following Bill Wilson. Thus, Hank was New York's AA#2. His was a vital contribution to AA: without Hank Parkhurst the Big Book might never have been published. Hank was born March 13, 1895, in Marion, Iowa into a family that had lived in that area for several generations. He was so gifted an entrepreneur that an associate once described him as being able to produce a good idea a minute for business. … [Read more...]
Anne Ripley Smith, wife of Dr. Bob, Mother and Co-Founder of A.A.
Pioneer A.A.'s Most Ignored, Forgotten, yet Critically Important Resource by Dick B. Let's meet the woman Bill Wilson and others frequently called the "Mother of A.A." (See Dick B., Anne Smith's Journal 1933-1939: A.A.'s Principles of Success, 3rd ed, pp. ix, 10, 54, 137, 139; Sue Smith Windows and Robert R. Smith, Children of the Healer, pp. 29, 43, 152; Women Pioneers in Twelve Step Recovery, Hazelden, 1999, p. 2). I'd been going to A.A. meetings regularly for about four years and had … [Read more...]
Bill Dotson – AA #3
On a Friday night, September 17, 1954, Bill Dotson died in Akron, Ohio. "That is, people say he died, but he really didn't," wrote Bill Wilson. "His spirit and works are today alive in the hearts of uncounted AA's, and who can doubt that Bill already dwells in one of those many mansions in the great beyond." Bill Dotson, the "Man on the Bed," was AA number 3. At his death, he had not had a drink in more than nineteen years. His date of sobriety was the date he entered Akron's City Hospital … [Read more...]
The Forerunner – Rowland Hazzard
By: RON RAY 140 Dove Trail Bowling Green, KY 42101 After telling Rowland Hazard that he could never regain his role in society, Dr. Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) the renowned Swiss psychiatrist was asked, "Is there no exceptions?" “Yes,” replied Dr. Jung, "...once in a while alcoholics have had what are called vital spiritual experiences." He went an to describe a spiritual experience as "... huge emotional displacements and rearrangements. Ideas, emotions, and attitudes which were once … [Read more...]
ERNIE G. – AA #4
The man generally considered AA number 4 was Ernie Galbraith, who first got sober in the summer of 1935, when Bill Wilson was still staying with the Smiths in Akron. Described as a wild, devil-may care young fellow (page 158 in the Big Book); he had enlisted for a one-year term in the Army when he was only 14 (but could pass for 18). After getting out of the Army he went to Mexico where he worked for an oil company, then "rode the range" in Texas. He had been married twice and had a son. … [Read more...]