AA Hisory

Join us at our Forum and share your ESH, find alternatives and options to help with problems in recovery and hear what others have to say about recovery.

AA History

Sister Ignatia  ~  1889 - 1966

Once wary of Alcoholics, she soon learned how they could be helped and soon became a loving friend of A.A..  She worked with Dr. Bob treating alcoholics at St. Thomas Hospital in Akron.  She is known as "One of the finest friends that we of A.A. shall ever know".

"Anne Ripley Smith"

Wife,  Mother & Co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous.  Bill Wilson frequently called her the "Mother of A.A."

Dr. Bobs son,  Smitty,  describes his father ~~ Upon your first contact,  he was very reserved and formal, but when you became his friend he showed a personality which was just the opposite,   friendly,  generous and full of fun.

Bill W. & his sponsor  Ebby

Lois  Wilson"

In  1951  Lois founded Al-Anon for families of Alcoholics

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1953  ~  They published the 12-Steps & 12-Traditions,   outlining a structure for A.A.

Bill & Lois in later years

Today,  more than two million A.A. members in 150 countries hold meetings in church basements,  school gyms and hospital conference rooms.  Members identify themselves as alcoholics and share their stories.

Bill Wilson was recognized as one of the top 100 Most Influential People of the 20th century by Time Magazine.

Over 1,000,000 copies of the Big Book are sold yearly.

February 15, 1918 - February 9, 2002

After an extended illness, Sue Smith Windows,  Dr. Bob's only daughter died on Feb. 9th, a week shy of her 84th birthday.  She was burried beside her husband Ray at Mount Peace Cemetary in Akron,  very close to her parents Anne and Dr. Bob

The pictures of Sue Smith (above) & Bob Smith (below)  are from  AAHistory.Com

June 5, 1918  -  April 22, 2004

Robert Ripley Smith,   Dr. Bob's only son died April 22,  two months short of his 86th birthday,  of congestive heart failure at St. Francis Hospital in Memphis where he had been for the last 15 days.   Smitty as he was often called was the last living person to have witnessed the historic meeting of his father and Bill W.  at their fateful meeting in Akron, Ohio on May 12, 1935.  that eventually led to the June 10th, 1935  founding of the granddaddy of all 12-Step Programs  ~  Alcoholic Anonymous.

From "Two alcoholics meet:"

"Just before they stopped [at the hospital, where Dr. Bob was to perform surgery], Bill, who also had his practical side, gave him a bottle of beer...The bottle of beer Bill gave him that morning was the last drink he [Dr. Bob] ever had.

"Although arguments have been and will be made for other significant occasions in A.A. history, it is generally agreed that Alcoholics Anonymous began there, in Akron, on that date: June 10, 1935."

c. 1980, Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers,
   pages 74-75