The History OF A.A In June

The History OF A.A In June

June 1

1949 - Anne S., Dr. Bob's wife, died.

June 4

2002- Caroline K., author of "Drinking: A Love Story" died sober of lung cancer.

June 5

1940 - Ebby T. took a job at the NY Worlds Fair.

June 6

1940 - The first AA Group in Richmond, VA, was formed.

1979 - AA gave the two-millionth copy of the Big Book to Joseph Califano, then Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. It was presented by Lois W., Bill's wife, in New York.

June 7

1939 - Bill and Lois W. had an argument, the first of two times Bill almost slipped.

1941 - The first AA Group in St. Paul, Minnesota, was formed.

June 8

1941 - Three AA's started a group in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

June 10

1935 - The date that is celebrated as Dr. Bob's last drink and the official founding date of AA. There is some evidence that the founders, in trying to reconstruct the history, got the date wrong and it was actually June 17.

June 11

1945 - Twenty-five hundred attend AA's 10th Anniversary in Cleveland, Ohio.

1969 - Dr. Bob's granddaughter, Bonna, daughter of Sue S. and Ernie G. (The Seven Month Slip in the First Edition) killed herself after first killing her six-year-old child.

1971 - Ernie G. died.

June 13

1945 - Morgan R. gave a radio appearance for AA with large audience. He was kept under surveillance to make sure he didn't drink.

June 15

1940 - First AA Group in Baltimore, MD, was formed.

June 16

1938 - Jim B., "The Vicious Cycle" in Big Book, had his last drink.

June 17

1942 - New York AA groups sponsored the first annual NY area meeting. Four hundred and twenty-four heard Dr. Silkworth and AA speakers.

June 18

1940 - One hundred attended the first meeting in the first AA clubhouse at 334-1/2 West 24th St., New York City.

June 19

1942 - Columnist Earl Wilson reported that NYC Police Chief Valentine sent six policemen to AA and they sobered up. "There are fewer suicides in my files," he commented.

June 21

1944 - The first Issue of the AA Grapevine was published.

June 24

1938 - Two Rockefeller associates told the press about the Big Book "Not to bear any author's name but to be by 'Alcoholics Anonymous.'"

June 25

1939 - The New York Times reviewer wrote that the Big Book is "more soundly based psychologically than any other treatment I have ever come upon."

June 26

1935 - Bill D. (AA #3) entered Akron's City Hospital for his last detox and his first day of sobriety.

June 28

1935 - Dr. Bob and Bill W. visited Bill Dotson at Akron's City Hospital.

June 30

1941 - Ruth Hock showed Bill W. the Serenity Prayer and it was adopted readily by AA.

2000 - More than 47,000 from 87 countries attended the opening meeting of the 65th AA Anniversary in Minneapolis, MN.