Foreword to the First Edition (Part I)

Let me start by issuing an apology for my four (or are there more of you actually reading?) subscribers for not adhering to my promise of publishing a new post each Sunday.  I have been quite busy over the last week with both work and work with other alcoholics, and haven’t been able to find the time to sit down and discuss this highly important segment of the book.  So, I am breaking this one and a half page Foreword into three shorter postings (one tonight,one towards the middle of the week, and another on Sunday).  I know it seems ridiculous to spend three separate blog entries talking about one and a half simple pages.  But there is much more to this book than what is printed on the pages, and I personally find what is behind the words on the page to be quite fascinating.

We of Alcoholics Anonymous, are more than one hundred men and women who have recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body.

Don’t worry, I shall further discuss the use of the word “recovered” in Part II of this series.

It is my understanding that at the time Bill began writing the Big Book, there were approximately forty men (and one woman, who did not end up staying sober), in Akron (some migrated to Cleveland) and New York City that had maintained continuous sobriety in AA.  By the time the book was published, that number had grown to one hundred.  Though in the original manuscript, Bill had used the number “one hundred” to describe the members of the Fellowship.  It appears that Bill got lucky that his wishful thinking ended up being accurate.  Here is a list of the 43 men and women (and the month and year they got sober) who I believe were a part of the very first “headcount”. 

12/11/1934 – Bill Wilson (NYC)
06/10/1935 – Dr. Bob Smith (Akron)
06/1935 – Bill Dotson (Akron)
08/1935 – Ernie Galbraith (Akron)
09/1935 – Hank Parkhurst (NYC) – Later relapsed
09/1935 – Phil Smith (Akron)
10/1935 - John Henry "Fitz" Mayo (NYC)
01/1936 – Harold Grisinger (Akron)
02/1936 – Walter Bray (Akron)
04/1936 – Joe Doppler (Akron)
04/1936 – Myron Williams (NYC)
07/1936 – Paul Stanley (Akron – Later Chicago)
09/1936 – J.D. Holmes (Akron)
09/1936 – Holland Spencer (Akron)
12/1936 – Bob Oviatt (Akron)
02/1937 – Dick Stanley (Akron)
02/1937 – Don McLean (NYC)
02/1937 – Bill Ruddell (NYC)
02/1937 – Lloyd Tate (Akron)
02/1937 – Bill Van Horn (Akron)
03/1937 – Harry Zoellers (Akron)
03/1937 – Florence Rankin (NYC) – Later relapsed
04/1937 – Earl Treat (Akron – Later Chicago)
04/1937 – Bob Evans (Akron)
05/1937 – Wally Gillam (Akron)
05/1937 – Charlie Simonson (Akron)
07/1937 – Jim Scott (Akron)
09/1937 – Bill Jones (Akron)
10/1937 – Jack Williams (NYC)
11/1937 – Tom Lucas (Akron)
01/1938 – Jim Burwell (NYC)
02/1938 – Clarence Snyder (Akron – Later Cleveland)
02/1938 – Ray Campbell (NYC)
02/1938 – Norman Hunt (NYC)
02/1938 – Harold Sears (NYC)
05/1938 – Abby Goldrick (Akron)
06/1938 – Harry Brick (NYC)
06/1938 – Ralph Furlong (NYC)
09/1938 – Archie Trowbridge (Akron – Later Detroit)
09/1938 – Horace Maher (NYC)
10/1938 – John Dolan (Akron)
12/1938 – Vaughan Phelps (Akron)
01/1939 – Pat Cooper (Los Angeles – Later relapsed)

I encourage everyone to bark up their sponsorship trees and find out which of these first forty are directly connected to you.