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From the personal files of Tom Powers Sr., the transcript of a talk given by AA co-founder Bill W., in 1947, in which he paid tribute to Dr. Tom, a man who recovered from both alcohol and drug addiction in Alcoholics Anonymous. Dr. Tom brought AA to North Carolina in 1939 and Bill called his story “one of the greatest ever to come out of Alcoholics Anonymous.” Here’s how Tom Powers Sr. recalled the background —
Dr. Tom M. joined AA in 1939. He was a physician. He was an alcoholic. And he was a narcotics addict — hooked on morphine for twelve years. He read the AA Big Book while he was a patient at the U.S. Public Health Service Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky.
Impressed by the Twelve Steps, and hopeful for the possibility of a new life, Dr. Tom contacted the AA central service office in New York by mail. After his release from the hospital in Lexington, Dr. Tom returned to his home in Shelby, North Carolina, and started an AA group.
In the beginning, his contact with other AAs consisted of letters back and forth from the AA central office. But he stayed sober and clean; he never drank or took drugs again.
Bill Wilson called Dr. Tom’s story “one of the greatest ever to come out of Alcoholics Anonymous.” Bill told part of Dr. Tom’s story at a large AA meeting in Memphis, Tennessee, in September of 1947. Here’s what Bill said:
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Here’s a little round up of things worthy of a visit.
RED ROAD TO WELLBRIETY
At the White Bison site they integrate 12-step recovery with Native American spirituality. Their online store offers several books, including step guides and a history title—Alcohol Problems in Native America: The Untold Story of Resistance and Recovery by Don L. Coyhis and William L. White. (link)
AA Y CUBA
Over at aahistorylovers, Bruce K. offers a couple of intriguing posts on the history of AA in Cuba. (link: part one, part two). And in Canada, a few old-timers are working to support the development of Cuban AA (link).
SPEAKER TAPES
There are a number of noteworthy speaker tape sites on the net. X-A Speakers (link) seems to be the most comprehensive, while the folks at Primary Purpose have put together a nice selection of talks by early members (link). In fact, there is an abundance of sites offering speaker tapes, and a simple search will turn up a many treasures for anyone willing to dig (link: google search).
Stepstudy.org 