We Began to Count Noses - Silkworth.net
We Began to Count Noses - Silkworth.net
We Began to Count Noses - Silkworth.net
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By Dr. Bob’s own account in “THE DOCTOR’S NIGHTMARE” and fac<strong>to</strong>ring in<br />
the correct dates as Sunday June 9, Monday June 10 and Tuesday June 11, the<br />
very earliest possible date of sobriety for Dr. Bob would have been Thursday<br />
June 13, 1935 and more likely was June 17, 1935. 12<br />
For our common welfare and purposes, we recognize the symbolic date of<br />
June 10, 1935 as Dr. Bob’s continuous sobriety date and the beginning of the<br />
society that would evolve in<strong>to</strong> Alcoholics Anonymous. Time would eventually<br />
demonstrate that Dr. Bob, like Bill Wilson before him, had been separated from<br />
alcohol for the last time.<br />
<strong>We</strong> find our two Co-founders walking hand in hand on The Golden Road.<br />
“And those that are first shall be last and servant <strong>to</strong> all”<br />
AA # NAME SOB FROM<br />
1 Bill Wilson Dec 34 NY<br />
2 Bob Smith May 35 Akron<br />
“For where two or three are gathered <strong>to</strong>gether in my name,<br />
there am I in the midst of them”<br />
Throughout the remainder of June, Bill and Bob sought <strong>to</strong> help other<br />
alcoholics. Their next attempt was a man named Edgar Reilly who was a very<br />
difficult case. Eddie slipped and slid; wreaked havoc in the lives of Bill, Bob &<br />
Anne and never did, at that time, achieve any lasting sobriety. Bill and Dr. Bob<br />
unfortunately would have <strong>to</strong> “let go and let God” with Eddie. Later, he reemerged<br />
in Youngs<strong>to</strong>wn A.A. 13 and appeared at Dr. Bob’s funeral in 1950 having<br />
been continuously sober for one year. Eddie missed the chance <strong>to</strong> be the third<br />
soul on The Golden Road of Devotion but thankfully, did achieve permanent<br />
sobriety.<br />
Bill continues the A.A. s<strong>to</strong>ry in the Original Manuscript Multilith draft of<br />
adding the Akron At<strong>to</strong>rney Bill Dotson and Ernie Galbraith, the “devil-may-care<br />
chap” <strong>to</strong> the fold during that summer in Akron.<br />
“But life was not easy for the two friends. Plenty of difficulties presented<br />
themselves. Both saw that they must keep spiritually active. One day they called<br />
up the head nurse of a local hospital. They explained their need and inquired if<br />
she had a first class alcoholic prospect. She replied, "Yes, we've got a corker. He's<br />
just beaten up a couple of nurses. Goes off his head completely when drinking.<br />
But he's a grand chap when sober though he's been in here six times in the last<br />
four months. Understand he was once a well-known lawyer in <strong>to</strong>wn, but just<br />
now we've got him strapped down tight."