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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It is also interesting <strong>to</strong> note that The Amos Roster, as we have named it, or Dr.<br />
Bob’s list is not referenced in DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers, leading this writer <strong>to</strong><br />
believe that the document (The Amos Roster) was not known or made available<br />
<strong>to</strong> its author. 69 <strong>We</strong> will explain in Chapter V the reason for the subtle differences<br />
in The Rockefeller Report included as Appendix I and the version discussed and<br />
quoted in DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers.<br />
“The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousand fold”<br />
Our next Akronite is another relatively unknown named Frank Curtis. Dr.<br />
Bob identifies Frank as a Warehouse Manager with thirteen months. At this point<br />
we will now introduce another pioneer list named “PIONEERS BY DATE OF<br />
SOBRIETY.”* Its authorship is also unknown <strong>to</strong> us and we can see obvious errors<br />
on this list as well as entries that appear <strong>to</strong> be quite correct. Such is the state of<br />
A.A. his<strong>to</strong>ry as it relates <strong>to</strong> the pioneers in question. <strong>We</strong> can see that Frank Curtis<br />
is listed as number 36 on this list which we now include as Appendix VII.<br />
There has long been debate whether or not Florence Rankin was the first<br />
woman <strong>to</strong> achieve sobriety or if it was the Cleveland housewife, Jane S (Jennie).<br />
According <strong>to</strong> Dr. Bob’s list, Jane Sturdevant was dry twelve months at the time<br />
he produced the roster of members for Frank Amos in early February of 1938.<br />
This would have preceded the oft quoted (but incorrect) “March” appearance of<br />
Florence by just a few weeks. Jane has been misidentified among A.A. his<strong>to</strong>rians<br />
as “Jane Sturden” which we attribute <strong>to</strong> the incorrect version of her last name on<br />
the “Pioneers” list which we have included as Appendix VII, “Pioneers”<br />
Jane is mentioned twice in DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers. Bob Evans recalls<br />
Jane coming <strong>to</strong> Akron in February of 37 from Cleveland for the weekly “Oxford<br />
Group” meeting at T. Henry and Clarace Williams Palisades Drive home. By Dr.<br />
Bob’s assessment, Jane stayed sober longer than just “a few months.” 70 Our<br />
research found that Jane’s husband Orlyn was an engineer with a Cleveland Steel<br />
Mill, similar <strong>to</strong> the account we find in DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers. 71<br />
So Jane Sturdevant becomes the first woman** <strong>to</strong> walk The Golden Road<br />
“Since the life which seeks <strong>to</strong> be an experience of God, the “surrendered life”<br />
as it may be called, is one perpetual exercise in surrender, it is supremely the<br />
life of courage, of constantly casting away all security, of cutting one’s<br />
moorings, of adventure and exploration. Regarded as action, it is summed<br />
up in absolute courage more than in any of the other absolutes”<br />
* See Appendix VII, “PIONEERS BY DATE OF SOBRIETY”<br />
** <strong>We</strong> acknowledge the legendary and humorous s<strong>to</strong>ry of “Vic<strong>to</strong>r and Lil”; See DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers,<br />
pages 97-99. At the time, it would appear that “Lil’s” intentions were not entirely “spiritual.”