We Began to Count Noses - Silkworth.net

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