5thTradition.org

Russell S.
Speaking at The Little River Club on New Years Day 2011

Vince Y. of Pasadena, CA
Speaking at The Thursday Night Speaker Group in Las Vegas, NV

Bob W. from Lake Whitney, TX
Speaking at The Suburban Group in Austin, TX

Big AL from Texas.

Clem H. and Marie H.
Speaking at The WebBracken Group’s 24th group anniversary meeting

Al-Anon and AA

Brian P. from Union, ME Speaking at the Tuesday Night Surrender Group of Alcoholics Anonymous in Portland, ME on December 23rd 2008

Norman Y.
Sobriety Date: January 28, 1939
Norman had lost his wife and family, his job and his sight to bootleg liquor when Jack D. took the A.A. message to him in Youngstown. In 1940 he had the Big Book transcribed in braille and sent out to other blind A.A. members. He appears in “Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers” on pages 183-184, 221, 223, 249-250, 263.
Recording from www.akronaa.org

Bruce M.
Sobriety Date: October 1945
A graduate of both Duke and Yale law schools, by early 1945 Bruce found himself about to lose his wife, his children and his job. Two members of a Canton AA group answered his desperate call for help in October of that year. His achievements, awards, and citations over the next 40 “sober” years are testament to the power of unity, service, and recovery in AA. He was recently remembered as #129 in a November 21, 2005 Canton Repository story called “200 HELPED SHAPE CANTON.”
He appears in “Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers” on pages 276-277.
Gratitude Sunday – 1963
Recording from www.akronaa.org

Ed B.
Sobriety Date: August 8, 1944
Ed’s service to the Akron area spanned nearly three decades. He is perhaps best remembered as editor of the Akron Intergroup News.
He appears in “Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers” on pages 148, 150, 224, 228-230, 271, 274-275, 325-326.
Recording from www.akronaa.org

Bruce M.
Sobriety Date: October 1945
A graduate of both Duke and Yale law schools, by early 1945 Bruce found himself about to lose his wife, his children and his job. Two members of a Canton AA group answered his desperate call for help in October of that year. His achievements, awards, and citations over the next 40 “sober” years are testament to the power of unity, service, and recovery in AA. He was recently remembered as #129 in a November 21, 2005 Canton Repository story called “200 HELPED SHAPE CANTON.”
He appears in “Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers” on pages 276-277.

Ann C.
Sobriety Date: April 1, 1948
The daughter of a lay minister, tee-totaling Ann was living in Akron, teaching Sunday School and working as a waitress at the lunch counter of the 2nd National Bank Building. She watched the doctor with a perpetual hangover and wonder why he didn’t “just quit drinking”. She saw him again years later at the podium of the King School group, not knowing he was “the” Dr. Bob, co-founder of the program that saved her life. She appears in “Dr. Bob and the Good Old Timers” on pages 34, 245, 333, 342.
Recording from www.akronaa.org

Danny K.
Sobriety Date: During WWII
A minister’s son from Barberton, Ohio and physically handicapped from childhood, Dan describes his journey on the “road to hell”. He came to St. Thomas Hospital under the care of Dr. Bob and Sister Ignatia during WWII. He appears in “Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers” on pages 192, 224-225, 233, 275, 281-282, 296.
Recording from www.akronaa.org

Archie T. “The Man Who Mastered Fear”
Sobriety Date: September 3, 1938
Archie came to Akron in September of 1938 and stayed for 10½ months with Dr. Bob and Anne Smith before returning to take A.A. back to Michigan. He appears in “Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers” on pages 115-116, 182.
Recording from www.akronaa.org

Sobriety Date: 1951
There’s not much in the way of written documentation on Bill T.’s life or story. The oral history tells us he was the first African-American to come into the AA program in Akron.
Recording from www.akronaa.org

Ray O’K from Florida