Individuals located outside the NY and Akron areas

A Variety of 12-Step History Stories "As They Understand It"

A group composed of some participants, some observers, some historians, some researchers, and some repeaters - all doing their best to pass this on.

Searcy Whaley (AA) of Dallas TX (1910-2003)

Searcy was an early member of AA sober in May 1946 in the Dallas area. In 1947 Bill Wilson suggested he attend the Yale Summer School at the Yale School of Alcohol Studies. Dr. E. M. Jellinek who co-founded the Yale School of Alcohol Studies in 1943. Dr. Jellinek moved from Yale to Dallas. Searcy started working with Dr. Jellinek educating the public about Alcoholism. Dr. Jellinek suggested the need of hospitals for an alcoholic to go into to sober up and go directly into AA. He and Searcy established clinics in Lubbock, Dallas, Houston and Carlsbad, New Mexico. When Ebby Thatcher relapsed, Bill Wilson sent Ebby to Searcy's clinic in Dallas. Searcy passed 30 September 2003, with 57+ years of sobriety.

"No matter what your problem is in addiction, if you will give 100% of your life and turn in over to God you will make it. I don't care what your problem is or where you have been it will work. My trouble is in the morning I make a contract with God, and I turn 100% of my life over to Him. By noon I have taken 50% of it back, and that is the part that doesn't work. The part that I take back and hold onto is where my problem is. The part that I don't leave there is my problem. So leave it there, leave it there." - Searcy in Jackson MS on 27 Aug 1994.

Sybil Corwin (AA) of Los Angeles (1908-1998)

Sybil was the first sober female member of AA on the west coast with a sobriety date of 23 March 1941. Sybil Adams was born in Alfred, Texas, in 1908. The family lived in Waco, then moved to Burkburnett, Texas, during an oil boom. The family lost contact with their oldest son, Herman, during WWI. When Sybil was 13 the family learned Herman, now going by the name Tex Adams, was alive and living in Los Angeles. The family immediately moved to Los Angeles to find him. There Sybil felt she was different when other students teased her. But as an early teen she discovered alcohol would make the awkwardness disappear. During the prohibition years, Sybil held various jobs, including bootlegger with her brother Tex, who ran a Speakeasy. Sybil struggled to control her drinking but finally found there maybe hope reading the March 1st issue of the Saturday Evening Post in 1941. In response to Jack Alexander’s article on AA, she wrote to the New York AA office. Sybil's was one of the first letters the NY office received and she received a reply from Ruth Hock, Bill Wilson’s secretary. Ruth told her there were no women members in California, but that Marty Mann was sober in New York. Ruth referred her to a small group of men near her. Her husband, Dick Maxwell, drove her to her first meeting. The men assuming she was the wife of the alcoholic, dismissed her and the other women when the meeting began. Dick, not an alcoholic, was left in the meeting. Her response was to go straight to a bar and get drunk. Telling Tex of her anger towards the men at the AA meeting, he took her back for the next meeting. This time she identified herself as an alcoholic. Tex, an alcoholic, also found relief in AA, and started the 2nd AA group in California called the Hole In The Ground Group. Her husband, Dick, became tired of her AA activities and asked her to stop going and just start drinking again. This was before Al-Anon started and there were no resources for the families. She responded to Dick's solution by moving out with her daughter the following day. She was married five times over her lifetime and would open her AA talks with, “My name is Sybil Doris Adams Stratton Hart Maxwell Willis Corwin, and I’m an alcoholic.” Sybil became the first executive secretary of AA’s Los Angeles Central office. Sybil married another AA, Jim Willis, who became the founder of Gamblers Anonymous. After Jim died she married a long time AA friend Bob Corwin, who also spoke at many AA events. Sybil gave many AA talks around the country in her later years. When Sybil died in April of 1998, at 90 years of age, she had over 57 years of sobriety and service. Virginia MacLeod of La Jolla CA (AA) - Virginia was the best friend of Bill Wilson's sister. She was also a friend of Lois and Bill and attended meetings at their house in Brooklyn. Her sister was married to Clarence Snyder. When the Big Book was printed, Virginia purchased the very first copy that was sold for $3.

Esther Elizardi (AA) of Dallas TX (1901-1960)

Esther living in Houston was given the 1941 March 1st issue of the Saturday Evening Post by her husband Frank. He was desperate to help her, and asked her to read Jack Alexander’s article on AA. Writing to the New York AA office she received a standard reply along with a hand written letter from Ruth Hock, Bill Wilson’s secretary. Ruth told her there were no women in AA in Houston at time but there were other women in AA. Ruth gave her the name of a member in Houston to contact. She started attending Houston meetings and became sober on 16 May 1941. In 1943 her husband was transferred to Dallas. Arriving in Dallas she found no AA group so started one in her home. This became the first group to meet in Dallas. Her story, found in the Third Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous, is titled “The Flower of the South”

Arbutus O'Neal (1916-2009) (Al-Anon)

James Houck of Timonium MD (1906-2006)

On Dec 11, 1934 he attended a meeting of the Oxford Group. James Houck joined the Oxford Group and became sober on Dec. 12, one day after Bill Wilson did. James became friends with Bill Wilson and was the last living person to have attended Oxford Group meetings with him. James died at 100 years of age.

Dr Ernie Kurtz - (AA) of Ann Arbor, Michigan. (1935-2015)

Author of "Not-God: A History of Alcoholics Anonymous" , "The Spirituality of Imperfection: Storytelling and the Search for Meaning" and "Shame & Guilt". On January 19, 2015, at the age of 79, Dr. Ernest Kurtz died of cancer at his home in Ann Arbor, MI. Historian and former Roman Catholic priest, he is perhaps best known today for his many writings on alcoholism, Alcoholics Anonymous, addiction, and spirituality—works informed by his academic brilliance, his deep concern with human spiritual life, and his own struggles with alcohol.

History Talks Given By Members

Gail LaC (AA) of Akron OH - Akron Archivist

Jay S (AA) of Sedona AZ AA Historian