Area 31 - Western Mass History of AA 1935 - 1970

1935 Shortly after meeting Bill W., Dr. Bob has his last drink on June 10. That day, June 10, has become known as the official start date of Alcoholics Anonymous.

1936 The first sign of any happenings in Western Mass. Comes from a letter written on Springfield College stationery. The letter, dated December 13, 1940, was addressed to “Little Guy” in Syracuse, NY. It was sent from Doris and Bob W. in hopes of finding a meeting there when they visited Syracuse over Christmas. A reply came on December 18, wanted a meeting you would have to start from scratch.

1941 February 15. A letter is sent to Bill W. from a man named Bob F. of Empire Stationers which was located at 305 Bridge St., Springfield, MA. Bob is inquiring about meetings in Waterbury, CT. He hopes to get help for a prospect down there, someone he was told about by the prospect’s relatives who live in Springfield.  Bob mentions that “it has been a long time since hearing from any of the AA crowd (in New York) which is doubtless my own fault.” A reply dated February 27, 1941, apparently from Ruth H., Bill W.’s secretary, was received by Bob stating that there were no meetings yet in Waterbury, CT; however, she would refer the matter to members in Greenwich, CT to see if they could help. Ruth also mentions the Saturday Evening Post article that is to appear in the March 1, 1941 issue. She asks that if she should receive inquiries from Bob’s vicinity could they refer them to Bob.

1942 This was a big year for Western Mass. AA. Much correspondence took place in the first half of the year between Springfield and the New York Alcoholic Foundation Offices (now the General Service Office of Alcoholics Anonymous.) A man named Frank Stuart began to show an interest in starting a group in Springfield. That interest led to the first meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous in Springfield on June 3, 1942. The meeting was held in Bob Furlong’s office at 305 Bridge Street and was attended by Bob F., Frank S., Kelita (Clyde) W. and Jim B.. The group obtained a “Big Book” and received some publicity from articles in the Springfield Union. However, as it turned out, this group disbanded before the year was up.

1943 As the year began, there were still some of the 1942 AA members around. These people, Frank S., Bob F., Bob M., and George D. enjoyed lunch with Bill W. and Margaret B. at a Springfield hotel. This visit took place on February 3, 1943. They came from a visit before the year was up.  Later in the year, as a result of his wife reading an article by  sportswriter Bill Cunningham of the Boston Herald on Rollie H.’s involvement with a new organization called Alcoholics Anonymous, one H.O. Davey of Monson, MA went into a Boston hospital to dry out. During his hospital stay he was put in contact with Boston AA. Upon returning home he continued to travel to AA meetings in Boston twice a week, returning in the middle of the night via milk (delivery) train. Tiring of traveling such distance to meetings he wrote New York asking about any Springfield area meetings or at least contacts.

On November 5th, Margaret B. from New York office responded that none of the 1942 group members were around; the only one who had stayed sober had moved to Canada. She cited the great need for a group in Springfield, and asked if Doc D. (as he was known) could help start one. She enclosed the names of three Springfield people asking for help.

Doc D. immediately began carrying the message of AA which would result in the founding of  The “Springfield Group” (now known as the Original Downtown Springfield Group) and the permanent beginning of Alcoholics Anonymous in Western Massachusetts.

1944 The first meeting of the Springfield group took place on January 1, 1944, in the lobby of the Worthy Hotel. In attendance we Dr. Doc D., two men from Harford and two men from Boston. The group was registered with the Central Service office in New York on January 11, 1944. In a letter dated June 29, 1944 to New York, Doc D. says that the Springfield Group is “an assured fact” with some twenty members in attendance at their last meeting.

The first institution work in Western Mass. AA occurred early in this year.  Springfield judge had released a woman named, Mytle (Pat) C., who had been residing in the York Street Jail, into the custody of Doc D. and fellow member Clarence H.. Myrtle was listed in August of 1944 through February 1946 as secretary of the Springfield group. She was also the first woman AA member in Western Mass.

1945 There are now 44 AA members in Western Mass., according to the Alcoholic Foundation records.

1946 By now other groups have begun to spin off the Springfield Group to other local throughout Western Mass. Groups listed in the directory from communities this year are Greenfield, Holyoke, Turners Falls, Pittsfield, and Springfield. Total membership in Western Mass. By the end of 1946 is 156 members.

1947 Several of the women members of the Springfield Group started the first “AA Club.” There was an understanding that the Springfield Group would continue to hold its regular meetings there on Wednesday nights and Sunday afternoons. This club, located at 221 Dwight St., Springfield, was called the Alano Club. (Today, clubhouses are distinctly separate from Alcoholics Anonymous according to AA tradition.)

1948 The telephone answering service was in full swing by now with Ken and Ruth F. taking all calls at their own home. Although they were unaware of it at the time, it seems as though the groundwork for a future service structure within Western Mass. began taking place. Around the country at that time there was little knowledge of the Traditions which Bill W. had written in the mid-1940’s in response to the proliferation of group problems. An example of this was when certain members of the Springfield Group, which had a Steering Committee by now, felt that the concept of rotation should be more strictly practiced as it seemed certain members developed a “concentration of power.”

1950 The first International Convention is held June of 1950 in Cleveland, Ohio. At this convention the “Twelve Traditions” of Alcoholics Anonymous were unanimously adopted by the fellowship.

1951 Florence D. became the first full-time AA telephone operator, working out of her own home, providing 24hr a day phone coverage. She was paid a token amount of $65 a month by the Springfield Group.

1952 The first meeting of the General Service Office of Alcoholics Anonymous, which was to take the burden of leadership of AA from the founders and place it in the hands of the collective conscience of all AA groups, took place in 1951. The Western Mass. groups were not strong enough to send a delegate to that first General Service Conference. However, in 1952, area members interested in sending a delegate to the second conference gathered at a special meeting to elect a delegate. This meeting was conducted in a very awkward manner in that members were simply asked to write the name of the area person whom they felt should be delegate on a piece of paper. Every single person wrote the name of William C.! So, William C. became the first Delegate to represent Western Mass at the General Service Conference.  Membership in Western Mass was now listed at 318.

1953 As AA grew in Western Mass some members recognized the need for a means of coordinating communications between the groups. Western Mass Intergroup came into being as a result of this need. The original primary functions of this Intergroup were to provide meeting schedules, meeting swaps and probably most important to handle the telephone service which led to the majority of 12th Step work back then. Groups elected representatives to Western Mass Intergroup and began contributing toward the cost of telephone coverage. Over the next couple of years the Articles of Purpose for Western Mass Intergroup were written with the late John F. of the Forest Park Group generally being credited as the “primary architect” of those Articles.

1954 James S. became our second Delegate from Western Mass to the General Service Conference, serving in 1954 and 1955. He was followed in 1956 and 1957 by Tony S. of the Ware Group, who was involved in deciding that the symbol “AA” within a triangle, within a circle, be used to represent the whole world.

1955 The second International Convention of Alcoholics Anonymous is held in St. Louis, Missouri. At this convention it was unanimously decided that the General Service Conference, which was in a trial phase in 1951, was a success and that it would continue meeting annually.

1957 AA growth in Western Mass fluctuated during this decade as is shown by Alcoholics Foundation records which list 21 groups with 416 members for 1957 and then in 1960 there are 24 groups with 388 members.

1960 Helena S. was elected to represent us at the General Service Conference of 1960 and 1961. She followed our fourth Delegate John F.. There was still no Area Committee. Delegates found it difficult to find a time or place to report back to the area the important things that were given during the intermission at an “AA” dance. During the period of 1950-1960 there was an increase in AA groups from 11 groups with 207 members to 24 groups with 338 members. AA growth in our area was slow. This year the third International Convention of Alcoholics Anonymous took place in Long Beach, California.

1961 John A. of the Northampton Group had been attempting to form an Institution Committee without success. A few individual members had been going into the prisons, notably, John F. had been brining AA meetings into the Osborne Prison in CT. It was actually John’s death and a letter from the prison to Western Mass Intergroup requesting that the meetings be continued, that finally got things going.  Several members of various area groups met at the Amherst Monday Night meeting to strategize.  The result was the formation of the Western Mass Institution Committee. Finally the Western Mass Area began carrying the AA message into correctional facilities in an organized way.

Early on, the Institution Committee was a Western Mass Intergroup “sub-committee,” but very soon changed to as separate entity. This committee was such a success that many other areas across the country have used it as a model to start their own Institution Committees.

1964 In the fall of 1964, a very small group of people (about 6), including Gladys M., Mickey “The Barber” from the Westfield Group, Dick D from the Randall Group, Gene A. of the Springfield Group, and Bob A of the Amherst Group, got together to establish an Area Committee. Bob A. who had moved to Massachusetts from another state, talked about the “third legacy procedure” for voting and the Third Legacy Manual with which no one was familiar. A manual was ordered from our AA General Service Office in New York and our Western Mass Area Committee became a reality!
The firstmeeting, as such (only a couple of people present), took place at the South Hadley Groups meeting place over the South Hadley Fire Station.

1965 This year the Fourth International Convention of Alcoholics Anonymous took place in Toronto, Canada. This is where the “I Am Responsible” declaration came into being. It was recited in unison by the entire body of the convention.

1966 By now the Western Mass General Service Area Committee (commonly referred to the  “Area Committee”) was meeting quarterly after the Western Mass Intergroup meeting which took place at the Holyoke Group’s meeting place on the second floor on the corner of Dwight and Main Streets in Holyoke.

A momentous action was taken by the General Service Conference this year. The Conference voted to approve the recommendation of the General Service Board Trustees to restructure the board. The plan called for an increase to 21 trustees; 7 non alcoholics and 14 alcoholics. Although the trustees had suggested in the past that the ratio be changed to have the number of alcoholic trustees be greater than the number of non-alcoholic trustees, the conference had always voted to maintain the existing ratio. There will always be a need for our non-alcoholic trustees who have done so much for us, but AA’s would now carry the majority of votes on our General Service Board.

1967 By the end of 1967 the Area Committee was meeting monthly. Our delegates to the General Service Conference at that time covered part of their own expenses; the General Service Office in New York covered the rest of the expense. Recognizing that financial constraints might make it impossible for some AA’s to serve as Delegate, the Area Committee wrote to all groups asking for a $25 contribution to set up a Continuing Responsibility Fund.  About 18 groups responded contributing a total of $200 (some gave less than the $25). The door was open now for any Western Mass AA member to serve as Delegate.

1968 This was the year that the first Massachusetts State AA Convention was jointly planned by both the Eastern and Western Mass Area Committees. It was actually the 6th Mass State Convention sponsored by the Eastern Mass Committee, but the first to be held within the state, with others having taken place in New Hampshire. The new location was in Western Mass at the Eastover resort in Lenox, which served as he home of this event for the next ten years.

1969 According to minutes of the General Service Area Committee of this year, the Public Information Committee was in existence by now. They met on a quarterly basis with most of the work being carried out by only a few. Jim N. brought back to us the idea of Young People’s Groups (1969 or 1970)

1970 This was a year of many events and firsts. Early in the year the Area Committee began planning for the first time area wide Round-Up. Of all the 90 General Conference Area in North America, Western Mass was the second smallest (only Hawaii was smaller), so even though other areas which many times encompassed a whole state, were holding conventions and round-ups for fellowship and service purposes, it had been felt by many that we did not need such an event to knit us together. BUT even the objectors agreed that we needed a way to present the Conference report to the area at a round-up which could also include local participation in workshops, out of town speakers, fellowship, and refreshments. One of the doubters made a bet with our Delegate, who was pushing for the event, that we wouldn’t even have 25 people there. The first Western Mass Round-Up (a half day event) was held at the Trinity Church in Springfield with 125 Alcoholics in attendance. Dr. Jack N., Chairman of the Board of Trustees for Alcoholics Anonymous, was our keynote speaker. The Round-Up was a great success and has been an annual event since 1970.

Bill W., our co-founder, who was in seriously failing health, attended his last General Service Conference. Western Mass Archives has a picture of Bill leaving the Conference for his last time. This picture taken by our delegate is the only such photo in existence.

Our Western Mass Delegate, Margaret C., was elected to serve as the first female chair of the 90 North American Delegates for the 1971 conference. Dr. Jack N., Chairman of the Board of Trustees, appointed her to represent all of the delegates on an AA Long Range Planning Committee.

The International Convention of AA (held every 5 years since 1950) was held in Miami, Florida on the Fourth of July weekend. Bill Wilson spent most of the weekend in the hospital, but finally was brought onto the stage in a wheelchair with his oxygen tank beside him during the closing Sunday morning spiritual meeting. Most AA’s present knew that he was saying good-bye.” Of importance at this convention was the adoption of AA’s “A Declaration Of Unity.”

The General Service Conference elected the first United States Trustee-at-Large. Unlike regional trustees who are elected by the delegates from the particular region, the United States Trustee-at-Large is elected by all the delegates of the North American General Service Conference.

Information courtesy of the 2008 Area Handbook