International
Christian Recovery Coalition
Vermont A.A.
History and Christian Recovery September 2012 Workshops
By
Dick B.
© 2012 Anonymous. All rights
reserved
Special
Observations at the End of the Journey
Locations
we visited, did research at, or identified since our previous trip to Vermont
in June 2008:
Emerald Lake State Park, about 3 ½
miles north of East Dorset, Vermont
Where
Lois Burnham Wilson’s family--the Burnhams--had two bungalows for vacation;
where Ebby Thacher’s family—the Thachers--owned a vacation property; where Bill
Wilson visited with some frequency after Bertha's death; where Bill's friend
Mark Whalon delivered mail and visited; and where Bill became a good friend of
Lois's brother Rogers Burnham.
Rutland, about 27 miles north of
East Dorset, Vermont
Bill's father, Gilman B. (Gilly) Wilson, got a job in Rutland managing
the Rutland-Florence quarry. Gilly, Bill's mother Emily Griffith Wilson, Bill's
sister Dorothy, and Bill moved there in 1903 and lived at 42 Chestnut Avenue. Bill
attended the Longfellow School—also known as the Church Street School—at 6
Church Street. After Bill’s parents separated, Emily, Bill, and Dorothy moved
back to East Dorset in 1906. We took photos of the Longfellow School, of the
Wilson home, and of the Congregational Church nearby. (We have been working for
several years to determine whether the Wilson family attended that church
and/or whether Bill attended Sunday school there—since the family had attended
the Congregational church in East Dorset, and Bill had attended its Sunday
school. The pastor is checking for us.)
Burlington—the Bailey Howe Library on the
Central Campus of the University of Vermont
The
campus and its architecture and grounds are extraordinarily beautiful and well
kept. The Bailey Howe Library is filled with students, a cafe, hundreds of
computers, and a tremendous library search system and stacks. It also has
excellent reference and archives areas. I was able to review three books about
the great evangelists Moody and Sankey—having just visited the Northfield
Seminary for girls and the Mount Hermon School for boys (now combined in Gill,
Massachusetts) founded by Dwight L. Moody. At the Bailey Howe Library, I was able to see the track records
of many of the prominent teachers at Moody's schools. I saw the tremendous work
of Moody’s professor Henry Drummond. I was also able to see the backdrop of
Drummond’s famous sermon on 1 Corinthians 13—“The Greatest Thing in the World” (which
was later made into a very popular book). I was reminded also by my son Ken that
Dr. Bob's foster-sister, Amanda Carolyn Northrop—after having taught briefly at
the St. Johnsbury Academy—taught at the Northfield Seminary for girls from 1885
to 1889. I saw the work of Robert E. Speer, the original author of The Principles of Jesus--source of the
Four Absolutes. I noted that Speer had been a teacher, a trustee, and vice
president of the Board at the Moody Schools in Massachusetts. We will be
reporting soon a good deal of the Moody materials we found at the Bailey Howe
Library. And my son Ken is working now with the reference librarian on some of
the relevant materials. Col. Franklin Fairbanks of St. Johnsbury—who was a
member of the International Sunday School Lesson Committee and for years the
superintendent of the Sunday school of North Congregational Church of St.
Johnsbury—where Bob Smith, his parents, and Amanda Northrop had attended.
Three
special credits are extended here to workshop participants during our journeys
and visits. All had long been sober and involved in A.A.–with two being
Christian leaders as well.
Jim H., from the State of Washington
receives the first credit. Jim came all the way from Auburn, Washington, to
Vermont to participate. He was with us every step of the way. He took some 800
pictures which we will be placing on the Web and elsewhere. The pictures
included signs, campuses, libraries, buildings, photos, and text in many books
and newspapers and articles. Jim has served A.A. in many capacities,
particularly as an Archivist and service person. He has sponsored many members
of A.A. and led many meetings. He is a retired Air Force Master Sergeant and
A.A. archivist. Jim and others traveled to research and report the East Dorset
part in depth. He not only visited but took many pictures of the Wilson House, the
Griffith House Library, the East Dorset Congregational Church, and the cemetery
where all the Wilson relatives are buried--including the Wilsons, the
Griffiths, Dr. Leonard Strong and his wife Dorothy (Bill’s sister). Even Bill’s
mother and step-mother are buried there. In closing, Jim H. is one of the
sponsors of our trip and is a participant in the International Christian
Recovery Coalition. He will continue to work with several workshop participants
in receiving and organizing and helping us to publish all the photos on the Web
and elsewhere. Three dozen cheers for the enjoyable help and company of Jim in
these workshops.
Duane C. from New Hampshire joined us at
the Bailey Howe Library on the University of Vermont campus in Burlington for a
workshop before we left. Duane is involved in A.A. service as a treasurer; and
he has been a GSR and a DCM. He is a devoted Christian leader and participant
in the International Christian Recovery Coalition. He is an ardent member of
the Christian Motorcyclists Association and works with many afflicted members
involved with that organization.
Mel B. of Toledo, Ohio, has not been
involved in the workshops, but his book Ebby
certainly has. It is an excellent resource and has been substantially used in
our preparations for and discussions at the workshops.
Questions to Pursue
about Vermont, the Christian Origins of A.A., and the Cofounders of A.A.
As some
of you know by now, these workshops have made quite clear the origins of early
A.A. in the State of Vermont. There is an abundance of linkage between and
among A.A. Vermont personalities and places. The links include:
- Bill Wilson, born November 26, 1896, in East
Dorset, Vermont;
- East Dorset Congregational Church;
- Mount Aeolus, and Bill's grandfather Wilson's
conversion and cure there;
- Bill’s parents and grandparents on both
sides—who were active in the East Dorset Congregational Church;
- Bill’s young experiences and familiarity with
the Bible, salvation, the Word of God, Sunday school, sermons, hymns,
Scripture reading, prayers, conversion meetings, temperance meetings, and
revivals;
- Burr and Burton Seminary--now Burr and Burton
Academy--and its Congregational church ties, required four-year Bible
study course, daily chapel, prayer meetings, and deep connections with the
Young Men’s Christian Association;
- Ebby Thacher;
- Reverend Sidney K. Perkins with whom Ebby
boarded in Manchester;
- the Burnham family who summered in Manchester
and Emerald Lake;
- the Young Men's Christian Association;
- the Young Women's Christian Association;
- the Manchester Congregational Church;
- Norwich University which was attended by Bill
Wilson, Ebby Thacher, and Lois’s brother Rogers Burnham—where there was
required daily chapel, and required church attendance;
- Bill’s strong ties to Bertha Bamford; and to her
father, the Episcopal Rector in Manchester; and
- the community of Manchester where Bill had
played baseball and was visited by his friend Mark Whalon of East Dorset.
The
Vermont thread also very much included:
- Ebby Thacher, whose second home was Manchester.
- Ebby’s close ties to Bill at Burr and Burton
Seminary, during the Bertha Bamford mourning period, and at Norwich
Military Academy—not to forget the drinking episodes.
- The Vermont boyhood period of Bill Wilson and
Ebby Thacher, involving Bill, Ebby, Bill’s friend Mark Whalon, the
Burnhams, the Congregational churches, the Burr and Burton Seminary,
Norwich University (a military academy), Rev. Sidney K. Perkins, and the
mutual airplane crash involving Bill and Ebby at Manchester.
- The whole rescue of Ebby from imprisonment at
Brattleboro for inebriety which brought Ebby in touch with the Vermont
friends—Cebra Graves, Shep Cornell,
and Rowland Hazard--who taught Ebby much about Jesus Christ, the Bible,
and prayer (things which he had been taught as a boy, believed, and
admired in these men.)
- The lodging of Ebby in Calvary Mission in New
York where Ebby made his decision for Jesus Christ, followed by his
message to Bill, Bill’s checking out the message when Ebby gave his
testimony
at Shoemaker’s Calvary Church, and then Bill’s following suit by going himself
to the Calvary Mission, handing his life over to Jesus Christ, and proclaiming that
he had been born again.
- Ebby’s visiting Bill in Towns Hospital during
Bill’s final stay there beginning December 11, 1934. It was during this
hospital stay that Bill reported that his room had “blazed with
indescribably white light,” he had experienced the presence of God, he was
free, and had been cured of alcoholism--as Bill himself proclaimed on page
191 of the fourth edition of Alcoholics
Anonymous.
The
Vermont thread, of course, included the whole Robert Smith boyhood in St.
Johnsbury (1879-1898). A youth which involved experiences remarkably similar to
those of both Bill, and even of Ebby:
- Training and acquaintance with salvation and
the Word of God through family,
church, Sunday school, temperance
meetings, revivals, conversion meetings, Bible study, prayer meetings, and
sermons;
- Disciplined Christian requirements at Dr. Bob’s St. Johnsbury Academy, at Burr
and Burton
Seminary,
and at Norwich University—particularly the mandatory daily chapel with its
sermons, Scripture reading, hymns, and prayers;
- the Young Men’s Christian Association; and
- Bible reading.
There will be much more to come
as workshop participants return to their venues, network, train others, and
apply the findings to serve and glorify God and help others willing to believe
Gloria Deo
No comments:
Post a Comment