Members who are part of our history--Joe H

Joe's story:

The year was 1960, the exact date unknown.  Joe sat drinking his beer at the bar in Jimtown Tavern in Evansville, Indiana.  Mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and physically he felt terrible—worse than he had ever experienced.  He was also very uncomfortable in the bar because he was not a bar drinker.  He was a whiskey drinker—straight from the bottle.  But he worked every day and was in fact a very successful small contractor.  His business had never been better.  He built houses doing practically all the work himself—particularly carpenter framing work, and he prided himself in the quality houses he built.

He had been a daily whiskey drinker for years.  No matter how hard he tried to quit drinking he always failed.  He was married, a father of several children, a devout Catholic, and he had recently come to the conclusion that his family would be better off without him.  As most practicing alcoholics, he had no idea he had a progressive, fatal illness.  He thought he was just a weak-willed drunk.

The bar was located at Virginia and Garvin streets.  Just five blocks east on Virginia was a railroad overpass, and the street past there a Viaduct under the railroad.  The center foundation of the viaduct was solid concrete and separated the east and west bound lanes of the street.  More than one desperate soul had driven their car at a high rate of speed into this solid structure ending their lives. 

Joe had decided to do the same.  He was sitting here drinking beer to build up his nerve to accomplish this.  He started to get up from the bar stool when a firm hand was placed on his shoulder and shoved him back down on the stool.  His oldest son was standing there, and he said, “Dad, the entire family is very concerned about you and your drinking.  We have found a man who understands your problem and is willing to talk with you.  Will you please come, right now, and talk to him?”

Joe agreed, and he soon met with Jim T, a recovering alcoholic with many years sobriety.  Joe’s journey on the road to recovery began—instead of his road to destruction and death. 

Joe never drank again, and when he died in 1991 or 1992, he had 31 or 32 years of continuous sobriety.  His dedication and service to AA was inspirational.  He founded the “Tri-State Convention” but his biggest gift to AA was the house at the corner of Columbia and Linwood which he purchased in 1966 and eventually gave to the Alanon Club.

How many desperate alcoholics discovered the Road to Recovery at C&L?  Many!  Had his son been a few minutes later, where would you and I be today?

Bob M

10-8-67

Members who are part of our history--J.D. H

This is what J. D. wrote in his letter to Dean B., (circa 1954) describing his years in Indiana:

“I am the eighth man in A.A. not counting the sponsors, Dr. Bob and Bill. I received my A.A. work in Akron. I joined A.A., then known as the Oxford Group, in October 1936. My wife's folks live in Evansville and we arrived there on Decoration Day of 1938 and decided to stay.

After obtaining an apartment I started out in search of an alcoholic but met with no success in so far as finding one that wanted to quit drinking. Every Wednesday night the wife and I held a meeting -- just the two of us -- using [the Methodist meditational booklet called the] Upper Room. The wife, who is not an alky, stood solidly back of me and said someday if I kept on trying I would eventually find someone who really wanted to quit drinking.

In October of 1939 I told my story to a Dr. Deker who told me of a very prominent surgeon in town who was definitely an alky. The big A.A. book was being published at that time and Dr. Bob Smith sent me one of the first copies off the press. I immediately read the book although I had personally heard all the stories except four. After reading the book I called this famous surgeon, one Dr. Joe W_____. When I entered his office I said: "I want just two minutes of your time" -- pulling out my watch -- "if after the two minutes are up, if you want to talk longer I shall be glad to do so. If not and you feel so inclined you may toss me out the office.“ I talked fast telling as much of my story as I could in two minutes. When the time was up I stopped. He asked me to stay longer. I stayed 30 minutes and left the book. Later he told me he read about half the book. I occasionally called on Dr. Joe. He was a charming individual but I was getting no place, or so I thought.

In the Spring of 1940 (April or May, I believe) I received a call from a prominent businessman from the county jail saying Dr. Joe was there and wanted to see me. I went to the jail and there sat Dr. Joe as if he owned the place. He had been in for several days. He had been reflecting on what I had said and what he had read in the A.A. book. Dr. Joe being a doctor, this businessman and I decided the thing to do was send him to Akron to meet Dr. Bob. The businessman borrowed $75 for the trip and Dr. Joe was on his way. He returned about ten days later and came to my house and said he had two or three patients who needed help and would I go. Would I go! Wild horses could not keep me away.

We soon had several persons interested and the first regular established A.A. meeting was held in our little four-room house at 420 S. Denby St., Evansville. Our growth was not rapid, but we soon had several that stopped drinking and made good A.A. members. The meeting continued at our home until we could not accommodate more so we moved the meeting place to Dr. Joe's office. Dr. Joe died and the meeting place was moved to a small room near the Presbyterian Church on Walnut St." 

Places that are part of our history: the C & L (Columbia and Linwood) club

Rudy H about Joe H buying the building:

"Joe . . . bought a house at Columbia and Linwood.  He was going to remodel this home, and rent it out.  Now, before he bought the house, I will tell you that there was a grocery store there, a Mom and Dad grocery store there . . . and then it was a chiropractor's office when Joe bought it.

"Many a drunk has gone through that Columbia and Linwood building.  A lot of them have gotten sober over there.  Thank God for that.

"Joe donated that building to Alcoholics Anonymous before he died.  They formed this group, and it's been there ever since.  That is still probably one of the oldest locations in this area as far as a club is concerned."

Bob M about the start of the club house:  

"In 66, Joe bought this place, and it was a mess.  He was a carpenter, and a darn good one, and he started working on it, and they started having meetings here.

"Joe was very interested in trying to carry the message, and trying to get the word out.

"When I started, there were three meetings here a week:  Monday, Wednesday and Friday night.  Monday night was closed.  They had an Al-Anon meeting upstairs here.  It had been two little old bedrooms, and that’s where they had it.  

"Eventually they tore the wall out, but Al-Anon would meet on Monday night and they met on Wednesday  morning at 11 oclock.  So we . . . started a meeting on Wednesday morning at 11 oclock, at the same time the Al-Anon met, for people working nights.   

"And then we just slowly added meetings every night.  From a period of 67 until, I believe it was 72, that this group split.  This group was humongous.  By then we were meeting every night, and the only closed meeting was Monday and Wednesday.  And they were all speaker meetings.  But Wednesday and Friday were open speaker meetings."

     

                                      

Pat R about how it's changed over the decades:  

"The meetings used to be really really large, because there weren't very many meetings around.  That changed in the 70s and 80's, particularly the 80's, as so many different meetings got started.  But this used to be the place."