“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."
