The Lois Wilson Story
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10. Wilson, personal conversations.
11. Pass It On, 111.
12. Wilson, taped interviews; Wilson, personal conversations.
13. Pass It On, 113; Thomsen, Bill W., 207.
14. Wilson, personal conversations.
15. Ibid.; Wilson, taped interviews; Lois Remembers, 88.
16. Thomsen, Bill W., 210–11; Pass It On, 116.
17. Lois Remembers, 72.
18. Thomsen, Bill W., 214.
19. Wilson, personal conversations.
20. Ibid.; Pass It On, 119.
21. Wilson, taped interviews; Wilson, personal conversations.
22. Ibid.
23. Ibid.
24. Wilson, personal conversations; Pass It On, 93.
25. Pass It On, 119–20.
26. Wilson, taped interviews; Wilson, personal conversations.
27. Pass It On, 121; Lois Remembers, 89.
28. Pass It On, 121.
29. Ibid., 125.
30. Wilson, taped interviews; Wilson, personal conversations.
31. Lois Remembers, 91.
32. Wilson, taped interviews; Wilson, personal conversations.
33. Wilson, personal conversations.
34. Wilson, taped interviews; Thomsen, Bill W., 233.
35. Wilson, taped interviews.
36. Wilson, personal conversations.
37. Ibid.; Wilson, taped interviews.
CHAPTER 10: GREAT DREAMS IN AKRON
1. Lois Wilson, taped interviews by author, 1976; Lois Wilson, personal conversations with author, 1986–87.
2. Bill Wilson to Lois Wilson, May 1935, Stepping Stones Foundation Archives; Pass It On: The Story of Bill Wilson and How the A.A. Message Reached the World (New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, 1984), 146.
3. Wilson, personal conversations; Lois Remembers: Memoirs of the Co-founder of Al-Anon and Wife of the Co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (New York: Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, 1979), 97.
4. Bill Wilson to Lois Wilson, May 1935, Stepping Stones Foundation Archives; Pass It On, 146.
5. Pass It On, 137, 142.
6. Wilson, taped interviews; Wilson, personal conversations.
7. Robert Smith, Jr., taped interview by author, 2001; Robert Smith, Jr., personal conversations with author, 1999–2000.
8. Pass It On, 143.
9. Wilson, taped interviews; Wilson, personal conversations.
10. Pass It On, 144.
11. Wilson, taped interviews.
12. Ibid.; Wilson, personal conversations.
13. Wilson, personal conversations; Lois Remembers, 97.
14. Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers: A Biography, with Recollections of Early A.A. in the Midwest (New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, 1980), 90.
15. Wilson, taped interviews; Wilson, personal conversations.
16. Lois Remembers, 96.
17. Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers, 91.
18. Wilson, personal conversations.
19. Smith, taped interviews; Smith, personal conversations.
20. Wilson, taped interviews; Wilson, personal conversations.
21. Ibid.
22. Ibid.
CHAPTER 11: NIGHTMARE ON CLINTON STREET
1. Lois Remembers: Memoirs of the Co-founder of Al-Anon and Wife of the Co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (New York: Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, 1979), 106.
2. Lois Wilson, personal conversations with author, 1986–87.
3. Ibid.; Lois Wilson, taped interviews by author, 1976.
4. Ibid.
5. Pass It On: The Story of Bill Wilson and How the A.A. Message Reached the World (New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, 1984), 176.
6. Ibid., 161.
7. Lois Remembers, 118–20.
8. Ibid., 98; Wilson, personal conversations.
9. Wilson, personal conversations.
10. Pass It On, 164.
11. Wilson, taped interviews.
12. Ibid.; Wilson, personal conversations; Lois Remembers, 120.
13. Pass It On, 162.
14. Wilson, taped interviews; Wilson, personal conversations; Lois Remembers, 103.
15. Robert Thomsen, Bill W.: The Absorbing and Deeply Moving Life Story of Bill Wilson, Co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (New York: Harper & Row, 1975), 256; Pass It On, 169, 171.
16. Wilson, taped interviews; Wilson, personal conversations; Lois Remembers, 119.
17. Wilson, taped interviews; Wilson, personal conversations; Lois Remembers, 119–20.
18. Lois Remembers, 105–6.
19. Ibid., 105; Wilson, personal conversations.
20. Ibid.
21. Lois Remembers, 120; Wilson, personal conversations.
22. Wilson, taped interviews; Wilson, personal conversations.
23. Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers: A Biography, with Recollections of Early A.A. in the Midwest (New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, 1980), 91.
24. Wilson, personal conversations; Lois Remembers, 96.
25. Wilson, taped interviews.
26. Lois Remembers, 117–18; Wilson, personal conversations.
27. Wilson, personal conversations.
28. Ibid.; Wilson, taped interviews; Lois Remembers, 135.
CHAPTER 12: FACING HER OWN ADDICTION
1. Pass It On: The Story of Bill Wilson and How the A.A. Message Reached the World (New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, 1984), 175–76; Robert Thomsen, Bill W.: The Absorbing and Deeply Moving Life Story of Bill Wilson, Co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (New York: Harper & Row, 1975), 258.
2. Thomsen, Bill W., 258.
3. Lois Wilson, personal conversations with author, 1986–87.
4. Pass It On, 176–77.
5. Thomsen, Bill W., 259.
6. Wilson, personal conversations.
7. Lois Wilson, taped interviews by author, 1976.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid.; Wilson, personal conversations; Lois Remembers: Memoirs of the Co-founder of Al-Anon and Wife of the Co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (New York: Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, 1979), 135; Wilson, personal conversations.
10. Ibid.
11. Wilson, taped interviews; Wilson, personal conversations.
12. Ibid.
13. Ibid.
14. Lois Remembers, 117.
15. Wilson, personal conversations.
16. Ibid.
17. Lois Remembers, 104.
18. Ibid.
19. Wilson, personal conversations.
20. Pass It On, 181.
21. Ibid., 184.
22. Ibid., 184–85.
23. Lois Remembers, 109–110.
24. Wilson, taped interviews.
25. Lois Remembers, 98.
26. Ibid.
27. Ibid., 99; Wilson, personal conversations.
28. Wilson, personal conversations.
29. Ibid.
30. Ibid.; Wilson, taped interviews; Lois Remembers, 99.
31. Wilson, personal conversations.
32. Ibid.
33. Ibid.
34. Lois Remembers, 99.
CHAPTER 13: AN UNSETTLED WORLD—AN UNSETTLED LIFE
1. Lois Wilson, taped interviews by author, 1976; Pass It On: The Story of Bill Wilson and How the A.A. Message Reached the World (New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, 1984), 188.
2. Lois Wilson, personal conversations with author, 1986–87.
3. Pass It On, 189.
4. Robert Smith, Jr., taped interviews by author, 2001.
5. Ibid.
7. Lois Remembers: Memoirs of the Co-founder of Al-Anon and Wife of the Co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (New York: Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, 1979), 102.
8. Wilson, taped interviews.
9. Ibid.; Wilson, personal conversations; Lois Remembers, 111.
10. Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd ed. (New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, 1976), 58.
11. Pass It On, 198–99.
12. Robert Thomsen, Bill W.: The Absorbing and Deeply Moving Life Story of Bill Wilson, Co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (New York: Harper & Row, 1975), 283.
13. Wilson, taped interviews; Wilson, personal conversations.
14. Thomsen, Bill W., 284; Pass It On, 196.
15. Wilson, personal conversations.
16. Pass It On, 199.
17. Lois Remembers, 113–14.
18. Wilson, personal conversations.
19. Thomsen, Bill W., 285–86; Pass It On, 203–4.
20. Wilson, personal conversations.
21. Ibid.
22. Ibid.
23. Lois Remembers, 125.
24. Wilson, taped interviews.
25. Ibid.
26. Lois Remembers, 126.
27. Ibid.
28. Wilson, taped interviews; Wilson, personal conversations.
29. Pass It On, 232.
30. Ibid., 233.
31. Wilson, personal conversations.
32. Lois Remembers, 130.
33. Pass It On, 238.
34. Lois Remembers, 131.
35. Pass It On, 239.
36. Wilson, personal conversations.
37. Ibid.; Wilson, taped interviews.
38. Pass It On, 245.
39. Ibid., 247.
40. Lois Remembers, 132.
41. Wilson, personal conversations.
CHAPTER 14: THE EVOLUTION OF AL-ANON
1. Lois Remembers: Memoirs of the Co-founder of Al-Anon and Wife of the Co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (New York: Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, 1979), 133.
2. Ibid., 133.
3. Lois Wilson, personal conversations with author, 1986–87.
4. Ibid.
5. Lois Remembers, 136.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid., 137.
8. Ibid., 138.
9. Ibid., 137.
10. William Silkworth, interview, 1940s, text from Stepping Stones Foundation Archives.
11. Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers: A Biography, with Recollections of Early A.A. in the Midwest (New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, 1980), 328–29.
12. Robert Smith, Jr., taped interviews by author, 2001.
13. Lois Remembers, 173.
14. Wilson, personal conversations.
15. Lois Remembers, 173–74.
16. Ibid.
17. First Steps: Al-Anon . . . Thirty-Five Years of Beginnings (New York: Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, 1986), 48.
18. Lois Remembers, 175.
19. Wilson, personal conversations.
20. Ibid.
21. Ibid.
22. Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd ed. (New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, 1976), 108–10.
23. Al-Anon’s Twelve Traditions, © Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc. Reprinted with permission.
24. Alcoholics Anonymous, 59.
25. Wilson, personal conversations; Lois Wilson, taped interviews by author, 1976; Lois Remembers, 74.
26. Ibid.
CHAPTER 15: A HEART ATTACK CAN BE GOOD FOR THE SOUL
1. Harriet Sevarino, taped interviews by author, 2001–2002.
2. Ibid.
3. Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd ed. (New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, 1976), 59.
4. Sevarino, taped interviews.
5. Lois Remembers: Memoirs of the Co-founder of Al-Anon and Wife of the Co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (New York: Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, 1979), 169.
6. Lois Wilson, personal conversations, 1986–87.
7. Nell Wing, Grateful to Have Been There: My Forty-Two Years with Bill and Lois, and the Evolution of Alcoholics Anonymous, 2nd ed. (Center City, MN: Hazelden, 1998), 143.
8. Ibid., 65–68.
9. Ibid., 66.
10. Ibid., 68–69.
11. Ibid., 69–70.
12. Mary C. Darrah, Sister Ignatia: Angel of Alcoholics Anonymous (Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1992), 226.
13. First Steps: Al-Anon . . . Thirty-Five Years of Beginnings (New York: Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, 1986), 65–66.
14. Ibid.
15. First Steps, 66.
16. Lois Wilson to Cleveland Al-Anon member, Stepping Stones Foundation Archives.
17. Alcoholics Anonymous, xxvi.
18. Wilson, personal conversations.
19. Lois Remembers, 156.
20. Bill Wilson to Lois Wilson, Stepping Stones Foundation Archives.
21. Lois Remembers, 156.
22. Wilson, personal conversations.
23. Lois Wilson, taped interviews by author, 1976.
24. Sevarino, taped interviews.
25. Lois Remembers, 157.
26. Ibid., 156.
27. Ibid., 189–90.
28. Lois Remembers, 181–82.
29. Ibid.
30. National Council on Alcoholism, award presentation, Humanitarian Award, 1985. Cited text provided by Stepping Stones Foundation Archives.
31. Lois Wilson, acceptance speech, Humanitarian Award, National Council on Alcoholism, 1985. Cited text provided by Stepping Stones Foundation Archives.
32. State of New York, Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services, Woman of the Year honors, March 2002. Cited text provided by Stepping Stones Foundation Archives.
33. Anonymous Al-Anon friends of Lois Wilson, taped interviews by author, 2002; Wilson, personal conversations.
34. Wilson, personal conversations.
35. Lois Remembers, 195.
CHAPTER 16: BILL’S LEGACY: ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS—LOVE, CONTROVERSY, AND TRIUMPH
1. Anonymous Al-Anon friends of Lois Wilson, taped interviews by author, 2002.
2. Lois Wilson, taped interviews by author, 1976.
3. Lois Wilson, personal conversations with author, 1986–87.
4. Pass It On: The Story of Bill Wilson and How the A.A. Message Reached the World (New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, 1984), 268.
5. Wilson, taped interviews.
6. Brinkley Smithers, taped interviews by author, 1976.
7. Wilson, personal conversations.
8. Robert Thomsen, Bill W.: The Absorbing and Deeply Moving Life Story of Bill Wilson, Co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (New York: Harper & Row, 1975), 365.
9. Smithers, taped interviews.
10. Wilson, personal conversations.
11. Ibid.; Lois Remembers: Memoirs of the Co-founder of Al-Anon and Wife of the Co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (New York: Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, 1979), 75–76.
12. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., to Bill Wilson, Stepping Stones Foundation Archives.
13. Anonymous Al-Anon friends, taped interviews.
14. Nell Wing, Grateful to Have Been There: My Forty-Two Years with Bill and Lois, and the Evolution of Alcoholics Anonymous, 2nd ed. (Center City, MN: Hazelden, 1998), 56.
15. Wilson, personal conversations.
16. Ibid.
17. Ibid.; Pass It On, 304; Lois Remembers, 137.
18. Wilson, personal conversations.
19. Pass It On, 278–79; Lois Remembers, 139.
/> 20. Bill W., Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age: A Brief History of A.A. (New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, 1957), 107.
21. Wilson, personal conversations.
22. Pass It On, 372.
23. Wilson, taped interviews.
24. Pass It On, 370.
25. Ibid., 375.
26. Wilson, personal conversations.
27. Bill W., Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, 123.
28. Wilson, personal conversations.
29. Nell Wing, interview by author, 1986.
30. Mount Kisco dentist, phone interview by author, 2002.
31. Wilson, personal conversations.
32. Anonymous Al-Anon friends, taped interviews.
33. Harriet Sevarino, taped interviews by author, 2001–2002.
34. Wing, interview.
35. Lois Remembers, 159.
36. Wilson, personal conversations.
37. Ibid.
38. Wilson, taped interviews; Wilson, personal conversations.
39. Ibid.
40. Ibid.
41. Pass It On, 402.
42. Wilson, personal conversations.
43. Wing, Grateful to Have Been There, 3.
44. Lois Remembers, 160.
45. Wing, interview.
46. Lois Remembers, 161.
CHAPTER 17: LOIS’S LEGACY: AL-ANON, ALATEEN, AND THE STEPPING STONES FOUNDATION
1. Harriet Sevarino, taped interviews by author, 2001–2002.
2. Lois Wilson, personal conversations with author, 1986–87.
3. Nell Wing, interview by author, 1986.
4. Lois Remembers: Memoirs of the Co-founder of Al-Anon and Wife of the Co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (New York: Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, 1979), 162.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid., 163–64.
7. Ibid., 165–66.
8. Ibid.
9. Anonymous Al-Anon friend of Lois Wilson, taped interviews by author, 2002.
10. Lois Remembers, 183–84.
11. Ibid., 184–85.
12. Ibid., 183.
13. Anonymous Al-Anon friend, taped interviews.
14. Ibid.
15. Bill W., Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age: A Brief History of A.A. (New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, 1957), 114.
16. Anonymous Al-Anon friend, taped interviews.
17. Lois Wilson, taped interviews by author, 1976.
18. Mission statement, Stepping Stones Foundation, 1979, Stepping Stones Foundation Archives.
19. Lois Wilson, address to professionals, Stepping Stones Foundation, 18 October 1984. Cited text provided by Stepping Stones Foundation Archives.