Читать книгу Voices of Women in AA - Группа авторов - Страница 14

June 1994 [Excerpt]

Nell worked at the General Service Office (GSO) of AA from the beginning of 1947 until her retirement in 1982, starting as a receptionist and later becoming secretary of AA World Services, Inc. When the GSO Archives opened in 1975, Nell was the first archivist. She served in this capacity until her retirement in 1982.

Nine years after the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous began in Akron, Ohio, Grapevine magazine published its first issue in June 1944. Three years after that Nell Wing arrived in New York. A young woman in her late 20s, Nell had decided to go to Mexico to pursue a career in sculpture. In the meantime, she wanted a temporary job to earn a little more money for the journey. The agency where she applied for a temporary job told her about an opening at the headquarters office of Alcoholics Anonymous. Nell knew about AA, having read Morris Markey’s article “Alcoholics and God” in the September 1939 Liberty magazine, and through other magazine articles in the early 40s, as well.

In 1947, she started working in the office of the Alcoholic Foundation (now the General Service Office), and in 1950 became Bill W.’s secretary. Within a few years, she became close friends with Bill and his wife, Lois, and on weekends she regularly went up to Stepping Stones, their home in Bedford Hills, New York, to help Bill with correspondence or research, or just to keep him and Lois company.

After Bill died in 1971, Nell continued her close association with the General Service Office and with Lois. She organized the AA Archives, and in 1993 published a memoir called Grateful to Have Been There. Nell never got to Mexico, but she worked for AA for 36 years. At the time of this interview, Nell traveled frequently around the country, speaking to groups about AA history.

As a bonus to Grapevine readers for this special 50th anniversary issue, two Grapevine staff members—the managing editor and an assistant—interviewed Nell Wing at the Grapevine office in New York and talked about the magazine, Bill W., the early days of AA, and a variety of other things.

–Original editor’s note

You’ve described Grapevine as having an “improbable history.” What did you mean?

It’s miraculous the Grapevine is still in existence 50 years later. Grapevine doesn’t have what a lot of magazines have—like ads or a sales force. It has to stick to its primary purpose and basically that’s to ask members to write articles, to share their stories, to feature events happening in their areas, now or in the future. But Grapevine has kept going because there are many, many people who understand and appreciate it. There are always enough members who find it useful and helpful in maintaining sobriety and keep it going. Some even read it long before becoming members of AA.

What was it about Grapevine that Bill W. found so appealing?

He quickly saw it as a means of carrying the message. And since he couldn’t connect personally with all groups and areas of AA on a regular basis, he used it as a primary source of sharing and explaining the important issues that he wanted accepted by the Fellowship. Now, it took several years, as we know, before there was a steady and enthusiastic growth of Grapevine readers. But Bill thought that sharing his ideas in print this way was important. It was there—you could read it, you could think about it, you could refer to it later.

That was one of the reasons for writing the Big Book—so the program wouldn’t get “garbled” in transmission.

Exactly. If it’s in print, it’s a matter of record. And the fact is, Bill was perhaps his own worst enemy in trying to get his ideas across. He could pound you into a corner, so to speak, because of his frustration when his ideas were not understood and accepted by the trustees and the membership at large. So Grapevine was an effective way for him to reach people—without the pounding!

Grapevine is now 50 years old, and we’re considering what our role for the future will be. Do you have any thoughts about where the Grapevine fits in?

Preserving the experience—to my mind that’s what you do in the Grapevine. Grapevine’s purpose is similar to the purpose of archives in general: to preserve the past, understand the present, and discuss and predict the future. So many young people are coming in today and they need to know about the history of AA.

What was your first acquaintance with alcoholics or AA?

My dad was a teacher and a justice of the peace in our small town. I learned about alcoholics very early on because the state police would often drag guys over at three in the morning, rapping on our door. And many of these drunks were professional people in our town or nearby towns, and perhaps good friends of my dad’s. Occasionally he’d pay their fines for them—when you’ve been out drinking until 3:00, who has any money left to pay fines with?

I read about AA in the September Liberty magazine—sitting in my college dorm—in 1939. So when I first came to work at AA, I knew about it, and I also knew that a drunk was not always a “Bowery bum.”