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Non-alcoholic women who helped AA early in its history

The history of Alcoholics Anonymous includes individuals, non-alcoholics, who made important contributions to the founding of our Fellowship. Some familiar names, such as Dr. Silkworth and columnist Jack Alexander, were men. There were also women. The stories in this chapter are by or about these women, who provided inspiration, direction and support at a time when it was needed.

This chapter opens with a story by someone who remains widely beloved in the Fellowship: Lois Wilson, the wife of our co-founder, Bill W. In the article “Family Circle,” Lois uses her own experience as the spouse of a recovering alcoholic to show how she applies AA’s Twelve Steps to her own life. There’s also a story about Anne Smith, the wife of Dr. Bob, our other co-founder. This Akron woman is another beloved figure in early AA; Anne may well have been the first person to understand “the miracle of what passed between Bill and Dr. Bob.”

The story “What We Were Like” is a profile of Akron resident Henrietta Seiberling. It was Henrietta who put Bill W. and Dr. Bob together—and the rest is history. In this story, Bill calls his gratitude to Henrietta “timeless.”

In “What a Doctor Learned From AA,” published in 1940, Dr. Ruth Fox describes how hearing an AA speaker for the first time turned her into an advocate for our program, well before there was any public recognition for the program

These women had faith that recovery from alcoholism might be possible at a time when nothing else seemed to work.