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Source: Maynard B – Join the Tribe – Date Unknown.mp3 File: maynard-b-join-the-tribe-date-unknown.mp3 Duration: 00:21:51
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By God's Grace and Miracle of the Program, August 23rd of 79, and again it's wonderful to participate in something like this and hope that the message that we're helping to pass on is helping your sobriety and maybe the people you're sponsoring, what have you, or your sponsor. Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength, and hope with each other, that they may solve their common problem and help others recover from alcoholism. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. There are no dues or fees for A.A. membership. We are self-supporting for our own contributions. A.A. is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization, or institution, does not wish to engage in any controversy, neither endorses nor opposes any causes. Our primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety. And as I had shared before, tonight we're having an open speaker meeting and we thought we would stick to the book and have some people tell their story whose stories are in the back of the book. A little story about our first speaker, Maynard, is I was involved in starting a group up in South Salem, New York, a group called the Spring Street Group, and we thought it was right around this time of year, exactly, and we thought, how are we going to start off our meetings? We were going to have a big book meeting, of course, and the last Wednesday of the month would be our anniversary night, and on Mondays at that time would have a step meeting. And it turned out that that Wednesday was going to be June 10th, which is A.A.'s anniversary, and we thought, what a nice day to start an A.A. group.
So we decided now, if we're going to have a meeting on June 10th, what type of meeting should we start off with? And the group conscience of our small group, we had like 10 members at the time to start, decided, well, let's have a celebration. Let's celebrate the inauguration of A.A.'s newest group and celebrate A.A.'s birthday at the same time. And we thought, well, Dave, since I'm involved in service, you know, who would you suggest to have speak? And I thought, well, Maynard's local and his story is in the book, and maybe it would be nice to have him come and share. And a lot of people thought, you know, now we're getting into traditions of attraction rather than promotion, and we're wondering, well, if we put out a flyer saying come to the opening of our meeting, how do we introduce this speaker? And we think, well, if we keep it too anonymous, if it's just Maynard B., no one's going to know who Maynard B. is, and you know, maybe. So we figured we'd go by his better-known name of Maynard the Indian. And so we put come celebrate A.A.'s 50-some-odd year anniversary, and the speaker is going to be Maynard the Indian. Now, we figured that a lot of you people didn't know that Maynard's story was in the big book, and we thought that that might pull the, so we put underneath that in small letters, you love them in the big book, come and join me at Spring Street.
Now, again, I'm involved in service, and I went to an area assembly meeting and passed out flyers, and now we're a small little town with two buildings in that town, and we had 250 people show up from all over. All our big books were bought because they wanted them to sign the book, and we thought, you know, gee, it's going to be humble Monday when we come back and there are only seven or ten of us, you know. But it was really nice. It paid for our coffee pot and paid our first month's rent, and Maynard has been a special friend to that group ever since. And at this time, I'd like to introduce Maynard the Indian, his story is on page 454, is it, or 474? Thank you, 474, join the tribe.
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, my name is Maynard B., and I'm an alcoholic, and thanks for the build-up that day, but I know I hope I can keep up with it. Well, I'm very fortunate to be down here tonight, because last January, I had a slight seizure in the heart, and I didn't think I'd make it, and went from that hospital in Connecticut, and then I went to a hospital up in New Brunswick. They come out about two or three weeks ago, so I was
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fortunate to be able to come down, and it was very nice of Dave to ask me to come down. And I think for me, it's a privilege and an honor, and so I'm not going to go into too much of that, but I hope I thank Dave and whoever is responsible, and I'll start with my story. I'm the oldest of 13, and my father was a constable in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police up in Canada, and being the oldest, he was strict with me. I had to walk a straight line, and some of the fellows, when I was just about quitting school, they offered me a drink, but I wouldn't. They figured they'd get so much sweet on them or something, and I'd say nothing.
But I liked it. I liked the stuff. But the first time I ever took a drink was in a mass one in a church vestry, and my father's job was a constable, and I also, or he's job was to to have the church, prepare the church for Sunday mornings. I used to do that, and one Saturday morning, I caught my cousin with the mastermind, and I guess he was scared of my sweet on him, so he offered me a drink. And before this, I used to hear my fathers and all them older guys, the lumberjacks and and drivers, they used to drive lumber them days, and they used to gather at my father's house, and they used to talk about how good this alcohol was, and I always looked forward to having a drink of that. So when my cousin offered me a drink, I took it, and he was right, right there. I was sitting right up, and but I was scared of my father, and I avoided him until I started working up in Maine, and I started working in Maine, and I started drinking, and I didn't get into no trouble, and when I drank there, I always drank beer, and that's all it was, and I went in service in 41, and my buddy and I went in there, and I could have gotten in a lot of trouble overseas, but I was very fortunate, and we came back. We came back in 44, and there was a place where they used to serve alcoholic beverages, you know, motel, hotel, and we went. The first place we went to was when my father met me at the railroad station, and he went right over to that place that's in Maine, and he didn't ask me no questions. Right away, he bought a couple of drinks, and he drank his, sipped it up. He was soon gone.
He said, why don't you drink yours? I said, okay, and I drank it, but next time I went wrong, he didn't have to ask me. I drank it myself, and being from Moverseas, coming back from Moverseas, the alcohol over here was stronger to me, and we stayed there, and we went to follow the sponsors to come into this program. He's since passed away, and we went to his house, and we brought some alcohol with us. I don't know how much, and I lost my father somewhere, and he went home, and three days later, I got there, and I got in a blackout. I don't know what happened, but I got home, and I took my first pledge of many. I thought if I would take a pledge, it would be okay. I kept it for a while, and it didn't work, because I didn't pick up a drink.
I figured if I would take a pledge, that was it, and it wasn't. Next thing I know, I started in the jails in Maine and Canada. I stopped drinking for a while, and when I picked
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up a drink, I always ended up in jail. I mean, like that, a judge would always set me with a count in jail, and I think they got 15 counts in the state of Maine, and around the count, that's how I happened to be in Connecticut. So, I came down there, and I was always scared of going to jail. I was down here not very long, and I started drinking again, and then I got in jail, and the fellow we worked for built a lot of houses for the cops, and I used to call him up.
I don't know if it helped or not, but every time I called him up, he'd get me out, and I don't know if he swore to me or what, but I think I'm sure he did, because every time I called him up, he got me out, and it went on like that until I, the 19, I don't know, I forget now, I'm lost. My mind hasn't been working too well. This is the first time, in fact, since the shock that I tried to share. So, I came over there, and every time I'd go in, he'd get me out. I don't know if he was a judge or what, he paid money, or he got me out anyway, and I found out one time he would let me out, and he gave me 15 days, and I served nine or six days, I don't remember, and I got out of that jail, and shortly after that, I went back to Canada, and the same thing up there. I started drinking, and while I'm away from them, all right, but as soon as I pick up a drink, I always end up in jail.
So, in 1953, I was in Connecticut, and I went back home, and when I got back there, I started drinking again, and then after a while, because my mother, I had a very nice mother, but my mother was, I'm the oldest, and I guess I was awful with my own brothers and sisters. I was bossy. Don't tell them what to do, when somebody should tell me what to do, but that's the way I was, and my mother said, as much as I hate to see you drink, you've got to go out and have a drink, and go ahead and go, and that's how I ended up being in Connecticut. So, I came down to Connecticut in 1953, and then I started in jail. I went to go into jail, and he get me out, and finally one time, he would let me out, so I ended up in North Avenue in Bridgeport, and in there, I said never again. Every time I'd get in jail, I'd say never again, and it was a waste of time. I'd say it wouldn't happen again, but I was very sure that I'd get out of there, and I got out of there, and I think it was 1954, I was in North Avenue jail, and my boss came up, and he got me out, and he had my clothes all packed and everything, and he bought me a one-way ticket to Canada, so I went up to Canada, and I was up there, I don't know, about six months, and I picked up a drink, and I started, and then I ended up coming back here in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and I excuse me, my mind ain't working too well, but when I got out of there, and I always said, if I ever get into a county jail, I'll quit, but I didn't know what that cause was, so one day, I was in jail, and he got me out, and he got me out on a Wednesday, and by that Saturday, I ended up in North Avenue.
He said, I'll get you out this time, but next time, I won't be able to get you out.
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I don't know. A lot of times I've been put in jail. I don't remember being put in jail. And I'm sure there's a lot of people out there in prisons today that are innocent, but it could happen to almost anybody. And a number of times I was put in and I don't remember. I couldn't be blamed for anything at all. I wouldn't know it. So I came down here. I worked on the main turnpike up in Maine, Houston, Maine. And that's when I met my sponsor. He was working on the same job as me. I wasn't drinking, but I did start. And I started and I looked up my sponsor. And he told me that he'd go to the meeting that Thursday. That's when they had the meeting up there. There used to be a hotel there, Hotel Little, I think. And then he'd say, take me to the meeting.
From Monday to Thursday, I couldn't sleep, eat, or nothing. My stomach was gone. So we took my first AA meeting. And the cause was like what they have over there. And he was very good to me. He used to tell me, he said, call me before you pick up a drink. And I wanted sobriety very much. And I wasn't fooled. And that's when I started. He took me for my first meeting. And I was there for a short time. Work was slow. Then I come to Bridgeport.
Always told me to call him up before I pick up a drink, which was a good insurance for me. And I always called him up. And I came down to Bridgeport. I met a guy. He was 10 years younger than myself, but he was sober two years. And he had a very good AA. And when I get through here, I'm going back there. I'm going to call him up. He's got grandchildren and kids. And he's a very nice man. And he's been sober quite some time.
So I had a lot of good sponsors. I worked in Mount Vernon here for two years, I guess. And I worked on this expressway. I worked on the World's Fair. I worked all around the Williamsburg Bridge. And I worked on the approaches of the George Washington Bridge. So I've been very fortunate I was able to work to keep up my habit. But I was very lucky when I got up there. He took me to my first AA meeting. He told me what to do. He told me to call him up before I pick up a drink.
I used to call him up all hours of the night. He said, but don't worry, that's all right, as long as you don't pick up a drink. But he was a very good man. So I left there and I came to Connecticut. Then I met my sponsor down here in Connecticut. He's much younger than me, but he's so much older than me. And he was very good to me. Then we used to go to meetings up in New Haven. They used to have New Haven meetings on Sunday afternoon. Then I used to come down to New York.
I just went for the ride. I didn't even share the meetings. I just went for the ride. In those days, we used to have to travel to Long Island, and onward to Jersey,
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and on the other way to Wood Island. The meetings were far apart, but that was good AA. I'm sure they kept me to be here today. I can't thank enough for Dave for asking me to come down here. He was very good. So I was a sobriety in Mount Vernon. Then I worked up in Niagara Falls for a couple of years. They made tunnels for the water to flow. So they kept me pretty busy. But I always have soft spots in Maine, or that place where I got in AA. And the place where I went to my first AA meeting, they slowed that down and built a parking lot there. It really hurts when you see a building where you go to a meeting and you're gone. Next time, it's gone.
There's several places I've been used to go to meetings, and I've told them down in New Haven they've done that. So it's good to be here today, and it's a very nice meeting. I want to thank everybody for helping me share what I quoted. Like I said, it's the first time I've shared since January. I hope you understand me. Thank you very much.