Uh, I’m an alcoholic. My name is Shadrach. Hi, Shadrach. I just wish to tell all of you that, you know, I don’t know what to say. I salute all of you for all your kindness. I’m sure back home, 15,000 miles away, they are with me in prayer because they know that I am here, and I wish to thank such wonderful people. You know, I’ve never been before so many people, as I said, sober. But I know it’s because I drank too much, and what a hell of a nice surprise to sober up and know that there are so many people, so many people in this part of the world who are sober like me. Again, I wish to thank all of you and the committee, and may God be with you. I salute you again. Thank you. You have this, Scott. I talked to Mother Betty at dinner. Betty V., that is. And she says there are almost 700 here at the banquet tonight, and that’s great. That’s, uh, well over 200 over than what there was here five years ago.

But this story is about Pat and Mike and Timothy, the three Irishmen that drank together, and they really had a ball. And they got drunk, and they really, they really had, they had a lot of fun. And one night, they were coming out of a bar late at night, and poor Timothy stumbled over the curb, fell down, and was run over by a truck. So the next night, Pat and Mike went to see Timothy laid out in the mortuary. And they walked in, and Pat says, “Oh, it’s wonderful. It’s wonderful.” And Tim says, uh, Mike says, “What do you mean it’s wonderful? Poor Timothy laying there dead.” He says, “Yeah, but it’s wonderful how much better he looks since he stopped drinking.” I was told not to tell that story, but I thought maybe somebody hadn’t heard it before. I am Stan Wilsey, and I’m an alcoholic. Hi, Stan. It’s a real pleasure to be here in Portland at the Pacific Northwest Conference. I have made the two previous ones here in 1972, and I think the other one was 1967.

And you guys do a beautiful job up here at the Pacific Northwest, and I really enjoy coming. And, uh, well, I, what else can I say? I, we say that some pl- people in Southern California say this: that leaders lead, readers read, chairmen chair, and speakers speak. So it gives me a great pleasure now to introduce your speaker for this evening, another Irishman, Gene D. from Calistoga, California. Gene. My name is Gene, and I, too, am an alcoholic. Hi, Gene. And I, I’m working under a little bit of a handicap here because when Bill picked me up at the plane, uh, yesterday afternoon, the first thing he said to me, he says, “You know,” he says, “I’ve heard about you. Uh, I’m gonna have my wife at the banquet, so clean it up.” Well, I just, you know, I’m used to hearing that.