Transcript

[00:01.0 – 00:09.0] Before introducing this man, a letter that the Blandine group received, it was on the bulletin board down at the club, but I'd like to read it. [00:09.0 – 00:15.9] April 11th, 1960, the Blandine Group, 117 and a half Perry Street, Davenport, Iowa. [00:15.9 – 00:26.0] "To my friends in Blandine, on your sixth anniversary, I want to send you my congratulations on what you have brought about in your good part of our [00:26.0 – 00:28.8] AA world in these years now past. [00:28.8 – 00:35.1] This occasion also brings back happy memories of my visit to Iowa in our pioneering time. [00:35.1 – 00:40.1] To all of my friends, old and new, please carry my warmest greetings. [00:40.1 – 00:44.9] I am so very glad that my own sponsor, Ebby, is to be with you. [00:44.9 – 00:53.4] What he did for me, and all those who have followed, is something for my deepest thankfulness, as I know it is yours. [00:53.4 – 00:55.7] May the coming year be counted among your finest yet. [00:55.7 – 01:02.9] Ever devotedly, Bill." And with any, no further ado, I'm going to introduce Ebby P. [01:02.9 – 01:04.7] of Dallas, Texas, at this time. [01:04.7 – 01:17.6] Ebby Thank [01:17.6 – 01:17.8] you. [01:17.8 – 01:25.8] Well, as you know, my name is Ebby, and, uh, presently I'm living in Dallas, Texas. [01:25.8 – 01:31.6] Coming up in the plane yesterday, I brought a copy of the Saturday Evening Post with me. [01:31.6 – 01:40.9] A nice little story about that law and a lot of man from West Texas who some years ago built himself an electric automobile. [01:40.9 – 01:51.2] And he drove to New York in it, and it only cost him a dollar and 89 cents for electricity, and $6,924 for an extension [01:51.2 – 01:51.8] cord. [01:51.8 – 01:57.7] That's sort of typical for you, see? [01:57.7 – 01:58.8] Exemplary of Texas. [01:58.8 – 02:02.2] Of course, I am not a Texan by birth. [02:02.2 – 02:05.2] I was born in Albany, New York. [02:05.2 – 02:10.0] Went to school there, started my drinking there. [02:10.0 – 02:17.0] And I also, my family had a summer home in a town in Vermont, which was only 16 miles from Albany. [02:17.0 – 02:20.9] And it was there that I first ran into Bill Wilson. [02:20.9 – 02:26.9] He was born in a town, lived in a town about six miles north of the town where I summered. [02:26.9 – 02:36.4] I guess the first time I ever met Bill was about 1911, which, of course, was a couple of years ago, even though I'm only 39, long which that's funny. [02:36.4 – 02:42.3] Uh, 1912, Bill and I went to school together up there. [02:42.3 – 02:45.9] I left the school I was going to, the private school in Albany. [02:45.9 – 02:53.1] I went up there for a year, which, by the way, set me back a year when I went back to my original school because they didn't like it. [02:53.1 – 02:54.4] Well, either. [02:54.4 – 02:56.7] I got to know Bill pretty well. [02:56.7 – 02:58.0] We became pretty good friends. [02:58.0 – 03:01.9] And I saw him through the years afterward. [03:01.9 – 03:09.9] And, uh, I, uh, I took, took my first drink, I guess it was, in 1914. [03:09.9 – 03:14.3] And Bill didn't start drinking until some years after that. [03:14.3 – 03:17.7] I don't think he started drinking until after he came home from World War I. [03:17.7 – 03:25.7] Uh, we only got together on one drunk, and that was when he came to Albany one time and called me up. [03:25.7 – 03:26.8] It was a Saturday. [03:26.8 – 03:30.3] I happened to be in the office here Saturday morning. [03:30.3 – 03:33.1] And he said, "I'm in town. [03:33.1 – 03:42.1] Come on down and have a drink." I said, "That sounds good to me." So I went down, and I had to show him all my spots in Albany, and we kissed them in. [03:42.1 – 03:48.1] And, and so it happened I was playing around with a bunch of boys then who had a flying service in Albany. [03:48.1 – 03:49.6] We got together with them that night. [03:49.6 – 03:56.5] And somehow, out of that drinking party came the idea we'd fly up to Vermont the next day, which we did. [03:56.5 – 03:60.0] And we arrived there, both of us crocked. [03:60.0 – 04:05.1] Got out of the plane, and I think it was about the first or second plane that had landed in that little airport. [04:05.1 – 04:08.4] And everybody was out there, and everybody knew Bill and I. [04:08.4 – 04:15.9] But somehow, somebody got us into the hangar out of the way because most of the times people didn't see us. [04:15.9 – 04:18.7] And the guys sneaked the car up to the back end, and we got out. [04:18.7 – 04:24.0] But that's the only time that Bill and I ever drank together. [04:24.0 – 04:26.5] I'm not going to go on any blow-by-blow description. [04:26.5 – 04:33.2] The drinking, my drinking soon got out of hand, and it went that way for a good many years. [04:33.2 – 04:40.8] I'd sober up for a while on my own, under my own steam, and get squared away for four or five months. [04:40.8 – 04:42.2] I never could make six months. [04:42.2 – 04:44.1] And then I'd go again. [04:44.1 – 04:54.3] In 1934, I was living in our house in Vermont, all alone, and, uh, [04:54.3 – 04:55.7] trying to paint the darn thing. [04:55.7 – 04:59.4] I had a ladder, and I couldn't get halfway up that ladder. [04:59.4 – 05:02.1] I was drinking so hard, and I was shaking, and I… [05:02.1 – 05:06.0] It was about this time a few fellows came to see me. [05:06.0 – 05:10.9] And they, uh, both of them I had drunk with on many occasions. [05:10.9 – 05:16.8] I don't think that they're strictly, they would strictly be classed as alcoholics, but they're heavy drinkers. [05:16.8 – 05:26.1] And, well, they, um, had trouble with it, but their, their main trouble, I think, was lust for power and business and things like that. [05:26.1 – 05:32.5] And of course, that old stock market crash in 1929 knocked them out of the, out of the running. [05:32.5 – 05:37.5] And they had become interested in an organization known as the Oxford Group. [05:37.5 – 05:47.5] And they started talking to me about some very simple principles which I had learned as a child, and asked me if I [05:47.5 – 05:55.0] didn't think if Ebby Thatcher was trying to run his life, and always had been, then why not try to give God a chance? [05:55.0 – 05:59.3] Well, they left me with some pretty good ideas that I liked. [05:59.3 – 06:08.5] And I got ahold of a, a boss painter who sent me a man and some equipment, and with the equipment, he and I, I sobered up in the meantime, and we painted the house. [06:08.5 – 06:12.8] But as soon as that house painting was over, I was right back to the bottle. [06:12.8 – 06:15.1] My interest was gone again. [06:15.1 – 06:20.7] And as a consequence, in the course of eight or 10 days, I got in trouble with the law. [06:20.7 – 06:30.2] And I had been in trouble twice before that summer, and three times was a modeling six months in the state prison. [06:30.2 – 06:40.3] But fortunately, one of the men who had come to see me was the son of a judge for whom I was taken before, and I was released under my own recognizance [06:40.3 – 06:44.6] to another man who had been interested in the Oxford Group, and he took me to New York. [06:44.6 – 06:55.5] I stayed with one of these men, and then I moved into a mission on East 23rd Street, which was run by Calvary Episcopal Church, and [06:55.5 – 06:57.4] it was run under Oxford Group principles. [06:57.4 – 07:00.4] I don't want to go into the, what the Oxford Group was. [07:00.4 – 07:09.2] It was a, a spiritual movement, and, uh, they certainly had a lot of good ideas. [07:09.2 – 07:10.3] No question about it. [07:10.3 – 07:20.3] They folded up, I think, because they were always trying to, to get the key people into the movement, and Christ himself was looking for the man [07:20.3 – 07:22.1] on the street, the man who was the sinner. [07:22.1 – 07:27.0] And I, uh, I worked down there in that mission. [07:27.0 – 07:29.3] That is, I lived there with 11 other men. [07:29.3 – 07:30.9] We called ourselves The Brotherhood. [07:30.9 – 07:35.6] And we had about 30 transients off the street every night. [07:35.6 – 07:42.1] And I, in the daytime sometimes, I'd get downtown and go to Wall Street, knew some people down. [07:42.1 – 07:47.1] And I began to hear stories about Bill, whether he wasn't, uh, entirely welcome down there anymore. [07:47.1 – 07:52.3] He was drinking, and he'd gotten into trouble, and he was pretty well banned. [07:52.3 – 07:55.7] So I called him up one day and got his wife, and she asked me over for dinner. [07:55.7 – 07:59.1] And that story you've read in the, in the Big Book. [07:59.1 – 08:06.7] It's a little different, but, uh, only because I happen to be sober and remember it a little bit differently . [08:06.7 – 08:08.9] The principle of the thing is just about the same. [08:08.9 – 08:18.9] And, uh, Bill, uh, walked home with me that night, and he walked the subway with me, and he said, "I don't know what you got, but what [08:18.9 – 08:26.0] it is, I, I want it." I think what he saw was the fact that I was sober for the first time in a good many years. [08:26.0 – 08:29.3] I'd called him up to call me at all times of the hour, of the night. [08:29.3 – 08:33.8] And here I was in New York, and, and under my own steam and not drinking. [08:33.8 – 08:40.4] So when I went to see Bill, I figured he'd either go for this thing whole hog, or he'd have none of it. [08:40.4 – 08:44.4] And the whole thing was that Bill was ready for it. [08:44.4 – 08:47.4] Now, I just happened to be the guy, that's all. [08:47.4 – 08:49.5] It, it went for that. [08:49.5 – 08:51.1] Bill was ready for it at the time. [08:51.1 – 08:54.1] And Bill and I worked together. [08:54.1 – 08:57.8] After he got his, his feet really on the ground, we worked together quite a while. [08:57.8 – 09:03.3] And I stayed around New York for about two years, then I went back to Auburn, my hometown. [09:03.3 – 09:06.8] And I was only back there about six months, and I had trouble. [09:06.8 – 09:12.3] And I've had trouble off and on over the years. [09:12.3 – 09:17.6] I guess maybe if I wanted to figure the thing out, I could figure up 16 or 17 years. [09:17.6 – 09:23.6] So I counted month by month, see, it's a sober month, but I couldn't string them out in any way. [09:23.6 – 09:28.8] But, uh, I've had a better record since I came to Texas. [09:28.8 – 09:38.9] And since that's a bit of a story, how I got in touch with the scenes is the man in New York named Charlie Milton was in [09:38.9 – 09:45.4] Paris, France, the summer of '53, and they have a very small AA group there. [09:45.4 – 09:47.8] Well, they did at that time. [09:47.8 – 09:57.1] And he was there one night, and he met one of these original men who had come to see me in Vermont, one of the two guys from the Oxford Group. [09:57.1 – 10:06.1] And the guy said to him, "How's old Ebby doing?" Well, he says, "I don't know, old Ebby, but I hear he's not doing very well." And I wasn't. [10:06.1 – 10:16.3] Well, he says, "You know, I think he's licked in New York." He says, "Do you think there's any way you could ever get him out of there?" And the guy said, "I don't know, but I'll try." And [10:16.3 – 10:20.0] he came back to, to New York, and he did try. [10:20.0 – 10:27.0] And I'm only citing this as an example of what I call AA in action and not just talking about it. [10:27.0 – 10:37.0] He, he called up the secretary of the Intergroup, and he said, "If Ebby comes in, you tell him I want to see him." Well, this man and brother had lived in Texas, and he married a [10:37.0 – 10:37.7] Texas girl. [10:37.7 – 10:39.0] Lives in Dallas. [10:39.0 – 10:45.9] And I came in there one afternoon, and, uh, she, the girl, got on the phone, and he came right over from his office. [10:45.9 – 10:55.5] And the first thing he says to me, "Where do you drink?" Well, I said, "There's a nice spot over here in Fairdale." He said, "Let's go." So we went over there, and he bought me a couple of drinks. [10:55.5 – 10:56.5] We sat down. [10:56.5 – 11:02.6] He said, "How'd you like to go to Texas?" Well, about that time, Texas was farthest from my thoughts, believe me. [11:02.6 – 11:05.3] I had no idea of going to Texas. [11:05.3 – 11:10.5] He began to tell me that he thought that I was licked in New York, and I knew it. [11:10.5 – 11:11.8] I knew I was licked in New York. [11:11.8 – 11:15.9] I just couldn't throw that blanket of defeat off my shoulders. [11:15.9 – 11:25.8] And he painted a pretty good picture of, of, uh, getting a new start on a new ground, although they say there's no such thing as a geographical cure. [11:25.8 – 11:27.7] I, for one, will vote for it. [11:27.7 – 11:34.9] Well, anyway, he gave me $5, and he told me, "Tomorrow night." And he met me tomorrow night in the same process. [11:34.9 – 11:35.9] He bought me a couple of drinks. [11:35.9 – 11:39.2] He left me the $5, and he says, "Now, you're on your own. [11:39.2 – 11:45.3] If you want to go, you call me up." That was Thursday night, and Saturday morning, I walked over to his apartment. [11:45.3 – 11:51.9] He says, "You ready to go to Texas?" I said, "I don't know about Texas, but I'm ready to quit drinking." I quit drinking last night. [11:51.9 – 11:54.7] And he said, "Come on up. [11:54.7 – 12:00.9] We're gonna get pinned up." So he called up, well, then he called up, or he called up Ollie Lancaster and Percy Whaley right here. [12:00.9 – 12:07.7] And I heard the guy said, "Well, send me the Yankee son of a bitch down." I heard it right over the phone. [12:07.7 – 12:12.6] Excuse me for repeating those words I used, but that was only Lancaster. [12:12.6 – 12:19.6] So Sunday night, they loaded me on the plane, and I know that that thing, they hardly rolled the dogs on the steps up to it, and I was out. [12:19.6 – 12:21.3] I wanted out. [12:21.3 – 12:22.1] I was nervous. [12:22.1 – 12:26.8] Charlie never gave me a drink, and I heard afterwards he had a pint at the airport and never gave it to me. [12:26.8 – 12:30.3] And I quit drinking cold turkey. [12:30.3 – 12:32.9] Well, it was thirsty and only to meet me. [12:32.9 – 12:36.9] And I stayed at Circe Clinic for a long time. [12:36.9 – 12:41.0] And Circe can tell you how sick boy I was. [12:41.0 – 12:44.0] I never thought I was going to pull out of that family. [12:44.0 – 12:47.9] I couldn't convince myself and nobody else could convince me that I was infected. [12:47.9 – 12:51.1] I really had hallucinations and everything else. [12:51.1 – 12:56.4] But they were patient, and they stayed with me, and finally it wore off. [12:56.4 – 12:59.7] I got back to normalcy again. [12:59.7 – 13:07.4] As I tell you, one time I was there, I know, I know, but what was the name of that boy that was there at the clinic that time? [13:07.4 – 13:10.2] Was he from West Texas? [13:10.2 – 13:12.6] Well, I can't. [13:12.6 – 13:18.6] Anyway, he had to go out to the airport and mail some letters and get them on airmail. [13:18.6 – 13:21.0] And I said, I want to ride out here. [13:21.0 – 13:22.7] Two weeks after I got there. [13:22.7 – 13:24.8] And we got out there. [13:24.8 – 13:27.9] I got out of the car to depart there in front of the old terminal. [13:27.9 – 13:30.3] And there was a placard, a bronze placard on there. [13:30.3 – 13:31.8] It said, Love Field out of Texas. [13:31.8 – 13:34.9] And I had to get out and put my hand on that thing and read it. [13:34.9 – 13:36.9] And I said, all right, I believe I'm infected. [13:36.9 – 13:42.3] I shouldn't believe any of these drunks tell me that. [13:42.3 – 13:45.4] Well, anyway, things picked up for me. [13:45.4 – 13:50.6] And I went along for about 13 months and never drank. [13:50.6 – 13:56.0] And then I got off the wire again and started drinking. [13:56.0 – 13:57.8] But fortunately, that didn't last so long. [13:57.8 – 14:00.1] I drank off and on for about 10 days. [14:00.1 – 14:03.2] And then I finally was pulled out of it. [14:03.2 – 14:06.3] And fortunately, I haven't had a drink since. [14:06.3 – 14:08.8] And that was on 1st of November 1954. [14:08.8 – 14:12.6] I met some people in Kansas City. [14:12.6 – 14:14.4] There were two or three men there that asked me. [14:14.4 – 14:20.1] They said, there's a lot of things written about the new man and the help for the new man. [14:20.1 – 14:24.4] But there's very little to help a man who's having trouble. [14:24.4 – 14:32.8] And I said, well, I ought to be able to speak on that with authority because I have had trouble off and on. [14:32.8 – 14:35.2] But I don't know what it is. [14:35.2 – 14:45.2] When we get off, we people who have had trouble like that, we get off and we don't [14:45.2 – 14:46.4] seem to be able to stop. [14:46.4 – 14:54.8] And I sometimes wonder if the prime reason, the number one reason is the fact that our pride is hurt. [14:54.8 – 14:55.5] Here we are. [14:55.5 – 14:57.3] We've established a big record in AA. [14:57.3 – 14:58.5] And everybody's looking up to us. [14:58.5 – 14:59.3] And we get drunk. [14:59.3 – 15:02.1] And all that's gone for me. [15:02.1 – 15:04.9] And then, of course, there's a second reason. [15:04.9 – 15:11.4] And it's a pretty good reason to say, well, now that I've started this one, I might as well make a good one out of it. [15:11.4 – 15:13.6] And get a good one rolling. [15:13.6 – 15:16.0] And what makes us drink? [15:16.0 – 15:17.2] I don't know. [15:17.2 – 15:20.5] Except it's wrong thinking, of course. [15:20.5 – 15:22.2] I know it was in my case. [15:22.2 – 15:32.3] I know that in the beginning of this thing, I had a picture every time I thought of taking a drink of exactly what [15:32.3 – 15:32.8] would happen. [15:32.8 – 15:35.4] It was like opening a series of doors and walking through them. [15:35.4 – 15:39.5] Each one a little worse than the picture that was presented. [15:39.5 – 15:43.1] I might take a drink in a saloon uptown New York. [15:43.1 – 15:46.0] And by the third day, I'd be down in the Bowery. [15:46.0 – 15:47.6] And there was always a thing. [15:47.6 – 15:51.6] I don't care whether it was New York or Albany or Vermont or where it was. [15:51.6 – 15:53.9] The pattern was the same. [15:53.9 – 15:55.0] Always downhill. [15:55.0 – 15:58.2] Thought you could get away with it and it didn't work. [15:58.2 – 16:04.5] I know now that I can't take a drink. [16:04.5 – 16:06.9] I knew that then. [16:06.9 – 16:08.7] But I didn't have any incentive. [16:08.7 – 16:14.7] And somehow when I came to Texas, I found some incentive, some purpose in life. [16:14.7 – 16:24.9] Although I don't know exactly what it is, but it's just a purpose to keep sober and try to do a little bit to make up for all [16:24.9 – 16:26.5] the years that I wasted. [16:26.5 – 16:29.7] I'm not much of an orator. [16:29.7 – 16:30.5] I never was. [16:30.5 – 16:40.6] But I like to look on the thing and count some of the blessings I have or some things I would like [16:40.6 – 16:43.3] or some things I sometimes need that I don't have. [16:43.3 – 16:48.5] But I have to remember the mistakes I made and the blessings I have now. [16:48.5 – 16:58.6] I know that the chances are if Charlie Milton hadn't gone, hadn't come to New York and gotten after me [16:58.6 – 17:05.7] and really went to work and got me down here and Circe and those boys down there hadn't been backing me, I never would have survived. [17:05.7 – 17:11.7] I never would have had the chance again to get on my feet and to make these trips and to meet all you good people. [17:11.7 – 17:14.5] And I'm grateful for that. [17:14.5 – 17:16.4] And I think that's about all I can say. [17:16.4 – 17:17.5] Thank you.