Tom O'Grady
| Speaker | Tom O'Grady |
| Event | Orchard Grove Group Meeting |
| Location | New York City, NY |
| Year | 1956 |
| Era | Pioneer Era |
| Fellowship | AA |
| Duration | 1:01:37 |
| RS Number | RS-G070 |
Transcript
Well, congratulations on your 17th anniversary. It's a wonderful thing to see so many people here on an occasion which in AA circles is, of course, very important. When Henry mentioned the 17 years, I tried to figure where I was 17 years ago, but when it came to subtracting 17 from 1956, I couldn't make it. I don't know what year that was. Trying to subtract numbers like that makes me think of one time… This is an AA meeting, all right, I can see that. Before the meeting, somebody said, do you think we ought to turn that fan off over there? And Henry said, no, we need it for ventilation. And then a girl got up and turned it off, and he got mad, and I fell at home. The proper atmosphere. I'm going to take you back to the summer of 1944. I was working in a war plant out in Long Island. The war was on. It wasn't no experience for me because I had worked in a great many war plants. After I got out of AA, my wife and I listed them one time, and I had worked in 26 war plants in three years. I wasn't exactly a stable person. My wife at that time was working at Grand Plants Hospital. We had five children, and somebody had to do something. I worked at the airport. I was in contact with many undertakers. And she said that by and large they were pretty heavy drinking liquor. And one fellow in particular, he used to come in there and have a pot of it all the time to get the death certificates and take the corpses away. She noticed that he came three or four times sober, well-dressed, and went about his business with his back. The change was so noticeable that she commented on it for him. She said, gee, Mr. Bartels, you said it wouldn't find these days what's happened. And he up and told her that he enjoyed alcoholic anonymous. Well, she said, that's very interesting because I have a drinking problem. He said, do you drink? She said, no, I don't drink My problem is home and bed right now. And George was off jumping on the hearse and driving over to see me. And I've often wondered then just what my reaction might have been if I'd pulled…
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