Audio
About this recording
- Topic
- Introduction to Dr. Bob's Home Part 2
- Speaker
- Gail L
- Date
- 2018-01-20
Transcript
Source: Gail L – Introduction to Dr. Bob's Home Part 2 – 2018-01-20.mp3 File: gail-l-introduction-to-dr-bobs-home-part-2-2018-01-20.mp3 Duration: 00:16:29
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A standing ovation for a commercial. That's pretty good. Any questions? You got a question? Yes. The first time I went to see Dr. Bob's house, it was shortly after the house had been acquired a couple years. Hello? Okay. I never have a problem with people hearing me because I have a big mouth. But would you please tell the story about the rock that was—because when I first went to Dr. Bob's house, that rock, and I understand there's a funny story about they had to move that because it wasn't part of the historical— AAs don't like change. There's a few things we're doing differently that you were used to: the banner over the house, Welcome Home, and the rock and the flag.
They got moved in between the two homes. We're trying to make it look like it was when Bob and Anne were there, not put ourselves onto the home the best we can. So we moved it to the side because it wasn't a part of the home. It's a rock. Yes, it came from Bethlehem, but it's just a rock. That's why we did it. Our thinking is whenever we can—remember I moved the Kleenex box—but it's still there. It just isn't sitting where it was, where it became part of what was never there.
Okay. So we try to keep a focus and a mission statement, and we do have a mission statement which also includes education, which 122 will include. Yeah. Does that help? I mean, does— No to do. Just move the rug. Oh, I wasn't there for the moving, but I don't know. Maybe I'll get back to you on that. I'm an alcoholic. My name is Howard Benson. My question is, whypaw involved anywhere at all? Is Ypaw involved with this project in Akron anywhere at all?
No. No, but we welcome you if you come. Yeah. I have to tell you this. The Native Americans—I taught at Portage Path School. 855 Ardmore is where I taught, where the Smith kids went to school. One night I came out and Smitty was on the curb. Well, there was a project going on where they brought in an Indian tribe from Montana, and the Indians were doing something on the playground with the elders, and they found out that Dr. Bob's home was right down the street, and they got so excited they left the playground and they all came to the home, and they've been having powwows there once a year that are so powerful—the clean X, everything—it's so powerful.
So we're hoping again that we can provide better facilities for groups that come in and want to spend more time there. Hi, everyone. My name is Woody. I'm an alcoholic. I have two quick questions. Why didn't Bob and Ann have more kids? And what year was the recording of Bill playing the violin? I can answer easily the 1940, the question about when. It was 1947. Okay. As far as why they didn't have more kids, I have never even pondered that.
It's not anything that I've never asked Sue or Smitty that. Maybe it had, I don't know. I actually don't know. That is a very good question. If I, yeah, I mean, it's not written, I can tell you that. Well, I know why Lois didn't, but nothing has ever been written. You know, the Smiths only lived 15 years after, and we didn't write anything down. And then, you know, that book came out, Niles came, and Bill had gone all around the country, and he had taken—it was Bill that got the information for Dr.
Bob and the Good Old Timers because he came back and recorded the early guys. And that's some of the information that went in, and that just never has ever surfaced. No, has anyone ever asked me that question, but it's a darn good one. It's a good one. My name is Marianne. My name is Marianne. I am an alcoholic. I just wondered if you could talk a little bit about the Brown story, what happened with Sue gave some things to Brown. Yeah.
Chester Kirk was an alumni of Brown University who gave Brown a whole lot of money. I think he might have been a recovering guy to somehow build a library of our
[00:05:02]
stories, our art. It had to do with Chester Kirk because it's called the Chester Kirk Collection. And somehow one of our collectors sold them a hundred thousand dollars. I went up for the opening—no, I went up the second time for a symposium there. And so sad about our anonymity, there was a video playing in the library of Brown. And it had two old-timers on that video that were still sober. So people began, certain people began selling our stories and artifacts to Brown. And Dr.
Lewis was the doctor that headed it up. And there was money involved. And so people who had items began selling. And there are now 300 books of Dr. Bob up there, his rectal equipment, for God's sakes. If you want to see his hemorrhoid machine, you can go up there and see that. I've seen the files. Brown asked me to come up and speak on them. You can't even see it. And sadly, it's locked up. The coffee pot I wish was at the home.
What good is it doing locked up somewhere at Brown? I pray to God that someday, and I've come close, and maybe we could reverse that somehow. The library did not want it, but this Chester Kirk, who died and left the money for it, and Dr. Lewis did. And there were certain members of our fellowship that represented us and helped the selling of that. It kind of broke our heart. 19 crates went to Brown.
$100,000 was the second purchase of our material. I don't know about the other, but I know that's what our material sold for. My job now is to replicate it and try to have it there for you when you come to Akron, unless you want to go to the tip of Brown and go into the John Hay Library and make a request to see it. You could probably see it. They might bring some of it out. You know the baseball, Roly Hemsley baseball that was signed to Dr.
Bob. You all know that story. That's up there. There's a lot of history on Marty Mann up there. There's a lot of history. Clarence's stuff got sold up there, which is probably more interesting than the Dr. Bob stuff. There's a lot of Ernie Kurtz stuff up there. I've not seen those two collections, but I have seen the Smith collection. I did hold Dr. Bob's wallet. That was the thing that moved me the most.
Putting his wallet in my hand, and his Social Security card was in it. There was a few little items there. But I think we can—we won't have the originals, but we'll do our best to reproduce. Their phone books were up there. You can go on—oh, by the way, Brown has digitized everything. If you go to Brown, you can probably see a copy of all of it. You probably, if you wanted to see some of the papers and see the books, you could probably get that if you searched a little bit at the Brown.
Any other questions? Just about Sister Ignatia. She was close to the Smiths, correct? I know what she did at the hospital, but, yeah, was it ongoing? Was she—yeah, tell me a little bit about Sister Ignatia. In 1939, we ran out of places to put our drunks. We wore out our welcome. We weren't paying our bills. We couldn't afford it. So Dr. Bob had a beautiful relationship with Sister Ignatia, and she had had a nervous breakdown, and God put her right where we needed her.
She was at the admittance desk at St. Thomas Hospital. And she loved Dr. Bob, and she wanted to help him, but she didn't really have the authority to do what she did. So she snuck the first patient into the flower room. Can you imagine? Walter was his name. Can you imagine coming out of a blackout in a flower room? That began the first Catholic treatment center in Akron, which, as you know, Dr. Bob and Ignatia worked with almost 5,000 patients.
Dr. Bob took out insurance on his sobriety. And she leaves in 1952, and she starts Rosary Hall Sanitarium under Dr. Bob's initials in Cleveland. She was very close to Ann because she didn't want to bother the good doctor, so Ann and Sister Ignatia worked with the wives and the families, mostly by telephone. There's one story that just came to mind. I want you to all picture in the living room, in the dining room.
I forgot to tell you one story, and I still have the microphone, so I can. I want you to picture the dining room. I want you to picture that table. In 1939, which is the big year, that's a big year for us. The book comes out. He starts working with Ignatia, and we're going to break away from the Oxford Group. We're meeting four and a half years, flying blind down the street.
[00:10:00]
And do you know everybody from that group, group number one, the Alcoholic Squad, in Cleveland has broken away, but we haven't broken away yet in Akron. Towards December, because there's a Christmas tree in the living room, we break away, and seventy-some people come into that living room, into the home. They couldn't have been all in the living room. It wouldn't have enough. They probably were sitting on the steps, and God knows where they all were.
Dr. Bob was at the head of the table. He put his foot on the rung of the chair. He introduced himself as an alcoholic, so we know we were introducing ourselves. That's a little clue that we were doing it by 1939. He opened his Bible up to Sermon on the Mount, and he began reading Sermon on the Mount. And we have that book. His Bible is open to Sermon on the Mount at the top of that table. So if you come in, I want you to know that.
Thanks for letting me just tell that little story. So many stories. Anybody else? We all done? Oh, we got one more. I'm Rob, an alcoholic. I had a question about how much support does the National Park Service give the house, if any? None. I mean, there may be some things we can do with the National Park Service, but in terms of monetary value, no. Some of you know Joe and Charlie, and they started a foundation for all the homes, you know, and that's called Founders Foundation.
However, that's so tied up in a trust that if we take any money out, we affect the other homes. So it helps us a little bit. We can only use it for restoration. But a lot of times people think that all that big grant is helping us. Very little. Very little. Yeah. But we do have that. Yep. Time. It is time. It is time. Thank you, everyone. Right, come here. Yeah, yeah. Oh, look at that. To thank you for all you do for Dr.
Bob's house and for schlepping down here in the cold, schlepping. Just a little token of all. Thank you. That's beautiful. You really did it this time. That's beautiful. Everything you do is beautiful. All right. We will now have a 15-minute break. Go enjoy yourself. Don't forget to get raffles. Visit the donation table. Pick up some of those newsletters. There's also a great history, a pictorial history of Alcoholics Anonymous up here in the front.
Take a look at that, and if there's any giveaways, grab those. Yes, sir. Hi, Mary. Pleasure to meet you. You live where, here and in New Mexico too? I was just in Ruidoso, is that it? Yeah, I was just at an AA event there not too long ago. Do you still spend half the year—you split your time? … about three years, about two and a half years. … You don't have any … Yeah. Just—gotcha. I hear Santa Fe is beautiful.
I've never been there. I met a lot of active women, like ass-kicking women from Santa Fe when I was at this event in Ruidoso. Like, they were clearly—you couldn't help but… I know one—I was at some area event. I don't know if I took any of their… but they were so diehard passionate. Let's see, Santa Fe, did I even… I know one was a New Yorker who has like an art gallery there. Yeah. But they were, they were infectious with their passion.
They were, they were infectious with their passion for AA.
[00:15:01]
I picked up on it right away.