International Christian Recovery
Coalition
www.ChristianRecoveryCoalition.com
PRESS RELEASE July
27, 2012
Contact:
Richard
G. Burns, JD, CDAAC
(Pen
name: Dick B.)
PO
Box 837, Kihei, HI 96753
A.A.’s Vermont Roots in
St. Johnsbury, Manchester, and East Dorset to Be Studied By International
Christian Recovery Coalition Participants in September 3-8, 2012 Workshops
International Christian Recovery Coalition participants and other
interested individuals from the United States and Canada will gather together
from September 3 to September 8 at key locations in St. Johnsbury, Manchester,
and East Dorset, Vermont. They will participate in workshops, tours,
investigations, reviews of historical records, discussions of A.A.’s Christian
roots and today’s Christian Recovery Movement, with talks by Dick B. and Ken
B., A.A. historians from Maui, Hawaii.
The average participant in Alcoholics Anonymous, recovery
programs, counseling, and even Christian recovery fellowships knows little or
nothing about most of the extensive inspirations and influences for Alcoholics
Anonymous. A large number arose from or were centered in individuals, churches,
academies, and organizations in several Vermont towns and villages.
The source locations include: (1) St. Johnsbury, where A.A.’s
co-founder Robert H. Smith (“Dr. Bob”) received what he called “excellent
training” in the Bible as a youngster; (2) East Dorset, where A.A.’s younger
co-founder William G. Wilson (“Bill W.”) was born and raised in a Congregational
Church setting; and (3) Manchester, Vermont, where Bill W. received further
Christian instruction at Burr and Burton Seminary.
But the Vermont confluences of resources did not end in the
three towns. Important too were Emerald Lake, Glastenbury, Bennington, and
Northfield, Vermont. Moreover, the better known individuals who figured in the
picture were: (1) The Griffith and Wilson families in East Dorset; (2) The
Burnham and Thacher families of both Emerald Lake and Manchester; (3) Bill’s boyhood
friend Mark Whalon, a postman from East Dorset; (4) A wealthy businessman, Rowland
Hazard, who carried the message of the necessity for a conversion experience
from Dr. Carl Jung in Switzerland to several AAs—to be, and who settled on a
large acreage in Glastonbury; (5) Two others. who helped carry the message of
deliverance to Bill Wilson’s long-time friend and sponsor Ebby Thacher, who were:
(a) F. Shepard Cornell, a New Yorker who regularly summered in Manchester, and (b)
Cebra Graves, an attorney, who lived in Bennington.
The George Thacher family (parents of Ebby) owned a large
home in Manchester and a cottage at Emerald Lake. The Clark Burnham family—from
which Bill’s wife-to-be, Lois, sprang—owned a home in Manchester and two
bungalows at Emerald Lake—the latter just a stone’s throw from East Dorset. The
Thachers and the Burnhams became good friends. So did Bill, Ebby Thacher, and
Lois Wilson, after a time
Both Ebby Thacher and Bill W. (Ebby’s sponsee-to-be, and
long-time friend and drinking buddy) had a thorough Christian grounding in their
youth. Ebby Thacher got his in at least five ways. First his parental family
was involved in Episcopal, Presbyterian, and First Reformed churches. And
perhaps a Congregational church in Manchester. Second, Ebby specifically remembered
his parental grounding in later years, and as he attended Burr and Burton Seminary
at Manchester. And Ebby was exposed to the strong Congregational influences at
the Seminary. Third, Ebby attended Burr and Burton during the period Bill W. was
a student there. Burr and Burton Seminary, as it was then called, required—as did
Dr. Bob’s St. Johnsbury Academy--that students attend daily chapel (with
sermons, Scripture, and hymns) as well as the local Manchester Congregational
Church. Fourth, this was a period when Bill W. and his girl-friend Bertha
Bamford were going to daily chapel together. Bill and Bertha were both involved
with the “Y” and its activities while Bill was president of the Young Men’s
Christian Association, and Bertha was president of the Young Women’s Christian
Association; and Bill was taking a required four-year Bible study course. Finally, during his time at Burr and
Burton, Ebby boarded with the pastor of the Manchester Congregational Church
where students were required to attend. That pastor was Reverend Sidney K.
Perkins, who lived in Manchester, allowed Ebby to live with the family while
attending the seminary, and brought about discussions which Ebby considered to
be the high point of his life.
Bill’s girl-friend and first love, Bertha Bamford, was the
daughter of Reverend and Mrs. W. H. Bamford. Bamford was rector of Zion
Episcopal Church in Manchester, and lived with his family in Manchester. Bill
met the Bamfords on a number of occasions.
The important A.A. links from the Christian upbringing of
Dr. Bob in Vermont were numerous. They were largely confined to St. Johnsbury.
And they took several forms. First, in the North Congregational Church of St.
Johnsbury with which the entire Smith family were deeply involved. Second, in
the church’s Young People’s Society of Christian Endeavor. Third, in the Young
Men’s Christian Association of which Bob’s father was president. Also, the
strong Congregational influence of the Fairbanks family in St. Johnsbury.
Finally, the Congregational St. Johnsbury Academy’s strict requirements of
daily chapel, weekly church attendance, and weekly Bible study.
The Christian links from Dr. Bob’s youth in St. Johnsbury were
quite similar to those for both Bill W. and Ebby Thacher. This was with respect
to the East Dorset Congregational Church; the Manchester Congregational Church,
Burr and Burton Seminary’s religious requirements; and, in Bill W.’s case, the
seminary’s required four-year Bible study course, and its required daily chapel.
Add to these Bill’s, presidency of the seminary’s YMCA.
Four other major Vermont-AA topics will be reviewed,
discussed, and documented by the early September Vermont workshops. The first
concerns the importance in the co-founders’ youth of salvation and the Word of
God. The second is “A First Century Christian Fellowship” known as the Oxford
Group. And with which all the named young Vermonters would eventually become
associated—those being Bob Smith, Bill Wilson, Ebby Thacher, Rowland Hazard,
Shepard Cornell, and Cebra Graves. The next topic has to do with the precursor East
Coast Christian organizations and individuals that developed techniques of
deliverance for alcoholics; and also espoused personal work with others. These
were: (a) the Young Men’s Christian
Association; (b) the great Evangelists like Dwight Moody, Ira Sankey, K.A. Burnell,
and Allen Folger; (c) the Rescue Missions; (d) the Salvation Army; (e) the United Society of Christian Endeavor;
and (f) the Oxford Group, its leaders, and activists. (4) The final major topic
will include Christian recovery’s and early A.A.’s immense emphasis on
abstinence, First Century Christian principles and practices, accepting Jesus
Christ as Lord and Savior, relying on God, holding old fashioned prayer
meetings and Quiet Time periods; Bible study; and personal work with, and in
love and service to, God, Jesus Christ, and others.
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