Ken B. speaks about
Henrietta Seiberling on the January 10, 2013, episode of the "Christian
Recovery Radio with Dick B." show
You Can Hear this Radio
Interview Right Now!
Dick B.
Copyright 2013 Anonymous.
All rights reserved
[An
interview with special attention to Dick B.’s book Henrietta B. Seiberling: Ohio’s Lady with a Cause, 4th
ed. 2006. That book is about Henrietta Seiberling, “One of A.A.’s Non-Alcoholic
Women Founders.” Reasonably priced at $15.95 – print on demand – from the
printer to you! Available on Amazon.com and also through Dick B.’s main web
site www.dickb.com/titles.shtml]
_____________________________________________________________________________
You may hear Ken B. speak about
Henrietta Seiberling on the January 10, 2013, episode of the "Christian
Recovery Radio with Dick B." show here:
http://mcaf.ee/7stiq
or here:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/christian-recovery-radio-with-dickb/2013/01/11/ken-b-speaks-about-henrietta-seiberlings-role-in-early-aa
Episodes of the "Christian
Recovery Radio with Dick B." show are archived at:
__________________________________________________________
Introduction
The
Dick B. Seiberling family, A.A. History, Akron A.A books tell you about the
Seiberlings—Henrietta, her son Congressman John Seiberling, and her two
daughters Mary and Dorothy. As with so much of his historical research, Bill
was able, while all were alive and well and extremely gracious and informative,
to interview some principal A.A. history people at the beginning of the 1990’s.
He visited, communicated with, and received information from all three
Seiberling children. Also, from Dr. Bob’s daughter Sue Smith Windows, and his
son Robert and Robert’s wife Betty. Dick
even interviewed and received A.A. history treasures from Dorothy Culver—daughter
of T. Henry Williams, whose Akron home was the scene of the regular Wednesday
night meetings of old school A.A. in the years from 1935-39 when A.A. was
founded and its program was being developed.
The
Seiberling tie was, for Dick, a very special one. In 1935, all four Seiberlings
were crammed into the little Seiberling Gate House on the huge Seiberling
estate. All four attended all the early A.A. meetings as did Dr. Bob’s children
with Smitty sometimes absent. The three Seiberling children told Dick many
specifics about their mother—her Vassar education, her intense interest in Dr.
Bob and his sobriety, details about early A.A. history and founding and
meetings, her immense reading of Oxford Group books, her frequent quotations
from the Bible, her “spiritual infusion” into Bill W. and Dr. Bob (as Bill
wrote) during A.A.’s most formative period in the summer of 1935.
Congressman
John Seiberling wrote a Foreword to two of Dick B.’s books—The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous and The Books Early AAs Read for Spiritual Growth. Congressman John
was the lead speaker (at a panel including Dr. Bob’s daughter, John Seiberling,
Oxford Group activist James Draper Newton, and Oxford Group leader and writer
T. Willard Hunter). The event took place in the hall above the Akron AA Intergroup
Office.
Later,
Hazelden asked Dick B. to write a biographical sketch of the relevant life of
Henrietta Seiberling. John Seiberling proof read and assisted in providing
facts for the work. It is titled, Women
Pioneers in 12 Step Recovery, 1999. And the complete chapter on Henrietta
can be found at pages 25 to 41.
Then,
when a million dollars was raised to renovate and establish an archive and
museum at the famous Seiberling Gate House—where Bill W. and Dr. Bob had met
for the first time, and where the four Seiberlings lived—it was Congressman
John who provided help and much information. He also read the first edition of
the book on Henrietta that Dick published in 2004, and which was featured in
Dick’s talk and seminar at the dedication of the Seiberling Gate House.
Brief Synopsis
of the Ken B.’s Christian Recovery Radio Interview
I
deliberately refrain from summarizing in detail my son Ken’s excellent talk on
today’s Christian Recovery Radio about the Seiberlings, about Henrietta’s role
and well-known recorded talk about early A.A. and its cofounders, and about the
importance of learning about the role that God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the
Bible played in early A.A. and can play today.
Ken
reads portions of the documents involved in the Seiberling story, summarizes
the books about A.A. and the Seiberlings, and quotes many of the remarks by
John Seiberling and his mother that make the contributions of this great family
so very very clear. And also make them part of the foundation involved in
applying old school A.A. today by those who realize the early A.A. program’s
clarity, simplicity, and relevance in recovery today. And who want to seek,
believe in, or learn about the help that God can provide to those still
suffering.
This
talk by Ken B. should propel you toward a bookstore or online purchase of Henrietta B. Seiberling: Ohio’s Lady with a
Cause. It will enable you to see the intertwined relevance of the
particular historical contributions of the Akron A.A. founders—Bill Wilson, Dr.
Bob Smith, Anne Ripley Smith, Henrietta B. Seiberling, T. Henry and Clarace
Williams. And it will illustrate just how fortunate Dick and Ken have both been
in the time so generously accorded to each of them by the Smith children, the
Seiberling children, and T. Henry’s daughter.
Thus,
just Dick’s trip to the town house of Dorothy Seiberling in New York not only
yielded sister Dorothy’s remarks and correspondence about her mother. It
enabled Dick to spend substantial time with the Bible of Henrietta Seiberling—a
Bible used to guide early AAs, and a Bible filled with notes, under-linings,
and comments the fit so well with the other biblical roots Dick was able to
find and write about concerning the early A.A. Christian Fellowship in Akron.
Assembling
and accurately reporting the long ignored history of Alcoholics Anonymous has
been a joint project for over 23 years of Dick and Ken; and those who are now
rising to form Christian recovery fellowships, Christian counseling programs,
Christian treatment programs 12-Step meetings for Christians, pastoral recovery
work and chaplaincy are in almost daily contact by phone, skype, email, and
letter with Ken. And those who hear this interview will be among the favored
recovery folks who hear how much Ken can inform and help them if they contact
him personally here in Maui – 808 874 4876
Ken’s
interview is not only available now on ChristianRecoveryRadio.com with Dick B.,
but will later be re-broadcast on Take12Radio.com where every Tuesday the
producer broadcasts talks by Dick and those he interviews. Talks under the
title A.A. History with Dick B.
Gloria Deo
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