How Bill W.’s A.A. Story Really Began
Dick B. Presents Part Three of His A.A.
History Audio Series
On
Dick B.
© 2013
Anonymous. All rights reserved
There are five audio
talks by Dick B. in this series. They tell you the real Bill Wilson Story in
terms of his childhood, Bible study, Christian upbringing, church and Sunday
school attendance, and years at Burr and Burton Seminary in Manchester,
Vermont.
Ultimately, they
amplify the material in Dick’s The
Conversion of Bill W. www.dickb.com/conversion.shtml.
But these five talks
will tell you things about Bill Wilson’s Christian upbringing in the State of
Vermont that fly in the face of years of distortion about Bill, his church, his
Sunday school, the East Dorset
Congregational Church to which Bill, his parents, and his grandparents
(both the Griffiths and the Wilsons) belonged. The talks will tell you how he
studied the Bible as a youngster. They will tell you about the church’s
confession and creeds. They will tell you about the Wilson family’s founding
and holding office in the little church. They will tell of the Scripture
reading, sermons, prayers, and hymns he heard in the little East Dorset
Christian church and its Sunday school. How do we know? We know because we were
given the special privilege of going inside the church, seeing Pew 15 which the
Wilsons owned, and reviewing the church records with its archivist and
treasurer—whose family had long been connected with the church. The little
church—seldom if ever visited by AAs—lies on the green between the Griffith
House (home of Bill’s maternal grandparents) on one side, and the Wilson House
(home of Bill’s paternal grandparents) on the other side.
Onward and upward.
Bill was enrolled in the Burr and Burton Seminary a few miles away and located
in Manchester, Vermont. There he took a four year Bible study course. He
attended daily chapel where he heard sermons, Scripture reading, hymns, and
prayers. Like all the scholars at Burr and Burton, Bill attended many services
and events at the nearby Manchester Congregational Church—which had close ties
to the Congregational influenced academy. Bill
also became president of the school Young Men’s Christian Association;
and his girl-friend Bertha Bamford became president of the school Young Women’s
Christian Association. The two of them
attended many “Y” activities hand-in-hand.
There is much more
about Bill’s Christian upbringing. He remembered conversion meetings,
temperance meetings, and revivals. His friend Ebby Thacher attended Burr and
Burton at the same time Bill was there; and Ebby lived with the pastor of the
Manchester Congregational Church and also remembered the Christian upbringing
he had had in a family which had five generations of clergy in its lineage.
Surprise. Surprise.
Bill and Ebby then went on to attend the military academy at Northfield,
Vermont. And there too, chapel was held, church attendance was required. And
the Christian training continued until Bill entered the Army in World War I.
The interesting
thing about Bill’s Christian upbringing is that it was really quite similar to
that received by Dr. Bob in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. There, Dr. Bob and his
entire family belonged to and attended the North Congregational Church of St.
Johnsbury; and we have established the Dr. Bob Core Library there which
contains thousands of books and papers about the Smith family’s connection with
the church, with prayer meetings, with the YMCA, with St. Johnsbury Academy,
and with the Christian training his highly educated parents gave him in that
village.
Also, Dr. Bob was
active in the Young People’s Society of Christian Endeavor which had a program
for young people that featured many of the Christian elements that found their
way into early A.A. in Akron. The Dr. Bob story can be found in Dr. Bob of Alcoholics Anonymous, www/dickb.com/drbobofaa.shtml.
Be sure to listen to
Dick B.’s presentation of the real Bill Wilson story which includes material
about Wilson’s religious background and Christian training that most
historians, authors, and AAs have probably never heard and certainly have not
recounted.
Listen to Dick B.
tell the details on http://dickb.com/audio-talks3.shtml
dickb@dickb.com
