Dick B.: Anne Ripley Smith
Anne Ripley Smith, wife of Dr. Bob,
Mother of A.A., and Co-Founder of A.A.
Pioneer A.A.’s Most Ignored,
Forgotten, yet Critically Important Resource
by Dick B., © 2013 Anonymous. All
rights reserved
Meet Dr. Bob of A.A.’s Wife, Anne Ripley Smith
Let’s meet the woman Bill Wilson and others frequently
called the “Mother of A.A.” (See Dick B.,
Anne Smith’s Journal 1933-1939: A.A.’s Principles of Success, 3rd ed, pp.
ix, 10, 54, 137, 139; Sue Smith Windows and Robert R. Smith, Children of the Healer, pp. 29, 43, 152;
Women Pioneers in Twelve Step Recovery,
Hazelden, 1999, p. 2).
The Ignored Compassionate and Loving Teacher
I’d been going to A.A. meetings regularly for about four
years and had never heard Anne Smith’s name mentioned. In fact, when I went to
the Seattle Convention in 1990, I never heard her name mentioned by the
diligent historians and archivists attending archives meetings there. I had
been advised to read DR. BOB and the Good
Oldtimers, and she was mentioned there. However, I was to learn from Dr.
Bob’s son that even this mention occurred under strange circumstances. A.A.’s
New York archivist suggested to Niles P. that he interview old-timers. When
Niles approached Dr. Bob’s son, the son asked, “Are you going to write about my
mom?” The answer was, “No.” Smitty then said he wouldn’t tell the staff writer
anything at all, and he asked his sister Sue to do likewise. She agreed.
Later, the GSO writer returned and picked up such facts as
did wind up in the Conference Approved biography of Dr. Bob that was published
by A.A.W.S. in 1980.
The Resurrection of Anne Ripley Smith
Now I’ve been to Akron several times to interview Dr. Bob’s
daughter, to attend Founders Day Conventions, to interview archivists and
historians and old-timers there, to visit the Intergroup office and Dr. Bob’s
Home where A.A. was born, the King School Group which was A.A.’s first group,
and to interview early participants in the founding years of A.A. such as
former Congressman John F. Seiberling, son of A.A. co-founder Henrietta
Seiberling. Despite all those visits, I have yet to see any significant,
specific, account of Anne Smith’s contribution to early A.A. Her precious
journal is not present. On the stage at the Conference are pictures of Bob,
Bill, and Sister Ignatia; but there was none of Anne Smith on the occasions I
attended. So, like so many other quests for our history that I undertook, this
one had to begin outside the borders of my own fellowship.
On the plane to Akron for my first interview with Dr. Bob’s
daughter, Sue Smith Windows, I was preparing by reading Ernest Kurtz’s Not-God: A History of Alcoholics Anonymous.
In an obscure reference in footnote 32, on page 275, of the 1979 edition, Kurtz
cited an “extensively annotated copy of Anne Smith’s OG “workbook” in A.A.
archives.” Oddly, Kurtz stated in another footnote, “This writer [Kurtz] was
struck in his interviews of 6 and 7 April 1977, that both Lois [Wilson] and
Henrietta Seiberling stressed that Anne Smith’s role in the beginning of A.A.
has been much underrated” (footnote 15, pp. 264-65). Kurtz seemed to give the same
limited and diminutive attention to the Bible as well.
Nor did Kurtz have any significant factual review of Quiet
Time, Shoemaker, the Oxford Group, or early A.A. literature; and that may
explain why he did not publish any significant information about Anne Smith,
her role, or her vitally important journal (which Kurtz called a “workbook”).
Whatever the reason, I did not yet grasp the significance of Anne Smith at that
point.
Later, as I was reading pages 115-16 of Mary Darrah’s Sister Ignatia: Angel of Alcoholics
Anonymous, I saw a reference to Anne’s “Oxford Group journal.” Darrah
seemed to have inspected a portion or portions of Anne’s “journal;” observed
its relevance to A.A.; but then moved on with her rendition of Akron history.
Not surprisingly, she focused on her own view of Ignatia’s importance. But
Anne’s journal received no significant attention.
Learning the Importance to AAs of Anne Smith’s Writings
Only later did I realize the treasure that needed to be
unearthed. Working with author Bill Pittman, A.A. archivist Frank Mauser,
Wilson’s former secretary Nell Wing, Paul L. who was the archivist at Stepping
Stones, and Dr. Bob’s daughter Sue Smith Windows, I resolved to obtain Anne’s
journal and to learn as much of the specifics about her as possible. Sue wrote
a letter to A.A. General Services requesting that a copy of Anne’s Journal be
provided to me. Frank Mauser submitted the request to the Trustees Archives
Committee. Approval was granted. And I obtained from GSO a copy for myself to
use in my Anne Smith’s Journal, a copy donated to the archivist at Dr. Bob’s
Home, a copy given to Bill Pittman, and a copy given to Sue Smith Windows. Sue
believed that many pages are missing from New York’s document, and I believe I
recently may have found some of them.
Highlighting the Facts About Anne Smith and Alcoholics Anonymous
The important thing in this introductory part is to
introduce you to Anne Smith. So let’s begin with these facts. Anne came from
the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Illinois. She was one of four children. Her son
Robert informed me of the brilliance and business successes and accomplishments
of her brothers. Anne herself won a scholarship to Wellesley College. After
graduation, she returned to Oak Park, Illinois where she taught school. She met
Dr. Bob at a dance at St. Johnsbury Academy where Bob was a senior. Her son
likes to say that they finally married after a “whirlwind courtship”
culminating many years later with their marriage on January 25, 1915. She
returned with Bob to Akron; and I have been told they first lived down the
street from their ultimate home at 855 Ardmore Avenue, in Akron, now called the
“birthplace of Alcoholics Anonymous–where it all began.”
Anne died before Dr. Bob did. The date was June 1, 1949.
Bill Wilson asked for letters from fellowship people, telling some of the Anne
Smith story. Bill promised to publish them–something he never did. But Anne’s
daughter-in-law Betty Smith obtained those letters and graciously provided them
to me for inclusion in my Anne Smith book, and some were!. Regrettably, almost
every discussion of Anne has talked more about Dr. Bob, about the fellowship,
and about their love for each other, than about Anne’s specific importance and
contribution to A.A.
Therefore, I have now revised my book on her journal three
times. See Dick B., Anne Smith’s Journal,
3rd ed. (www.dickb.com/annesm.shtml)
And I hope to publish the actual contents of journal itself
in full before very long. I know it will provide immense assistance to those in
A.A. who really want to know and understand what early AAs heard and read and were
taught.
Each morning, in the developmental days, AAs came to the
Smith home at the crack of dawn for what they joshingly called Anne’s
“spiritual pablum.” Anne had a Quiet Time with “the guys,” as her daughter put
it, every morning. On those occasions, they would read the Bible, pray, seek
God’s guidance, and sometimes consult a devotional such as The Upper Room. Of great significance is the fact that Anne shared
the contents of her journal with the men and invited discussion.
From 1933 to 1939, Anne was writing down materials from the
Bible, from the literature she and Bob were reading about the Bible, Jesus
Christ, prayer, healing, the Oxford Group, and Sam Shoemaker’s views. Her
journal is 64 pages, some written in her own hand and some typed for her by her
daughter. As a recent chapter on Anne said (apparently paraphrasing my material
in Anne Smith’s Journal):
Bill W. once called Anne Smith “the mother of AA.” This may
have been because of her actions, and also because of the direct influence of
her thoughts and writings on the Twelve Steps and other AA literature. Anne
attended Oxford Group meetings from 1933 (two years before her husband’s
recovery) until 1939, during which she kept a workbook, or “spiritual journal.”
Its notes on the Oxford Group principles and her own comments reveal a close,
unmistakable similarity to the wording in the Big Book. For example, Anne
writes of an Oxford Group prayer, “O Lord, manage me, for I cannot manage
myself.” Note the comparison in the Big Book, Step One (p. 59), the “pertinent
ideas” (p. 60), and the Third Step prayer in Twelve Steps and Twelve
Traditions, or Twelve and Twelve. Another example: Anne writes in her journal,
“We can’t give away what we haven’t got.” Recent scholars cite dozens of
similar comparisons (Women Pioneers in 12
Step Recovery, Hazelden, 1999), a history to which I was a contributor.
Although I contributed to Women Pioneers a chapter on
Henrietta Seiblerling, I was not asked to do the Anne Smith chapter. If I had,
there would have been specific references to, and quotations of, the “dozens”
of familiar expressions to which that book’s statement refers. But that
material has yet to be published in its entirety. Much is covered in my Anne
Smith’s Journal title. This material needs to be presented by someone who
realizes that Anne was not merely summarizing “Oxford Group” principles–quickly
to be discarded. Rather, it is a compendium of A.A. sources, teachings, and
ideas of the pioneer years.
Anne Smith’s Journal
covers all six of our major sources: (a) Bible. (b) Quiet Time. (c) Sam
Shoemaker’s teachings. (d) Oxford Group principles and practices. (e) Anne’s
own detailed suggestions for Quiet Time, for working with new people, for daily
surrenders, for reading, for Bible study, etc. (f) The specific Christian
literature early AAs read and from which they borrowed basic, biblical ideas
for their program.
In ensuing segments, I will try to provide you with specifics
from Anne’s Journal. I’ll set out comments about Anne from manuscripts and
letters about her. And I’ll challenge you to consider what a great day it would
be if, in A.A. and other 12 Step meetings today, members were privileged to
hear Anne’s Smith’s Journal read, to see it in print in “Conference Approved”
literature, and to know that it has been removed from the shadows and locked
archives and made available as one of the most important tools for recovery in
A.A. that has ever been written!
For further information about Anne Smith, Dr. Bob, their
children, and Akron’s beginnings, contact dickb@dickb.com
Gloria Deo
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