History has a way of not always telling the whole story. Women’s History Month is a great time to celebrate two women who changed the world humbly, not seeking credit or recognition. Anne Smith and Lois Wilson whose birthdays occur March 3 (Anne) and March 4 (Lois) are unrecognized world changers.  

You likely know someone with a serious addiction problem. If you know them well, you know the hardship their families and friends are also experiencing as they live with the addict’s self-destruction.  Addictions continue to impact more people – 488 people die each day from excessive alcohol use, 296 people die per day from drug overdose. 

 Recovery is possible and happens for millions of people because of a recovery movement that started with two men, Dr. Bob Smith (Dr. Bob) and Bill Wilson (Bill), and their co-founding of Alcoholics Anonymous. 

The fuller story includes two women – Anne Ripley Smith and Lois Burnham Wilson –who made the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous and much more possible. Born in the late 19^th century, Anne and Lois were the wives of Dr. Bob and Bill. One might assume that is all we need to know about them. After all, women had no right to vote until the 19^th amendment, were rarely provided education beyond high school, and were not allowed to sign a mortgage or lease until much later. We’d assume their roles were like most women in the first half of the 20^th century – mother, homemaker, and loyal spouse to the man who had a career that provided for the material needs of the family. 

Gratefully, we know now so much more about the lives and contributions of Anne and Lois.  We know the details of how they, as women and in partnership with their spouses, changed the world. We know they both completed college in a time when women were discouraged from higher education. We know that Bill Wilson referred to Anne Smith as the “spiritual mother” of Alcoholics Anonymous. 

We’ve been students of Lois and Anne for a number or years and benefitted from the recovery movement they started with their husbands. As we researched this important history, we encountered many who were stuck wondering why Anne and Lois stayed with their spouses.  For over a decade, they endured their husbands’  horrific and terrifying drinking;  they lost nearly everything. 

That’s a 21^st century question and perspective applied to early 20^th century women and leaders. It’s a distraction from fully appreciating the contribution of these two amazing women. 

In our just-published book A Marriage that Changed the World: Lois and Bill Wilson and the Addiction Recovery Movement, we provide new research that makes clear how without Anne Smith and Lois Burnham. Dr. Bob Smith and Bill Wilson would not have survived or been successful in co-founding Alcoholics Anonymous. And a recovery movement for families and children of people with alcohol and other addiction problems might not exist.

We learned the deeper reasons why these two women stayed in these marriages – from their own words. More importantly, we reveal the impact these two women had on other spouses and children of alcoholics across the world. Anne Smith is renowned in Akron where she opened her home, with a “Welcome Home” greeting, to men and women with drinking problems and their spouses. 

We discovered their contributions to the spiritual and emotional teachings that make Twelve Step programs a proven antidote to the impact of addictions on individuals and families. 

Lois Wilson, as the co-founder of Al-Anon Family Groups, led the first replication of Alcoholics Anonymous.  She, and the Al-Anon leaders who carried on after Anne Smith who died in 1950, adapted the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous to provide serenity and sanity for families of people with drinking problems. Lois and Anne broke ground for a worldwide recovery movement that serves millions of people around the world. 

These two women’s stories demand to be told. Our world will be healthier and saner when their wisdom is more broadly known and applied. It’s time to broaden the narrow view of history that leaves out this important story and its lessons. 

Join us in letting the world know the amazing legacy of these two women:   the hope for recovery they made available to the many families impacted by addiction.   Lois and Anne are continuing to change the world.  Study their lives and be part of ending the terror and pain that addictions inflict on individuals and families around the world.