Editor’s Note: This week I am joined by Lorraine Hogan in expanding the story of the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous and Al-Anon. Lorraine is a longtime volunteer at The Wilson House in Vermont and is part of the team that presents the Female Founders Retreat held there annually.  

This week’s post continues the March Women’s History Month exploration of little-known women important to our history. I’m grateful to the board and staff of The Wilson House in Vermont for their work telling the stories of women whose early contributions helped shape our program. This post builds on their experience, highlighting A.A.’s women pioneers and introduces three historic landmarks significant in the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous, Al-Anon and the addiction recovery movement.   

The Wilson House is one of three founders’ homes that are open to the public. Whether you are in recovery or someone interested in history, I encourage you to visit these homes. History comes alive in a way that is truly unique and inspiring by being in the homes where our founders lived, loved and shared their lives. 

The Wilson House, the focus of our post today, is the birthplace of A.A.’s co-founder, Bill Wilson. Located in East Dorset, Vermont, the Wilson House is a small village hotel built in 1852 by Bill Wilson’s great-great grandfather. Wilson was born there on November 26, 1895 “in a room back of the old bar.” After Bill’s parents divorced in 1901, he and his sister lived nearby with their maternal (Griffith) grandparents through their high school years. 

By the 1980s, the hotel had passed through multiple owners and fallen into disrepair. Ozzie Lepper, a friend of A.A., came upon the hotel and, seeing its potential, purchased the building.  Through the determined efforts of Ozzie, his wife Bonnie and countless volunteers, the property was restored. It reopened in 1988 as a gathering place and retreat center for people in recovery.   A nonprofit foundation was created to own and oversee the property, which includes the Griffith House; a small staff and dozens of volunteers host hundreds of visitors each year. To visit or for more information on events and lodging, see https://wilsonhouse.org/.

Dr. Bob’s Home in Akron, Ohio, was the family home of A.A.’s cofounder, Dr. Bob and his wife Anne Ripley Smith from their marriage in 1915 until their deaths – Anne in 1949 and Dr. Bob in 1950. After Dr. Bob and Bill W’s historic first meeting on Mother’s Day, 1935, Bill spent the summer living with the Smiths as he, Anne, Dr. Bob and others worked out the program that became Alcoholics Anonymous. In 1985, the house was purchased by a nonprofit foundation and renovated as a museum,  with interiors restored to their 1930s-1940s appearance. To visit or for more information, see https://www.drbobshome.org/.

The third historic home is Stepping Stones in Katonah, New York. Lois and Bill moved to Stepping Stones in 1941 after more than two years of homelessness and spent the rest of their lives there. From Stepping Stones, Lois and her friend Ann B formally organized family groups from around the world as the Al-Anon Family Groups (1951). After Bill’s death in 1971, Lois continued her mission to preserve A.A.’s history, cataloging thousands of documents and artifacts and establishing a foundation that carries on that work today. To visit or for more information, see https://www.steppingstones.org/.

Lois Wilson and Anne Smith are by far the best known of A.A.’s female founders. They kept their husbands alive long enough to meet each other and to co-found Alcoholics Anonymous. That is only the beginning of the story of their work and contributions. My book with Joy Jones A Marriage that Changed the World, more fully tells the story of how these two women shaped the hospitality, compassion, spirituality and commitment to family recovery that is the legacy of the Smiths and Wilsons and early founders. 

Over Mother’s Day weekend this year (May 9-11), The Wilson House will offer its fourth annual spring retreat for women, “Our Female Founders: Women Pioneers of Alcoholics Anonymous.”  Put together by a team of women in recovery, the retreat will highlight the roles of women whose experience, strength, hope, patience and hard work laid the foundation for the twelve-step programs that have helped so many.  Presentations, activities and discussion will focus on the stories of the women who influenced our spiritual foundation; the “scribes” who typed manuscripts, managed offices, and handled communication with the world during A.A.’s “flying blind” period; authors of the earliest Big Book stories and others.

As part of the retreat, Joy Jones and I will join Gail La Croix, archivist for Dr. Bob’s Home, for a one-hour Zoom presentation on Sunday morning. Gail will detail the buildup to and central role of Mother’s Day 1935, focusing specifically on the unique and critical contributions made by Akron women before the birth of A.A. and during its early days. Joy and I will talk about how alcoholism and other addictions impacted families and discuss Lois Wilson’s role in the birth of A.A. and Al-Anon, which has led many to recovery from the family disease of alcoholism.