Al-Anon History

Anne S., one of the pioneers of the early “family groups” and the wife of A.A.’s co-founder Dr. Bob S.

Anne S. was born on March 3, 1881, and was raised with her three siblings in Oak Park, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago.) Her father worked for the railroad, and her mother was a homemaker. Anne was a good student who won a scholarship to Wellesley College. After graduation, she returned to Oak Park and taught school. She met her future husband, Dr. Bob S., at a dance at Johnsbury Academy in Vermont when Bob was a senior at the Academy. They married seventeen years later on January 25, 1915, after Bob had finished college at Dartmouth, medical school at the University of Michigan and Rush Medical Schools, and an internship at City Hospital in Akron, Ohio. Dr. Bob set up his practice in Akron, and the couple settled into their home on Ardmore Avenue. They had one son (Robert Jr.) in 1918 and adopted their daughter, Sue when both Robert Jr. and Sue were five years old.

Anne reportedly had concerns about Bob’s drinking before they married. Although he had periods of sobriety, Bob’s drinking and the consequences he experienced related to drinking escalated during his college and medical school years, including a break-down following medical school that required two months of recuperation with his family in Vermont. Bob maintained sobriety for the first three years of their marriage, but over the next twenty years, Dr. Bob’s problems with alcohol and pills escalated. Anne tried in every way she knew to help Bob stay sober; she extracted promises from Bob that he would stop drinking; she frisked him for bottles and tried to keep alcohol out of their home, all to no avail. Anne’s sense of faith and hope was severely challenged as Bob’s drinking continued to spiral further and further out of control.

In January 1933, Anne heard Frank Buchman of the Oxford Group speak in Akron at the Mayflower Hotel. Anne was attracted to the spiritual principles of this group and had hope that it might help Bob get and stay sober. She and Bob attended Oxford Group meetings regularly – but Bob’s drinking continued.

On May 11, 1935, with five months of fragile sobriety, Bill W. found himself in the lobby of the Mayflower Hotel in Akron, teetering on the edge of relapse after he had suffered a bitterly disappointing business venture. Instead of drinking, Bill called local pastors to find an alcoholic he could work with. An Episcopal minister put him in touch with Henrietta Seiberling, a friend of Anne and Dr. Bob’s. Henrietta contacted Anne, and despite Bob’s protests, Anne arranged a meeting between Bill and Bob on Mother’s Day in 1935. Bob was intrigued by his conversation with Bill, and after a relapse on June 11, 1935, Dr. Bob stayed continuously sober. Bob’s sobriety date is considered to be the founding date of Alcoholics Anonymous (although the group was not named until later.) Anne invited Bill to move into their home for the three months that he stayed in Akron, and the two men began helping other alcoholics.

Bob and Anne S.

Written and anecdotal accounts of the early days of A.A. indicate that Anne devoted much of her time to supporting the growing A.A. program and nurturing the alcoholics and family members who came to the fledgling program seeking help. Hundreds came to Anne and Bob’s home over the next several years, and Anne welcomed them all, even after one apparently delusional alcoholic chased her through her house brandishing a large butcher knife. Anne acted as friend, nurse, counselor, and spiritual support to both alcoholics and family members. She has been described as showing exceptional kindness, patience, tolerance, humility and love towards all, particularly the newcomers. A.A.’s often came to Anne and Bob’s home early in the mornings for Anne’s “quiet time,” where they would read the Bible, pray, ask for guidance, and seek spiritual growth. Bill W. and others noted that Akron A.A. had far higher initial success than New York A.A. in helping alcoholics stay sober, and attributed much of this to Anne’s emphasis on love and spirituality. Anne offered comfort, counsel and hope to the wives of alcoholics, and encouraged them to reach out to other wives who were newcomers. Bill W.’s wife Lois, one of Al-Anon’s cofounders, was supported, mentored and guided by Anne S. Anne was reported to have started an Akron group especially for family members in 1936.

Anne S. in 1946 at the A.A. Founders Day at Kare Phree Pines,
Minnesota.

Bill W. has been quoted as calling Anne the “Mother of A.A.,” and Bill has credited Anne with elucidating many of the spiritual ideas that later became guiding principles of A.A. and Al-Anon. From 1933 (two years before Bob’s recovery in A.A.) to 1939, Anne kept a journal where she recorded notes on Oxford group principles, plus thoughts illustrating her spiritual wisdom, learning, ideas, and journey. Her journal was 64 pages, some written by her by hand and some typed by her daughter Sue. Many of the principles Anne wrote about in her journal later became basic tenets of the programs of A.A. and Al-Anon. The A.A. “Big Book” (published in 1939) contains many passages that are very similar to Anne’s journal entries. Anne’s writing, teaching, and sharing seem to have had a direct influence on the Twelve Steps and other A.A. and Al-Anon principles. Through this, and her reaching out to alcoholics and family members, Anne played a major role both in A.A. and Al-Anon’s development. Anne was one of the first to recognize that family members of alcoholics could improve their own lives by practicing many of the same principles that A.A. members were practicing.

Bob and Anne’s home
at 855 Ardmore Avenue in Akron, Ohio. Free tours of the home are available, and thousands come during A.A.’s annual Founders Day celebration.

In the 1940’s Anne’s health began to fail. Her vision was severely impaired from cataracts in both eyes,
and arthritis affected her ability to walk and to use her hands. Her ability to travel was limited, but she continued to welcome and work with A.A.’s and family members who came to her home. Anne died of pneumonia in 1949, preceding her husband’s death by four years. Letters to Dr. Bob and tributes published in the A.A. Grapevine and in other later writings, detailed many acts of Anne’s kindness, gentleness, love, and support, and paid tribute to her importance to the growth and development of A.A. and to the family groups that later united to become the Al-Anon fellowship.

Anne B., co-founder of Al-Anon Family Groups

Anne B. was born in Brooklyn, New York, on November 9, 1899. She had one sister, who died in childhood of heart disease. Her mother was a seamstress, and her father was a chauffeur who often traveled overseas with the family he was employed by. Anne described herself as a shy, sickly and fearful child who did not get along well with her mother. She was often ill, and after she contracted Sydenham’s chorea (“St. Vitus’Dance”) her family moved to the “country” area of Chappaqua, New York, to improve her health. She was educated there in a one-room schoolhouse and later completed a course at a local business college.

Anne met her future husband Devoe B. when she was 17. Devoe was 19 and owned a garage where he sold and serviced foreign automobiles. Two years later, they married. They had a daughter within a year and a second daughter seven years later.

Devoe had not ever had a drink of alcohol until after he and Anne married. Once he started, his drinking was immediately problematic. Anne had to learn the business and step in to keep it intact. She became so distressed with Devoe’s drinking that she went to Florida to seek a divorce, but returned to her husband and children without obtaining one.A family doctor suggested that she speak with Wilbur S., an early A.A. member. Wilbur gave Anne an A.A. pamphlet, which she left on a coffee table where Devoe would be likely to see it. The next day Devoe tearfully proclaimed that he had to “do something” about his drinking. Devoe attended A.A. meetings but continued to be a periodic drinker for almost ten more years before achieving stable sobriety.

Anne and Lois W. met in 1941 while accompanying their husbands to A.A. meetings. They began discussing how they could improve their own lives by applying A.A. principles, and soon realized that the spiritual principles of the A.A. program could help them to recover from the effects that alcoholism had on them as family members. Anne felt herself to be extremely shy and fearful and felt that practicing the principles of A.A. would help her recover from these characteristics as well. With Lois’ help, Anne formed a family group in Westchester County, New York. The first meeting was held in Anne’s home and was attended by 15 women.

In 1951, Lois and Anne contacted 87 scattered family groups and individuals who had contacted the A.A. General Service Office and asked if they were interested in forming a fellowship of their own. Lois and Anne’s work to unify these groups led to the founding of Al-Anon Family Groups. Anne was an active participant in Al-Anon’s early growth and development.

Anne’s husband Devoe died in 1960, after ten years of sobriety. A year later Anne married a cousin of Bill W. and moved to Connecticut. Two years later they divorced, and Anne moved several more times before settling near her daughter in Santa Paula, California. Although by this time Anne was not active in Al-Anon service, she continued to work on her own spiritual growth until her death on February 24, 1984. Anne’s work to help family members recover from the effects of alcoholism lives on through the Al-Anonfellowship she helped to found.