A remarkable story - well told, Beverly was truly allergic to alcohol - she had to take antihistamines in order to drink.
Native of Ohio, the youngest of six in a nice Midwest family, she had lots of alcoholism in her family.
She was raised by her sister because her mom gave birth to her late in life after an infant and 5 year old child had died. Her mother was never quite right after that - never quite kind. Father, a farmer and store owner, almost ran the county but was never involved in politics.
She had a bad 10 year marriage to an alcoholic. They had three kids she had to raise in Valdosta after the divorce with some help from her father.
She got poisoned at work from the methanol in a Ditto machine and experienced overwhelming and constant pain.
She got hooked on pain pills for the feeling not just for the pain relief. She was worried about becoming an addict and decided to get off the pills by drinking. But she kept taking the pills, too, and it got real bad. "I never had enough sense to stop it."
In a bad second marriage to an older man, she sent her son to live with his father. She started to act strangely. She had a fast car with a 400 cubic inch engine and would race anybody. It was almost a death wish.
An over achiever with a great mind, she kept her job but only because she was so good at it, never missed a day, tried to be perfect and drove the fellow workers crazy. She was immersed in her misery.
A man she was dating took her to her first AA meeting.
What happened from there is classic.
Cassette C00-0310 of the GSSA Archives collection
(52 min) (23.9 MB) (id#1537)