Charlie is a good ole' country boy speaking for the first time at a large conference,
Born to a share-cropper family in the county where the conference was held, his dad was a 2nd grade educated, hard worker with a reported alcohol problem that Charlie never witnessed. Charlie's mom was a strong, spiritual, praying church goer.
As a young man he got in trouble drinking but managed to graduate because he slowed down, drinking on weekeds. He went to the University of Tulsa, OK on a football scholarship but finished at Furman in SC.
He graduated and went into the teaching and coaching profession though the teaching part was tough for him. In 1969 he and a friend built and ocean front Motel in Myrtle Beach. He is still in that business.
His wife and he drank and compromised their morals together. It ended in a painful divorce. He drank for another five years with only 90 miserables days dry. "It got worser and worser." His partner introduced him to members of A.A. - one a doctor whom Charlie knew was sober 14 months.
One last drunk before treatment was the wort he ever felt.
(49 min) (17.1 MB) (id#939)