Sober 19 years since May 1988, Claude is the sixth child of three generations of North Georgia moonshiners. Dad was bad to drink but mom never touched a drop in her life.
He learned at twelve how to work with high explosives. "I had no capacity to love; no capacity to care. I figured Life owed me." Bad combination.
He tells a funny story about a laundry job gone terribly wrong after he joined the Air Force. He was placed as leader of a special team in 1970-71 where his lack of conscience was an asset. Then he got a conscience and he was drinking heavy.
He reached a point at the end where the doctors said they see his condition more often in a morgue. He barely made it into rehab crawling on his hands and knees.
On the 6th night there he got on his knees and asked the God described in the book Alcoholics Anonymous to remove the obsession. On the 7th morning it was gone.
NOTE: The talk is interrupted in the middle by a drunk having problems. That's AA!
Claude died sober of cancer October 7, 2016
