Sober 34 years since 3/26/1960, Scottish by birth, she learned to hate and drink at 16 in 1939 in London where she was for most of the bombings in WWII. At 16, she married a British sailor a lovely man with whom she had two children born during the war.
London was desolate after the war so they moved to Oxnard, CA in 1955. She got a job as a cocktail waitress where she discovered vodka martinis. Her husband forced her to quit that job and went to work for the Telephone company drinking only at night - every night. She was changing and not for the better,
Pregnant again in 1959 with her daughter, she checked herself out early from the hospital so she could drink. She had crossed over the line. Her husband was drinking as well. By 1960 they were broke she got help for getting work and to stop drinking by going to AA.
Three months sober she got to see Bill and Lois W. and the other founders in Longbeach, CA at the 1960 AA International. She describes what that was like - beautiful.
(50 min) (17.2 MB) (id#817)