Sober 21 years since 1945, Ray was a dry cleaner by trade from a small town in Arkansas. His father, the night policeman in town, put him in jail the first eight times he was arrested.
He seeds the talk with many country anecdotes.
Ray tried marriage to keep from drinking. He did not drink for two weeks. He disappointed himself and his reluctant bride.
On several occasions he told himself, "I am 36 years old and I know right from wrong and I got myself into this predicament by drinking too much and this time I am going to quit for good.". Each time he was drunk before he got home or within two weeks.
He was in jail when Pearl Harbor was bombed and got out to join the Army but never made it to the recruiter. Instead he got drafted but the Army found him unfit and wouldn't have him. He was not even fit to be killed.
He had heard of a man in AA in Little Rock that was sober two years. Ray went to see him in 1944 but Ray wasn't ready.
He went again in 1945 and was finally sincere. They appointed him a sponsor who gave him three days to read the Big Book.
He fell in love with his sponsor because he was a man who would tell him what to do.
(39 min) (8.9 MB) (id#1065)