Alcoholics Anonymous SYBIL 1st Lady Sober W.Coast 1941

Alcoholics Anonymous ~ CD . . . . A PIONEER SPEAKS . . .

S Y B I L    C O R W I N 

Anniversary Meeting

Waterloo, Iowa

April 9, 1993

"A Timeless Staple on the AA Trail"

75 years Young at the time of this Talk!

Sybil was the first woman west of the Mississippi River to get sober in AA.  She mentions that Marty Mann shared that honor on the East Coast.

Her Sobriety Date is March 23, 1941.  She had been married five times.  She introduces herself at the beginning of her talk as Sybil Doris Adams Stratton Hart Maxwell Willis Corwin.   She had just celebrated 42 years of Sobriety at the time this talk took place.

Born in a lil' town of Semens Texas that had a wooden school house.  She tells of lovin' that School House.   Parents were religious and thought of whiskey as Evil.   Momma was nervous and frightened and it rubbed off on her.  A scared child, she had no one to play with.  Started reading at four and learned by reading off of a Biscuit Box on the kitchen table.

The family moved to Los Angeles and at 14 or so she wanted to know what her Papa was talking about when he spoke of whiskey so she drank a whole bottle offered to her by her classmates.  Woke up in shame and remorse in her Momma's bed.    A dismal attempt to stop drinking proved futile.

"I didn't want to behave like that"

Became defiant and Belligerent and she was derailed at every turn

First marriage to a Sailor produced one child.  Her only child.

Drinking out of control and more marriages she at the end of her rope reads the article in the Saturday Evening Post on March 1, 1941.

"A women drunk was beneath everything you can think about"

Writing a letter to AA for help; she received a return letter from Ruth Hock,  AA's first secretary.   Ruth told her about a little group of men meeting in Los Angeles.

This group was given a Red Big Book by Kay Miller who migrated to LA from NY.  Her husband was in AA.  She was not an Alcoholic but started many meetings.

You will hear how Sybil recruited new Alcoholic Women to come into the Program and she names many of the old timers, including Cliff Walker who became her Sponsor.

A unique sharing of the Steps comes at the close of this great and history filled talk.

Sybil passed on April 29, 1998

Contents – 13 Track ~    Length  65 Minutes

Five simple rules of happiness:
1. Free your heart from hatred.
2. Free your mind from worries.
3. Live simply.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less.