The history of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is filled with many
thousands of inspirational stories of members who overcame their struggles with
alcoholism. As the AA Basic Text states, those struggles were conquered quickly
or slowly.
Studying AA history, I came to believe there weren’t any
coincidences. The history contains an endless march of serendipitous
events starting with how Bill W. met Dr. Bob & how AA’s pioneers “found” AA
and their recovery. One of those pioneers was Clarence Snyder whose story, “The
Home Brewmeister” is in the first three editions of AA’s “Big Book.”
Clarence H. Snyder was born on December 26, 1902 in
Cleveland, Ohio. He was the last of three brothers & as he grew up, became
an alcoholic & eventually ended up losing everything because of it.
In 1937, he ended up in New York City, homeless, destitute
& “on the bum.” His sister-in-law lived in Westchester County & he
sought help from her. Clarence made his way to her home but she wasn’t there.
He ended up playing with her kids while waiting for her. After she got home she
worried that her “drunken bum” brother-in-law might have exposed her children
to a potential illness & took the children to her personal physician to be
checked out.
“Coincidentally,” her physician just happened to be Bill
W.’s brother-in-law. She told him about her drunken relative and the doctor
suggested if Clarence ever returned to Cleveland, he should look up Dr. Robert
S., (Dr. Bob), an Akron physician who had found his way out of chronic
alcoholism. She contacted her sister, Clarence’s estranged wife, who in turn
let Clarence know that if he wanted to come home, he would have to see this
Akron doctor & stop drinking.
Clarence came back to Ohio, met with Dr. Bob & was
placed in Akron City Hospital under his care. After about a week of
detoxification, Dr. Bob took Clarence to an Oxford Group meeting at the home of
T. Henry and Clarace Williams in Akron. Clarence’s sobriety date was February
11, 1938.
Clarence faithfully attended the Oxford Group until after
the AA book was written & published in April, 1939. He then went to his
sponsor (Dr. Bob) and told him that since they had the book, the steps &
the program, they no longer needed the help of the Oxford Group & the
Cleveland members were going to start a meeting named after the book. The
Oxford Group was a Christian organization & Clarence felt that AA should be
open to anyone who sought recovery from alcoholism regardless of belief or lack
of belief. That first Cleveland meeting of AA was May 11, 1939.
Clarence remained sober until his death March 22, 1984. He
had just over 46 years of continuous sobriety & was the last of the
original founding members of Alcoholics Anonymous. Clarence was a true pioneer
& responsible for many firsts in AA. In the book “Alcoholics Anonymous
Comes of Age,” Bill W. wrote, “Cleveland’s results were of the very
best.”