Talk:Bill W.

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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20050320022729/http://www.time.com:80/time/time100/heroes/profile/wilson01_OLD.html to http://www.time.com/time/time100/heroes/profile/wilson01_OLD.html

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The final years
Bill Wilson died (according to your own wiki) at age 75. The average lifespan for people born before 1900 was only 48-50 years (cross reference this all you want). "The Final Years" section should mention this because the article (no doubt jealously guarded by a Troll) makes his death seem like some sort of untimely tragedy. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Cyberfreeworld (talk • contribs) 16:14, 25 May 2018 (UTC)

Was he in England in WWI?
The article on Winchester Cathedral mentions Wilson in this uncited sentence:

When he was posted to England during the First World War, Bill Wilson, the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, visited the Cathedral and had an initial experience of the presence of God.

As that statement is uncited so I will not add the information into this article but I do wonder if he did serve outside of the United States? If the evidence points to him only serving at 'home' which seems implied by this article, that would be sufficient basis to remove the reference from the Winchester Cathedral article.Cloptonson (talk) 16:41, 5 April 2022 (UTC) ~


 * Bill Wilson was deployed overseas late in WW1 in the coastal artillery. You can find references to his service in Robert Thomsen's book "Bill W" - he did not see any active combat while in Europe. Joebachana (talk) 00:06, 16 October 2022 (UTC)

See also suggestion
How about mentioning both Rational Recovery which doesn't teach the necessity of the reliance in any deity, and Celebrate Recovery, which is an overtly Christian approach to the issue? Both seem to have begun as offshoots, one finding AA to be overly religious and the other seeing it as being insufficiently Christian? 2600:1004:B10D:78BB:0:4B:FD7:9601 (talk) 19:08, 25 April 2022 (UTC)

re: Bill W's teen educational experience
I'm new to Wikipedia so not sure how to correct a statement in early years that Bill W had no interest in his academics. It is true that he struggled when his parents abandoned him, but as he bonded with his grandfather, Fayette Griffith, he began to see himself as a successful person. In fact, Bill did quite well in academics - especially when he was attending Burr and Burton Academy in Manchester. Things fell apart when his high school girlfriend and the 'love of his life' Bertha Bamford died suddenly during a short trip with her parents to NYC. Thereafter, Bill's academic and extra-curricular career (athletics, music) completely fell apart. You can find references supporting Bill's academic career in Robert Thomsen's book "Bill W" as well as Susan Cheever's book "My Name is Bill." Joebachana (talk) 00:10, 16 October 2022 (UTC)

Writings
Bill was the principle writer of books Alcoholics Anonymous, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, A.A. Comes of Age and numerous articles, etc. Artaxerxes (talk) 01:18, 7 April 2024 (UTC)