One thing for sure: I've never forgotten Nell Wing. For one thing, she was a
remote cousin of mine - a proud member of the Wing Family of America. For
another, she worked closely with Frank Mauser to help me get my belated
research underway. It was Nell who, with Bill, began taping the oldtimers,
whose tapes I've used in my books. It was Nell who phoned Clarence Snyder,
said they wanted to write the Dr. Bob book but didn't know any of the
oldtimers whereupon Niles Peebles was dispatched to visit Clarence, Smitty,
and whoever else he saw to put the great book together that followed Mel
Barger's work on Pass It On. It was Nell who assisted me, along with Frank
Mauser, in obtaining Anne Smith's Journal - one of the best finds of my
research. It was Nell who, with Lois Wilson, went to the Episcopal Church
Archives in Texas, one of only a few of us who have been there. She brought
back a potload of material and shared some of it with me in her apartment as
her Grateful to Have Been There was being prepared. It was Nell who
contributed some financial support to the printing of my books. It was Nell
who would take me to lunch in New York after a session at GSO. She'd pay for
the lunch and for the taxicab, and say "This treat is on Lois" - she being
grateful for the financial stipend Lois Wilson evidently left her. It was
Nell who gave all of us a hearty hello by phone when we called from from the
never-repeated historian conference that Bill Pittman convened at Hazelden
more than a decade ago. Yep. I will never forget Nell Wing. And apparently
A.A. won't either because they handed her the 10 millionth copy of the Big
Book on the stage at the International Convention in Seattle as we all
watched approvingly. Both Smitty and Sue spoke fondly of Nell. She was a
chirping chatterbox with a big heart - especially for Bill, Lois, and A.A.
Thanks Ernie. I've mentioned Bill in the acknowledgements of most of my
books. But I never miss an opportunity to thank the hundreds who have made
the historical research so fruitful and so full of pleasure and reward. God
Bless, Dick B.

-----Original Message-----
From: Alcohol and Drugs History Society [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Ernest Kurtz
Sent: Friday, March 25, 2005 11:44 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: The Encyclodpedia

Hi Dick (and all) --

Please do not forget Nell Wing, without whom AA might have ended up with
no archives.

What are the dates in July?  I surely hope to be there, though I trust
you know I am disabled now.  I can drive okay, but I walk with cane or
walker, and very slowly.  But it will be good to see you and the others
again.  We may come from different directions, but I know that we all
pursue the truth insofar as we can glimpse it.

And most wondrously, we seem all to be willing to make what we see and
find freely and readily available to others, whether at Brown, or
Wally's or Smitty's, or in Akron or Little Rock, or wherever.  As much
as we may disagree, I think that indicates that we all are trying to
pursue spirituality as we see it.  I am grateful to God for you, and I
sort of hope you feel the same way about me.

ernie kurtz