Posted on 11/29/2005 1:07:41 AM PST by lunarbicep
EAST DORSET — The man who was the driving force behind the restoration of the birthplace of Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder Bill W. died Monday morning after a battle with cancer.
Albert "Ozzie" Lepper Jr., 72, began renovating the Wilson House in October 1987, when he moved to East Dorset from Connecticut.
Lepper was a longtime "Friend of Bill W.," or member of AA, according to his funeral notice.
AA is a 12-step program founded in 1935 in Akron, Ohio, by Bill W. and his colleague, Dr. Bob, a native of St. Johnsbury, to assist people struggling to recover from addiction to alcohol. The success of its program has been copied by virtually all other programs that battle addictions, from overeating to gambling.
AA has an international membership that numbers more than 2 million, according to its Web site. Sobriety is sought through sharing experiences at meetings, where the identity of those present is protected to allow them the freedom to speak, according to AA's Web site.
The Wilson House, originally built in 1852 as a hotel, had been closed since the early 1970s, until Lepper and his wife Bonnie reopened it in 1989.
Although AA meetings are regularly held there, the House remains an inn that caters to all manner of tourists, said Katharina S. Lepper-Businger, one of Lepper's daughters.
"He never saw himself as a manager," she said. "He just tried to make sure the house honored the memory of Bill W. and his wife, Lois."
The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.
The Wilson House Restoration is a nonprofit foundation and Lepper was a member of its board of directors, she said.
Lepper was a warm, open and friendly man, said an AA member from Manchester who requested anonymity.
"One of the things he did very well was to involve local people in a positive and friendly way in the restoration," he said.
Since its reopening in 1989, the Wilson House has offered space not only for AA meetings, but other spinoff groups such as Al-Anon, which focuses on the impact alcohol has on spouses and friends of alcoholics.
The property was a focal point for the East Dorset neighborhood as well.
"The Wilson house is a vibrant part of the community and Ozzie and his wife have done wonders for it; they've been really dynamic," said Tim Burke, a neighbor and Dorset selectman. "It's a big loss to the community of East Dorset."
Lepper was born in Wethersfield, Conn., in 1933 and graduated from Nichols College in Massachusetts. His wife, Bonnie Lepper, seven children and nine grandchildren survive him.
Visiting hours will be held at the Brewster Funeral Home in Manchester on Wednesday from 4 to 7 p.m. The funeral service will follow on Thursday, Dec. 1 at the First Congregational Church of East Dorset.
"Sober 8 years. Just spend the Thanksgiving week-end with a boyhood friend who is newly sober."
Great example of how our program works! Right back to the good old, tried but extraordinarily true fact of "one drunk helping another." Therein lies the magic for millions of us.
And for those of you who have found sobriety in other ways, I salute you and wish you all well. This shouldn't be a competition. There isn't a BEST way to be sober. The act of being and staying sober is what matters.
Friend of Bill's
DOS: 9/10/70
April 5, 2004
"Friends of Bill W." means members of AA.
Oh.
Nevermind.
Thank you for stating this so clearly. I have been wrestling with this concept lately.
This may be the best comment on the thread!
I'm not sure that's what most AA members really believe. I know they believe it for themselves, but having many family members and friends who attend AA I've never heard them say more than AA is the only thing that would have worked for them.
December 3, 1990 (And I really hate putting this because some people get the idea that the longer a person has been drunk, the more they know. There have been many times that I would love to go back to being newly sober BEFORE I realized just how screwed up I could make my life without drinking.)
I think the "friend" in quotes was supposed to suggest he was a fellow alcoholic, not a homosexual.
Just finished the entire thread and I feel as if I have just been to a meeting.
In the Big Book there is a recounting of Rowland H.'s visit to Carl Jung, Jung told him that, "Here and there, once in a while, alcoholics have had what are called vital spiritual experiences. To me these occurrences are phenomena. They appear to be in the nature of huge emotional displacements and rearrangements. Ideas, emotions, and attitudes which were once the guiding forces of the lives of these men are suddenly cast to one side, and a completely new set of conceptions and motives begin to dominate them." What AA has done is essentially converted "here and there, once in a while" into everywhere, all of the time and in so doing has turned a "phenomena" into an everyday occurrence that has been experienced by millions.
You're right and I didn't mean to imply that AA was into self promotion. Shrinks, caregivers, courts and relatives often badger a drinker to "go to AA".
I don't disagree with you one bit. I think his issue was people saying you can't possibly stop drinking without AA. I agree it is rare, but people have used other spiritual means of achieving the same thing. In the end, I don't think not drinking is the only issue. AA is about living, not just about abstaining from alcohol.
If you read the first portion of chapter 5 in the Gospel of Mark, you will see a nearly identical account of what many of us have experienced in AA.
I don't believe there is a single meeting in this town that allows smoking.
When I got sober fifteen years ago, I think about three-quarters of the meetings in my town allowed smoking, now I don't know of any. Many have been told by churches that smoking is no longer allowed, and it usually isn't a problem (it's not like there are a lot of places to hold meetings that will allow it). What churches usually have to do though is get on the people at the meetings about not leaving cigarette butts in the parking lot.
isn't that the truth
isn't that the truth
I have! I was on a trip to Atlanta about 10 years ago, and called the local Intergroup to find a meeting near my hotel and found one within walking distance.
I got there and it was a bunch of weird hippies who started the meeting by chanting and lighting candles and incense. Then they started talking about their Tarot cards and a bunch of crap like that. I stayed as long as I could stand it and then left. Someone came outside and asked me if I liked it, and I said no that I was looking for an AA meeting. They said that it was an AA meeting, I told them that I had been to meetings in over 30 states and that I was absolutely certain that what they were having was not an AA meeting.
No, because then he would be a "friend of Dorothy" instead of a "friend of Bill W."
Congrats!
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