Related Photos
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drawn from AA publications (Pass It On, Dr Bob and the Good Oldtimers and AA Comes of Age) and recollections
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Appendix 3
Lobby of the Mayflower Hotel, Akron, showing the church directory from which Bill W located
Rev
Walter Tunks. According to Bill's own account, he couldn't remember why he chose Tunks'
name, though Lois suggested that Bill had always liked funny names.
Henrietta Seiberling (1888-1979). Henrietta was the daughter-in-law of Frank Seiberling, head
of the family that controlled Goodyear Rubber Co. Henrietta was estranged from her husband and was living with
her children in the gatehouse of the large estate in early 1935.
Reverend Samuel Shoemaker, (1893-1963), Rector of the Calvary Episcopal Church, NYC (1925-1951).
Shoemaker was a leader in the Oxford Group, a nondenominational evangelical movement of the 20's and 30's that
stressed principles of early Christianity. Members sought to acheive spiritual regeneration by making a surrender
to God through rigorous self-examination, confessing their faults to one another, making restitution for harms
done, and giving freely with no thought of reward. One of their doctrines was the "four absolutes" - absolute
honesty, absolute purity, absolute unselfishness and absolute love. Rev Shoemaker's teachings inspired Bill W
and the early AA members.
Rev Walter Tunks, the first link in the chain that led Bill W to Dr Bob in early May, 1935.
Tunks had become Rector of St Paul's Episcopal Church in Akron in 1930 and was perhaps the most enthusiastic
member of the Oxford Group among the clergy there. Fifteen years later he officiated at Dr Bob's funeral.
