Clara S from Los Angeles with 33 years (Native American)

SPEAKER_1 (0:06)

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Clara S (0:27)

Good evening, everyone. My name is Clara, and I'm an alcoholic. And I'm grateful to be sober in the proud middle of the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous. And I'd like to thank Carl, and who called me and asked me to come and share my experience, strength, and hope with you, which is always a privilege to do that. And he also picked me up at the airport, and it's always an experience when I step off, that I call the big birds to be a part of the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous, no matter where it is. I'd like to welcome the newcomers to this fellowship.

I was looking at the newcomers' standards, always a privilege for me to participate for them. And congratulations to the chip takers and the birthday keeper, and I might as well give you my... I was an alcoholic, came to alcoholics anonymous April 9, 1974

In April, in a few weeks, it's a continuous sobriety. I'll be 34 years sober. And thank you, God, for that in this fellowship. You know, we tell our story in a general way what it used to be like. And one of the days was one of the perfect days when I, as I said, I arrived yesterday and I came early because I sponsored Keever and Billy for a lot of years, starting out in Los Angeles. And this was a perfect day to be in your lovely city and the state I've been here before through the years. And I, you know, I looked around and, you know, I, it was, it was, it was that feeling again, my God, but for the grace of God and the program of Alcoholics Anonymous, I would have missed this. And, you know, I might as well tell you how old I am, so you won't start counting on your fingers, because I talk about times when a lot of you are certainly not here.

January, that's a few weeks to four weeks ago, January 17th, I was 83 years old.

And the best is yet to come.

As I said, we tell our story in a general way, and I don't want to, I was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1925 And I'm not going to spend much time in Georgia tonight, you know. I remember sitting on a segregated train out of Georgia and giving Georgia the, you know, and...

But, you know, I'll tell you a little about my family, and I came from a wonderful family. My father was a full-blooded Cherokee Indian of the Cherokee Nation. I was born and raised on a reservation in North Carolina. And my mom and he left that reservation and went into Alabama and then into Georgia. My mom and there were seven of us, and I'm the youngest of the seven, and I was born in Atlanta, and they were all born in a little town called Cheren, Georgia. I remember growing up in that city, and we talk about feelings a lot in Alcoholics Anonymous, but I never quite felt that I fit in, and I grew up at a time in this country and the culture where, you know, I really realized that there was a lot of fear, but I never saw alcohol. I went to church a lot. I had a stepmother. My mother died when I was three months sober, after seven children, so I grew up with a stepmother who was quite religious, and all I remember is a lot about going up there was the church being really sheltered, and I was never expressed. My father was able to express myself. My father was an artist and an entrepreneur, and I just loved hanging around. I loved, I adored my dad. And so I would, I, when I got into high school, I was terribly shy. I graduated from Booker T. Washington High School, and I won an art scholarship to the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts. And I want to tell you something. The one thing I liked about that church was the music, and that's about it. I was full, I was full of fear, and they talked a lot about God, and I, you know, I was just one of those kids that just was inhibited, and I just wasn't able to deal with any of that. And then it was in 1939, I remember we went out to the airport, which is now Hartford Airport. It's called Chandler Field in those days, and it was a big thing. You know, I'm one of the ones that grew up with our refrigerators and all of that stuff, but it was a great time. And the one thing they hear, you know, talking about a lot now in, you know, they said it's about feelings and fear. And I just remembered growing up feeling fearful. And we went out there, and it was when they announced over a microphone that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor. And then I was getting ready to go off to school, and that's when I got on that segregated train and I went to Boston, and that's where I went to school. And it was during the war, and it was just an incredible time. And as I said, I had never heard of it, never been to a movie, 19 years old. I had never been to a movie, and I didn't know how to dress, and I was, you know, just felt out of place all the time. And I started getting some friends in that school. And I remember starting to go to the movies. I loved watching people up on that screen in that dark room, and people talking to each other, and the relationships or whatever that was, they called it. And so, but I also started hearing the music, and I had listened to records for the first time. And I was walking down the street one night with another student, and these people walked out of this club, a jazz club. And the streets were full of servicemen and uniforms, and it was rather exciting. And when they walked out, I said to my friend, why don't we just go in there and see what they're doing? And it was a jazz club, and that's where all of this stuff started.