August 29, 1962

Dear Folks,

Your letter reached us while on vacation in East Dorset, Vermont, the old home town.  Sometimes I wish I could resettle up here.

Thanks for all the news and views.  As you imply, we are not so young as we used to be.  I’m beginning to feel this also, as is Lois.   However, we are still doing okay, thank God.

About the late lamented April Conference.  There, I think we made some A.A. history, but I question just the right kind.  I do think that my recommendations for strengthening the General Service Board would have bucked up our situation a good deal against a future time of real trouble.   Routinely, things would go along nicely with present setup.  But if the heat really came on in a big way, I would rather see a stronger situation to handle it, so I’m sure we ought to experiment in this direction — something that the Conference and trustees seemed very adverse to doing.

It wasn’t [so] much that I was surprised or disappointed by the Conference decision — the thing I deplored was the haste and even recklessness in which it was taken.  At the very least I think I might have been aloud [sic] to get my recommendations printed as an Appendix to the Third Legacy Manual, along with the Concepts.  But evidently the Conference and the Trustees thought the material to be of so little merit that it should not be put on permanent record in this fashion.  In a way, this attitude amounted to censorship, something I can’t exactly relish.  I hope future Conferences will allow me the courtesy of being printed permanently.  After all, the recommendations might prove to be some use later on.

But one good thing did come of it.  Future responsibility was so completely and eagerly taken away from me that my trip to the sidelines has been greatly facilitated.  It’s now strictly up to the Trustees and to the Conference and on their own say-so.  In a sense, this is a great relief, because, as you know, I have been backing away for along [sic] time.  So the job is now complete.

All the best now, and God bless you both.  In this Lois joins,

Affectionately,

Bill

WGW/nw

Mr. and Mrs. James Burwell
4193 Georgia Street
San Diego, California