Traditions War Memorial

Our Memorial is for those who have crossed over

or who have suffered greatly due to violations of our Twelve Traditions

and the principles behind them that protect us from useless conflicts.

Origins of the Memorial

On Saturday night, I had a discussion with another member working on this book. We discussed the Traditions and the fall out behind the change of structure and the book. We remembered fallen members that were gone. Good spirited people with no other intent or motive than that of helping the addict that still suffered.. Vietnam has a wall for fallen soldiers that died in a war that should not have been, why don't we. So, the idea was made to have a thread on our na-history.org website with just that, a memorial to fallen members, giving facts of their person, spirit and service, as well as what happened to them..

By Sunday morning I thought, "I don't know if I dreamed this or not " But some time after our talk Sat evening, I had a flash! A book titled "Victors Of The Traditions War" With a memorial chapter to fallen members. I talked it over with other members interested in the work on history. A good discussion followed. The chapters can be defined but the intro needs the to state what this war has been about.. That is the difference between a corporate mentality of nA service vs a spiritual mentality of service. That is it in a nut-shell. I will take a page to define. There is a quote from an underground newspaper in Atlanta, the "Great Speckled Bird" in its first issue: "These are our opinions and we are entitled to them, they are not written anywhere else. So, don't expect us to tell both sides of the story. The big newspapers, magazines, TV and radio do that all day long. Here you will hear our side of things." We attempt to give both sides in this book but we admit to a bias.

If you have friends that have fallen in this conflict then write it down.. Don't juice it up, just tell the truth.. Who were they, what did they do to help you and NA as a whole, what happened.

You know there are some 12 step calls that need to be made.. There are some fallen members that are still suffering.. I suggest we all PRAY for these NOW and keep it up. A hand of fellowship needs to be reached out to them... Love conquers disease. When is the last time we had a jonesing addict on our couch? Treatment centers and good times have made a lot of us soft..

The time in now, the work is ours, if it is to be it is up to me, and you and you and you and you and you....... Now the question is do we have the courage to open the door and let some light in?

ILS

Grover

Jimmy Kinnon - spent good part of his life devoted to NA. He was not treated with the respect he deserved. Unfortunately, some of his friends don't appear to be representative of his good spirits and humor. He always helped us when we called. He manned the telephone through the 1970's and answered night or day. One time I called and told him an institution - jail - in Texas was critical of our rough language in the NA meeting there and he said, "It's none of their business what we say in our meetings." It was a comfort to have such quick and positive support. The politics surrounding the expansion of the WSO were high-pressured and that may explain if not excuse some of the rough interaction. He was a speaker at the NA World Convention at New York and sat next to Father Egan who mentioned the pre-1953 NA in New York. Jimmy was smiling through this.

Jack Whaley – Jack was the first outspoken Board of Trustee Chair to take up for NA and seriously agitate for more solidarity among its members in early 1970’s. (check date – Ed)

Gina Helguerra - wrote some of the Basic Text, wonderful story in Book 2. From Nashville, ran in music circles. Very educated and good with people. Singer. When NA lit movement caved in she lost her focus and wandered into obsession. Moved to Miami and got involved with a doctor. Lived with AIDS for a time. Moved home to Nashville where she died.

Greg Pierce - wrote our original service structure NA Tree and served on Board of Trustees during most of 1970's and 1980's. Grandfather of our Basic Text. He had the original idea to expand the Little White Book into a topic outline for the book. He worked hard at the World Literature Conference II at Lincoln, Nebraska - NA’s first week long service conference. 800 pages were factored into Greg’s outline. Also, formulated the plan to fund the expansion of WSO by selling new books for $25 numbered with a special red cover. Spoke at countless NA conventions and service conferences, chairman of the NA World Service Board and mentor to many, many NA members wanting to be effective and correct in their service to NA.

Tom the Red - Hitchhiked across America, got stranded in desert and got hell of a sunburn - hence his nickname. He also had red hair. Tall and skinny, he was a warm personality and contributed much of his time towards the book effort, attending conferences in Memphis and Santa Monica. Story told of his getting involved with women on a live in basis and someone shot him at the door one day.

Billy Russell - Extremely active service worker in Northern Alabama. Absolutely wonderful NA member. Relapsed and never was able to accumulate clean time again. Active in H&I service work.

Grover N. - First major effort to write out NA history. Members from all over East Coast came to Conference in Madison, Alabama, Allentown, Pennsylvania and Montgomery, Alabama. These were all large, well planned Conferences with impressive list of notable NA members from all over. Video tapes lost to one member who was supposed to send them into to Alabama, headquarters for the history conferences. Members moved in from out of state and were so disruptive to the history effort that dissension took over and the effort died out. Grover so demoralized, he moved to Oklahoma, leaving behind all his life in Alabama.

Joe P. - One of the greatest service workers in the history of NA. One of the individuals responsible for the Basic Text. First attended the Lincoln Lit Conference in 1980. Rallied together hosting for the Memphis Literature Conference where our Basic Text first saw the light of day. As Joe used to say, “If we don’t stand for something, we’ll fall for anything.”

Perry L. - My Name is Lester and I am an Addict in Recovery. I am sending this reply in hope that it my somehow find its way into the Chapter on fallen members, in the Traditions War Book. I got clean in Portland, OR in 1986 and at that time we had a member here whose name was Perry L. Perry had over 2 yrs in Recovery and was very outspoken about his Recovery and very visible in our fellowship. Even though he was not my sponsor. Perry kind of took me under his wing, which was his way with newcomers in particular if they showed any amount of Sincerity in wanting to stay clean. Perry was very active in H&I and became my mentor so to speak. I chose to go to my 1st Jail meeting with him because I wanted what he had. I wanted to learn from the best. Perry had also been instrumental in getting H&I into our jail system here in Portland. So I followed Perry into the Jails and later into Area and eventually Regional Service and H&I Rep. which became a strong part of Recovery.

Unfortunately, the pull of our addiction took Perry back out following his 9th Anniversary and he was never able to return to these rooms. During one of his several attempts to regain some recovery, a member is said to have asked him what took him back out and his reply was something that I believe can benefit us all.

He replied that there were some things listed in his 4th step that he had failed to deal with in the remaining steps. And because of this Narcotics Anonymous lost a great person who had touched the lives of hundreds possibly thousands and had given them hope and recognition that laid the groundwork for their recovery.

Ten years have passed since Perry's departure, and I am still in Recovery, and still working the steps and still attempting to practice these principals in all of my affairs. One of the things that Perry use to say was that if we don't get Humble we will get Humiliated. Many of my friends that I have today are also still in Recovery in part because of the knowledge that was so freely given to them by a fellow addict in Recovery whose name was Perry L.

Thank you for allowing me to share. – Lester

Big Lou – Denounced from the podium at Upper West Coast WCNA in for his participation in the Baby Blue movement, Lou relapsed and was never able to get clean again. He died of overdose.

Bill Brooks – One of the founders of NA in Alabama, Bill devoted his life to recovery and did all in his power to help others, the NA way. I spoke to him at the “Out of the Darkness, Into the Light” convention the year before he died and he made a bitter statement about nobody owing him a thing. I was right on it and said without pause, “No, Bill. Lots of people owe you their lives. We are just going though our adolesence as a Fellowship and the membership hasn’t learned how to regard members who devote their lives to their well-being. It is part of the disease.” He seemed stunned by this and I was glad he said nothing and thought about it. He was able to rally a bit from his prolonged bout with cancer and was a speaker at the WCNA Atlanta.

Larry North – One of the pioneering members of the NA Fellowship in the early days of the Mid-Atlantic RSC, Larry was an ardent member who drove countless newcomers to conventions and was one of the founding members of the Virginia RSC. He was denied recognition at the first WSC because some thought the region was contrived by Larry just to give himself a vote on the Conference floor. This was very selective because many other regions had been formed with much less basis for recognition during the same time period. Larry was WSC Policy Chair one year and even when his health began to fail due to emphezema, he continued to be as active as possible in NA.