August 1934
The following comes from the book A.A. Comes of Age, page vii
Oxford Groups sober up Ebby T., a friend of Bill W. (Also see November of that same year)
Reprinted with permission from A.A. World Services, Inc.

August 1939, Dr. Bob and Sister Ignatia start work at St. Thomas Hospital in Akron
The following comes from the book A.A. Comes of Age, pages 7,8,9
As the stories unfolded we saw Dr. Bob entering the doors of St.Thomas Hospital, the first religious hospital to receive prospective members of A.A. for treatment on a regular basis. Here there developed that great partnership between Dr. Bob and the incomparable Sister Ignatia* of the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine. Her name brings to mind the classic story about the first drunk she and Dr. Bob treated. Sister Ignatia's night supervisor wasn't very keen about alcoholics, especially the d.t. variety, and Dr. Bob had arrived with a request for a private room for his first customer. Sister Ignatia said to him, "Doctor, we do not have any beds, much less private rooms, but I will do what I can." And then into the hospital's flower room she slyly bootlegged A.A.'s first jittering candidate for admission. From this uncertain start of hospitalization in our pioneering time, we watched the growing procession of alcoholic sufferers as they passed through the doors of St. Thomas and out into the world again, most of them never to return to the hospital except as visitors. From 1939 to the time Dr. Bob took his leave of us in 1950, over 5,000 had thus been treated. And so the ministry of Dr. Bob, his wife Anne, Sister Ignatia, and Akron's early timers set an example for the practice of A.A.'s Twelve Steps that will remain for all time.
*Sister Ignatia died in 1966.

In 1949, ten years after the start of Dr. Bob's and Sister Ignatia's pioneering; the importance of this work was deeply realized by A.A.'s throughout Ohio. A committee was formed to place a plaque in the alcoholic ward at St. Thomas Hospital, a memorial which would clearly show what so many of us really thought and felt. I was asked to write the inscription and preside at the dedication. Though Anne had recently passed away, Dr. Bob could still be with us. Characteristically, Sister Ignatia would not let her name appear on the inscription. It was on Saturday afternoon, April 8, 1949 that we unveiled and presented the memorial plaque to the hospital. Its inscription read as follows:

IN GRATITUDE

THE FRIENDS OF DR. BOB AND ANNE S.

AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATE THIS MEMORIAL TO THE SISTERS AND STAFF OF

ST. TOMAS HOSPITAL.

AT AKRON, BIRTHPLACE OF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, ST. THOMAS HOSPITAL BECAME THE FIRST RELIGIOUS INSTITUTION EVER TO OPEN ITS DOOR TO OUR SOCIETY.

MAY THE LOVING DEVOTION OF THOSE WHO LABORED HERE IN OUR PIONEERING TIME BE A BRIGHT AND WONDROUS EXAMPLE OF GOD'S GRACE EVERLASTINGLY SET BEFORE US ALL.

Everyone remembers Dr. Bob's famous final admonition to Alcoholics Anonymous: "Let's not louse this thing up; let's keep it simple." And I recall my own tribute in the A.A. Grapevine to his great simplicity and strength ...
Reprinted with permission from A.A. World Services, Inc.

August 1981
The following comes from the book A.A. Comes of Age, page xi
Distribution of Alcoholics Anonymous passes the 3,000,000 mark.
Reprinted with permission from A.A. World Services, Inc