My dad was an alcoholic. One time he was broke and hanging out for a drink. He saw an ad in the paper for an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. He thought to himself that he should be able to scrounge a drink in amongst all those alcoholics, so  went along. He was sober for over 30 years after that. Here is what a bloke gave me at his funeral.
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IN MEMORY… BILL R.

He was like us….an alcoholic, but then there was no one line Bill R.. as those of you who knew him will know.

He was a big man who during his drinking days drank big. He also had a big heart and when he finally found AA he embraced it with zeal and, in later sobriety, embraced every other recovering alcoholic with compassion.

Bill R. or “Young Bill” as he was later known had a humour which kindled constantly, his eyes twinkled and sometimes those ears, of which he often remarked, would move with his laughter.
His wisdom in Kingston AA is known to all of us who had the pleasure of hearing him talk but being the man he was he travelled far beyond Kingston to talk, to share and to give that little bit of hope to the still suffering.

Here was a man who was recognised by the Kingbourough Council for his service to the community but would have preffered to have been recognised by the alcoholic reaching out.
Here was a man who always had sweets in his pocket just in case a kid turned up at a meeting and got bored hearing the big people talk.

Here was a man who would turn up an hour early for a meeting and stay there by himself just in case somebody else turned up who needed help.

And here was a man who after every meeting would sit in his car until he saw that all the others were safely away.

I had the pleasure of 12th Stepping with him, spending hours in his home and I never tired of seeing him ambling up my path for a surprise visit. On those occasions I would often think…’ thank God I’m not drinking anymore because I knew there would be hell to pay if I had been.

He would answer his phone with “And what seems to be your problem” but underneath that facade of gruffness was a soul that cried for every alcoholic still suffering.

Bill R. loved us. And we loved him. To many he was Kingston AA but he wouldn’t like me saying that because as he often said…. he was just another alcoholic doing the steps on a daily basis. And this after thirty years sobriety.

Bill R. you were never just another alcoholic. You were an inspiration.

Goodbye. We all love you.

Bill P. (Kingston.)
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I was with him when he left this world. He gave his heart to God on his ‘death bed’. He said, as he drifted in and out of death, “I’ve just been talking to Him (Jesus) and He told me, ‘When you go I will travel with you’.” At one point he sat up and said with great urgency “Tell Ken, tell ’em all, It’s unalterably true”. He repeated it and it wasn’t long and he breathed out his spirit and was gone. Ken was his best mate in AA.