Cecil C from From Newhall CA story “Those Golden Years” is featured in the Big Book on the following page (p. 327, in 3rd edition). His sobriety date is November 22nd, 1969. He went to his first AA meeting at age 70. He says just prior to that time he was, “Drinking to Die.” His first exposure to AA was when he accidentally walked into a young person’s meeting. He felt very out of place and attempted to leave but soon he began to relate very well to things that were being said by a particular 19 year old. Cecil says that for him the best way to get to Alcoholics Anonymous was to go all the way to Hell and making a U-turn. He talks about writing an article for the AA Grapevine that eventually was included in the 3rd edition of the AA Big Book. This is a great talk by a man who came late in life to AA and at the end of his talk Cecil says, “Thank all of you people for being here today and thank you for letting me love you.”
