65 ANS DE SOBRIETE ACTIVE
Betty Van Nortwick (January 23, 1915) , who got sober in Chicago April 8, 1946, passed away at the age of 95 in El Paso (11th of october 2010). We thought that maybe as of the other day, she may have been the person with the longest continuous sobriety in AA.
When Betty came in to the fellowship, she was discouraged from joining because of her gender, and she insisted that she had earned her seat… The men finally let her in. Apparently getting sober in Chicago in the 40s was not quite like today. Betty lived in Arizona after Illinois and then for the past 30 years here in El Paso.
She was an active member of the fellowship, attending meetings weekly and sponsoring women up until the day she died. Her sponsees will want to remark, I’m sure.
We had the privilege of videoing her story two years ago, and there are copies in the AA archives in El Paso and Tucson. God bless and we’ll pass along any service information.
Many tanks to Eddie W., Arizona, USA for this info
Memorial Service will be held at St. Francis on the Hill, 6280 Los Robles Drive, on Monday October 18th at 10:30 am.