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That Amazing Grace: The Role of Clarence and Grace S. in Alcoholics Anonymous

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Grace Snyder was the third wife of early A.A. pioneer, Clarence H. Snyder. Clarence was, at the time of his death, the A.A. member with the greatest amount of continuous sobriety. He got sober in February of 1938. He was sponsored by A.A. Co-founder Dr. Bob. In May of 1939, Clarence founded the first meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous in Cleveland. The groups in Cleveland grew from one to thirty in a year. And, by the early 1940's, there was a 93% success rate among the Cleveland members. Clarence truly was an unusual A.A. 12-Stepper. So was his wife, Grace.

The author and his son Ken spent a week in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, staying in the home of, and interviewing Clarence's long-time wife and love--Grace Moore Snyder. Grace had made a point of learning about early A.A. from Clarence. And she patiently told her recollections to Dick B. and Ken B.

And the book, That Amazing Grace: The Role of Clarence and Grace S. in Alcoholics Anonymous reports on the personal observations that Grace provided. Details about how she and Clarence met and were married. Details about Clarence's remarks on each of the Twelve Steps. Details about the Christian books in Clarence's library. The Bible stories Clarence frequently told his sponsees and meetings. The members of pioneer A.A. And the response Clarence would give when asked about the A.A. program.

This gem of a book gives Alcoholics Anonymous History in a new and fresh form--from the words of one of the long-time A.A. oldtimers, who told it all to his beloved wife, Grace.

Dick B. became one of my long-time friends and brothers in Christ in a Bible fellowship. I knew that he traveled all over the United States gathering information and books about early A.A.'s Bible roots. I also knew that he had several times been a principal speaker at the so-called "Clarence Snyder Retreats" for AAs and their families that Snyder had founded many many years earlier in his sobriety. Dick's draw seemed to be his intimate knowledge of early A.A. history and the fact that Clarence's widow Grace Snyder said she could almost hear her husband's voice as Dick recited the facts. Finally, Dick asked Grace if he could write a book about her. She was enthused. She invited him and his son Ken to stay at her home in Florida and hear the details. This warm, enthusiastic, informative book about Clarence, Grace, A.A., and the Snyder retreats is a gem. It was followed by the Our Legacy book that Dick compiled and edited from the writings of three Clarence Snyder oldtimer sponsees as their wives. Taken with Mitch K's biography of Clarence, this makes a threesome of some very important early A.A. history derived from the man sponsored by Dr. Bob, longest in sobriety at one point, and the founder of the phenomenally successful Cleveland A.A. program.