I. Childhood and college years
Robert Holbrook Smith—eventually to be known to grateful alcoholics as Dr. Bob, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous—was born August 8, 1879, in the front bedroom of a large, 19th century clapboard house at Central and Summer Streets in St. Johnsbury, Vermont.
He was the son of Judge and Mrs. Walter Perrin Smith. Influential in business and civic affairs, Judge Smith sat on the Caledonia County (Vermont) Probate Court. He was also, at various times, state’s attorney, member of the state legislature, superintendent of St. Johnsbury schools, director of the Merchants National Bank, and president of the Passumpsic Savings Bank. In addition, he taught Sunday school for 40 years.
Dr. Bob, who rarely discussed family background, described his father as being a typical Vermont Yankee—reserved and taciturn on first acquaintance, with a lively if somewhat dry sense of humor.
Many years later, Dr. Bob’s son, Robert R. Smith (nicknamed Smitty), was to describe his father in much the same way. “Upon your first contact, he was very reserved and formal in his relationships, but when you became his friend, he showed a personality which was just the opposite—friendly, generous, and full of fun,” Smitty said.
Under the granite surface, Judge Smith betrayed a good deal of warmth and compassion, with perhaps a touch of indulgence, toward his only son. Certainly, he made an attempt to understand and control the malady that threatened to destroy Bob’s life and work. Many times, with varying degrees of temporary success, he tried to rescue Bob from the effects of his drinking. Unfortunately, Judge Smith, who died in 1918, did not live to see Dr. Bob attain permanent sobriety.
Mrs. Smith, who did live to see Dr. Bob get sober, was described as a stern, tight-lipped, churchgoing lady who busied herself with the countless social and religious activities of St. Johnsbury’s towering, gray stone North Congregational Church.
“Grandma Smith was a cold woman,” said Suzanne Windows, Dr. Bob’s adopted daughter. “Once, she came to the house, and we were all sick with the flu. Instead of pitching in, she went to bed, too!”
Mrs. Smith felt that the way to success and salvation lay through strict parental supervision, no-nonsense education, and regular spiritual devotion.
“Mom [Anne Ripley Smith] blamed her for Dad’s drinking,” said Sue. “She felt the stern upbringing nearly ruined him. When he got the chance, he just broke loose.”
Dr. Bob (who, as we know, was not one to “louse it all up
Healthy Vermont boyhood behind him, medical career ahead,
young Dr. Bob already had a second career—alcoholic.
with Freudian complexes”) merely said, “I just loved my grog.” But he could look back and see certain long-range influences in his childhood.
Although he had a much older foster sister, Amanda Northrup, of whom he was quite fond, he grew up as an only child. In his middle years, Dr. Bob said he considered this unfortunate, because it may have “engendered the selfishness which played such an important part in bringing on my alcoholism.”
And he did find one source of future rebellion: “From childhood through high school, I was more or less forced to go to church, Sunday school and evening service, Monday-night Christian Endeavor, and sometimes to Wednesday-evening prayer meeting,” he recalled. “This had the effect of making me resolve that when I was free from parental domination, I would never again darken the doors of a church.” Dr. Bob kept his resolution “steadfastly” for the next 40 years, except when circumstances made it unwise.
Another sign of rebellion came at an early age. Young Bob was sent to bed every evening at five o’clock. He went with a quietly obedient air that might have led some parents to suspect the worst. When he thought the coast was clear, Bob got up, dressed, and slipped stealthily downstairs and out the back door to join his friends. He was never caught.
From 1885 to 1894,
