Lois Wilson, co-founder of The Al-Anon Family Groups and wife of Bill Wilson, was born Lois Burnham on March 4, 1891 at 182 Clinton Street in Brooklyn Heights, New York. Her father, Clark Burnham, was a gynecologist and surgeon and her mother, Matilda Spelman, was a young woman of refinement. Lois was the eldest of six children. They were given excellent educations and sent to college, with Lois graduating from The Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn. Lois' primary interests were mostly artistic - from fine art to interior design. She took drawing classes at the New York School of Fine and Applied Art. The family spent the summers in southern Vermont where her father could care for his New York patients on vacation in the state. Her parents were part of the upper-class social life there and were friends with many well-known people of the day including Abraham Lincoln's son, whose children were among the younger Burnhams' playmates. Lois met Bill Wilson in1913 and gradually fell in love. The couple became secretly engaged in 1915 and married on January 24, 1918, before young officer Wilson shipped off to Europe in the First World War. When Bill left for England, Lois participated in an accelerated program to become an occupational therapist as they were in high demand during the war. She found work in this field both at Walter Reed Hospital in DC and in Brooklyn. As an educated woman, Lois believed in being independent and making her own living. She worked at the YWCA and was promoted several times within the organization leaving in 1917 to assist at a school her aunt had established in Short Hills, New Jersey. She left that position to marry Bill. When Bill returned from the war, Lois hoped to start the family she always wanted. However, a series of ectopic pregnancies made childbearing impossible. This was devastating to Lois and she knew that Bill also desperately wanted children. She and Bill tried to adopt, but they were unsuccessful. She later found out why - agencies performing routine background checks would eventually be told about Bill's drinking, which had been increasing heavily since they married. Bill's drinking alarmed Lois very much. At first, she tried not to be concerned, but it progressed during their marriage until he would see his ambitions dashed and his opportunities for employment and advancement shattered. He became a broken man who sought refuge with his wife in the house left to her by her parents. When they could no longer make the payments the house was foreclosed upon. When the house was sold by the bank in 1939, the Wilsons could not afford to go anywhere except to the homes of various friends, which they did for the following two years. Over the years Lois had been the breadwinner, bringing in a modest income from her work in department stores as a decorator and also from her consultations with private clients. In 1941 a generous offer was made by an acquaintance for the Wilsons to purchase a home in Westchester County, New York. Due to this magnanimous gesture, the Wilsons moved into their first and real home--Stepping Stones in Bedford Hills, New York. It took 23 years, but they finally had a home of their own. In 1951, following a notorious argument with her husband at the end of which she hurled her shoe at him, she convinced herself that it was time to concentrate on her own well-being. There had been several family groups or meetings around the country, and Anne Smith, wife of A.A. cofounder Dr. Bob, had been involved in working with wives and families from the very beginning, but a formal structure did not exist. So after the death of Anne Smith in 1949, Lois gathered the delegates' wives from the General AA Service Conference and local family groups' members at Stepping Stones to discuss going forward with a formal organization. Working from Lois' upstairs desk at Stepping Stones, Lois and Anne B. wrote to 87 people who had written to A.A. asking for information about alcoholism. The letters had come from the U.S., Canada, Ireland, Australia and South Africa. Forty-eight people wrote back and eventually the organization known as the Al-Anon Family Groups was formed. It now has over 29,000 groups worldwide and a membership of over 387,000. Lois died on October 5, 1988 at 97 years old. She was present and energetic throughout her latter years and enjoyed good health for most of them. She traveled extensively and spoke at conferences, round-ups and groups around the world. She wanted to live to be 100 and almost did.

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