Dear Roy,

More than 21 years ago I entered the program you founded, and I have wholeheartedly appreciated your dedication to us ever since. Our meeting was already using a sobriety definition clarification similar to that which years later was adopted in Cleveland. This definition made perfect sense to me.

What was harder for me to understand was your reluctance to govern. The service work I did—as well as the appreciation expressed by my fellow members for it—stroked my ego. I tried very hard to keep others’ appreciation from going to my head, telling myself that the service is its own reward. As the years progressed, the ego flares diminished and I understood your stated desire to enter a meeting and not be recognized, but to be “just another Bozo on the bus.” This is another lead of yours for which I am very grateful.

When we disagreed, you wrote, “Yes, we seem to differ on the matter of . . . as might be expected in such matters of personal judgment . . .” and you thanked me for my honesty. You did not insist that your judgment was correct, but instead offered another path, which I was pleased to accept. Your leadership and humbleness stand hand-in-hand as an inspiration to all of us.

Thanks again my friend. May you be at peace with “the God of your understanding.”