Jerry, a huge man about 6’4” weighing at least 295 pounds was in and out of the Houston ARC in the mid ‘80’s. One morning, drunk, he called the Administrator, Major Winters asking for help getting into the V.A. for detox. Major had Gene make the arrangements and asked that we take Jerry to the V.A.

Jerry was staying in an old hotel in Houston (needless to say a flop house). We had just purchased a new van and I kept hoping that our trip from the hotel to the V.A. with Jerry would be uneventful.

Arriving at the hotel, we were told that Jerry was on the 6^th floor. We went up a small creaky elevator and got out into a dimly lit, filthy hallway. We located the room he was said to be in and Gene knocked on the door. Jerry threw it open, naked as a Jay Bird. Gene shut the door, asked me to stay in the hallway and wait while he got Jerry into his clothes. This turned out to be a monumental task to say the least. There was a lot of commotion from behind that door; I could hear Gene pleading with Jerry things like, “Jerry put your leg in this pants leg”, etc.

Needless to say this was taking sometime. A house detective saw me standing in the hallway and thought I was a working girl! This took some explaining on my part because I had no I.D. with me, as I had left my purse locked in my office at the ARC, for safety.

Finally, Gene & Jerry appeared and the rest of the trip to the V.A. (although with some anxiety that Jerry would get sick or start convulsing in our van), was not quite as exciting!    Jerry stayed in the V.A. program for quite some time before returning to the ARC. He then became involved in our in house A.A. Group The Trudgers.

Do you know a Jerry, does he or she need help?