William Spaniola
When the transmitter of your radio station goes out, and you lose your chief engineer, it’s difficult. I really don’t know where to begin…
I am sober and living a fulfilling life, in part, because of Harry Huston. We lost such a good guy. But it was more than that. He was so valuable. For me, Harry Huston went above and beyond the typical sponsorship role of AA. Harry was a mentor and a friend. I could talk to him about anything. Really, anything! I miss him so badly.
Harry Huston was genuinely concerned about my sobreity and happiness. As a mentor, he was very flexible with me. Needless to say, we didn’t always go by the book (And Harry knew that book as well as anyone). We went with what worked. Take what you need, and leave the rest. He told me several times that the only thing that is normal is a setting on a washing machine. Harry was more concerned about the person than the process, and he was very generous with his time. I am so grateful for that.
Sometimes Harry and I would be on the phone talking about nothing but music. He loved it. Sometimes he would drive me to Grand Rapids to my eye doctor, using my car, and every time the Rolling Stones came on he would really crank it up. Yes, we had some things in common. We even shared a sobreity birthday.
Many people don’t realize that Harry Huston was instrumental in helping me develop the Meditations for Recovery group that met every Thursday upstairs at GMAC. Harry never missed a meeting. In fact, he would get there early to make sure everything was ready, including the coffee. He would make trips to the library to check out books on Buddhism, and the Dalai Lama. He loved that meeting. I really miss him.
During AA and Meditation meetings, when Harry spoke, everyone would listen. He could say far more in one minute than what most would try to say in 10 minutes. Harry was precise, and to the point. What he said had substance. Harry never held the meeting hostage with self indulged rambling for long periods of time. He would never gloat, or preach, which I find are rare qualities for someone with so much sobreity in AA. Harry would readily admit that he did not have all the answers. Why can’t more of us be like this?
Harry was a role model. He walked the talk. No matter what difficulties he was going through at the time, if you asked him how he was doing, he would say “aces!” Harry told us that it was a bonus day, because every day truly was a bonus day to him.
I think that the best tribute that we could all give to Harry, is to live in the moment. Do not feel too guilty about the past, and do not have too much anxiety about the future. Peace.
