(800) 533-6166

  • 800-533-6166

    Get 24/7 help now All calls free and confidential.

Recovery Speakers » AA Speakers » Joe and Charlie

Joe and Charlie AA Audios

Joe McQ. & Charlie P. met in 1973 when Joe introduced Charlie as the AA speaker at an Al-Anon Convention. After briefly speaking, they realized they both loved AA’s basic text The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. This mutual love and admiration was the beginning of a friendship that would last 35 years. Soon after meeting, Joe and Charlie would frequently meet to discuss the book, often driving 225 miles to meet in each other’s homes.

Soon thereafter they were planning meetings in hotel rooms at AA conventions in Oklahoma and Arkansas, and within a few years, the meetings grew in popularity. As others heard the recordings, Joe & Charlie began to receive invitations to present their Big Book Study at AA events across the country. Over the years, Joe & Charlie presented their Big Book study to thousands of recovering alcoholics until Joe passed away in 2007.

Joe & Charlie Big Book Workshop - 1999

Experience an entire Joe & Charlie AA Big Book Workshop by listening to the collection of audio tapes below.

Joe & Charlie Workshop Materials

Joe & Charlie Big Book Comes Alive Weekend – 2001

Joe & Charlie Big Book Study - 2003

Joe & Charlie Big Book Seminar Wilson House - East Dorset, VT ~ Oct 1980

Charlie Parmley 1929 - 2011
Charlie is widely known within the recovery community because of his love for the big book and for his partnering with Joe McQuany to start the Joe & Charlie Big Book Studies. Charlie was the co-founder of the House of Hope Inc. Recovery Center in Grove, Oklahoma. He’s also responsible for organizing the trust fund maintaining Dr. Bob's Home in Akron and the Wilson House in Vermont. Charlie died of a massive heart attack in 2011.

Joe McQuany 1928 – 2007
Joe partnered with Joe Parmley to start the Joe & Charlie Big Book Studies. In the early ‘70s. With a $330 grant and a few donations, he founded a program called Serenity House. He developed Recovery Dynamics, a treatment model for addiction.  Soon other facilities wanted to replicate the programs success. Serenity House grew into Serenity Park Treatment Center, an extended care facility. Joe authored & published "Recovery Dynamics Counselor’s Manual", the book "The Steps We Took", and a guide to sponsorship titled "Carry This Message". Battling Parkinson’s disease but not satisfied he’d done enough, he founded a treatment facility for women, out of which the Kelly Foundation was born which developed and distributed materials about treatment of alcoholism & substance abuse. Joe died of Parkinson’s disease in 2007.