Billy Bean

William James Bean. My dear ol' Dad. To his grandson Miles, he was Poppa Poppa. To many of you, he was just Billy. As a native New Englander, he served his country, enjoyed all things automotive, loved loved loved music, and made so many of us laugh until it hurt, none more so than me. If you knew my father, you probably knew that Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) was central to his identity. You may or may not know that towards the end of his life, my father got involved in conducting meetings at correctional facilities in New Hampshire.

Many of our most substantive and transformative conversations in the last years of his life were about our current era of mass incarceration and what we could do to walk with the poor and condemned. For Billy, he saw the impact of AA in his life as something worth spreading to those people incarcerated.

When someone passes away, we often make food or send flowers. In place of these kind gestures, I am asking for donations to the group my father was working with, The Area 43 Corrections Committee in New Hampshire. This group coordinates the work of individual A.A. members and groups who are interested in carrying the message of recovery to incarcerated alcoholics.

These funds will go to education and resources for folks on the inside striving to become the best version of themselves. This meant a lot to my father and it means the world to me. There is no online donation portal for the Corrections Committee, so I plan to collect donations and cut them a check directly. I will announce the total closer to his memorial in June 2023.

Thank you for honoring my father in this way. I am incredibly grateful.