Wolfe Street Center founder inspires book

BY FRANK LOCKWOOD

Posted on Saturday, November 15, 2008

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Eugene “Geno W.” Walter didn’t need a wakeup call or an alarm clock on Sunday mornings.

With hundreds of recovering alcoholics relying on him for encouragement, friends say the Little Rock man would rise before 4 a. m. and pray for guidance. Then he’d get out a yellow legal notepad and write out an inspirational message.

Walter’s handwritten thoughts were a cornerstone of the Hour of Power, a gathering each Sunday between 10 and 11 a. m. for people following the 12-step program.

When he died, at age 73, in October 2000, Walter left behind a box of the notepads containing 17 years’ worth of Hour of Power insight.

Now, those messages will be a source of inspiration for people across the nation. Sought Through Prayer and Meditation: Wisdom From the Sunday 11 th Step Meetings at the Wolfe Street Center in Little Rock, a collection of 52 meditations, has been published by Hazelden.

The messages, which are the cornerstone of the book, were an answer to prayer, according to Wolfe Street Foundation executive director Markey Ford. “I feel they were divinely inspired,” she said. “They’re great. They’re tools with which to live our lives.” The 11 th step in the 12-step program states: “Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood God, praying only for knowledge of God’s will for us and the power to carry that out.” When Walter started the weekly gathering in 1983, he predicted it would last a few months and then fizzle out. But instead, it caught fire and kept burning. More than a quarter-century later, it’s “still touching lives today,” said Ford. On a typical Sunday, about 200 people attend. Walter’s widow says the services fed her late husband’s soul. “

We’re both devout Catholics and went to Mass but the Hour of Power really became his spiritual life,” Beth Walter said. “I promise you, every time I went into that meeting, you could feel the Holy Spirit there. You could just feel it.”

A recovering alcoholic himself, Walter helped found the Wolfe Street House in 1982, a meeting place for people overcoming addiction. Besides the Hour of Power, Walter also started a Sunday morning breakfast that is still going strong.

Every time the breakfast crew makes cinnamon rolls, using Walter’s recipe, they’re reminded of their former leader.

The book, which was released in October, will also keep Walter’s memory alive. Written with the help of William G. Borchert, the book contains one chapter for every week of the year.

Readers are encouraged to meditate on topics such as “Progress, Not Perfection” and “Unconditional Love.”

Borchert, the Emmy-nominated screenplay writer of My Name Is Bill W, a movie about the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, says he read 51 spiritual books, plus Walter’s notes, as he worked on Sought Through Prayer and Meditation.

Coming up with 52 topics was a challenge, but “it turned out to be one of the most satisfying and spiritually rewarding experiences I’ve ever had,” Borchert said. “All I did was expand what he did.... I felt we were both on the same wavelength.”

Borchert will sign copies of Sought Through Prayer and Meditation ($ 16. 25 at the signing, $ 13. 95 list price ) from 11 a. m. until noon and 1-2 p. m. Wednesday at the Wolfe Street Center, 1210 Wolfe St. More information on the book signing is available by calling (501 ) 372-5662.

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