35 Years of Together AZ A Love Story, A Lifeline, A Legacy

For Publisher Barbara Nicholson-Brown, the milestone almost snuck up on her. “I’m just really amazed, because I don’t think about it,” Barbara shares. “I feel passionate about it every month — the stories and articles from the experts. I strive to print good material that’s going to be helpful to people, and the years have gone by. Then it hit me — this is 35!”

The publication began as Recovery Together, founded by her late husband, Bill Brown, after he rebuilt his own life in recovery. It later became AZ Together, and eventually Together AZ, expanding beyond substance use to address mental health and behavioral struggles, along with family recovery and self-care.

“Inspiring success on the road to recovery,” Barbara says was the vision that came to her one day while they were enjoying coffee together. “That’s the mission,” she explains. “Let’s plant a seed. Maybe somebody picks it up and sees a headline or a story that resonates with them or someone they know, and they can pass it forward. The paper took on a life of its own. It’s a resource and a message of hope to stay on the path to recovery.”

And what’s more, in an era where many publishers have gone digital, she still believes in paper. “There’s something important to me about touching paper, turning pages, reading, then putting it down and picking it up later. I love to read real books. It’s almost a lost art.”

After rehab treatment in Virginia, with $200 dollars to his name, two suitcases and a plane ticket, Bill moved into a men’s halfway house in Arizona, determined to start over. “He had to get a job. He didn’t have a car, and he didn’t have any money,” Barbara remembers. “He did have an ego though, which was about to be smashed,” she jokes.

But he picked himself up and was convinced he could help people. He started the publication in 1991 intent on serving his community. Barbara calls recovery meetings her lifeline, still after 35 years of sobriety, and that’s how she met Bill — at a meeting. In his circles, he was simply known as “Publisher Bill,” and when she met him, she was smitten from day one.

“I was in love with him as soon as I saw him. I wanted to marry him. Referring to the publication, with a big smile, I said to him I could do a better job designing it,”  and given her extensive magazine background, she wasn’t kidding.

Their first date was June 18, 1994. They were married eight months later in Maui. “He had a twinkle in his eye that made people feel welcomed and heard. And there was an aura about him. He was a dapper gentleman who dressed incredibly. He had integrity and he was chivalrous.”

He was also known for being prepared for anything. Besides his golf clubs, he had stacks of the AA Big Book in his trunk, just in case someone needed one. “You never know who you’re going to meet, and they might need a book… if some guy said, ‘Oh, I can’t afford it,’ Bill had one. That’s definitely what this publication was about for him, he loved being of service.”

Bill was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2007, but as his health declined, his reverence for service did not. “I think it’s really important to say, up until the day he died, he was in gratitude for everything he had in life and in his recovery. He was still sponsoring guys; they’d even hold meetings in his hospital room.”

Bill battled for three years and passed away peacefully on the evening of April 22, 2010. In true Bill fashion, on the night he died, he asked Barbara to book them a tee time at Pebble Beach for the following month. “I believe he knew he was ‘going.’ He said that for me.”

Upon leaving his room that night, she felt something pull her back in. “I turned around, went back into his room and gave him a kiss, and said, ‘I love you.’ And he was smiling with that twinkle in his eyes.”

Grief came in waves, but Barbara refused to take a break or put the publication on hiatus. She published the May edition just weeks later. “I never missed an issue. I had to do that for him. The paper was my closest connection to Bill. I don’t know how I did it, but I did it.”

Now, as Together AZ turns 35, its pages hold more than articles. They hold a marriage forged in recovery, a man who loved being of service, and a woman who refused to let the mission fade.

Month after month, she continues to plant seeds, trusting that somewhere, someone will pick up the paper and feel a little less alone and a little more connected, comforted and supported.

 

Memories of Bill Brown

“What a privilege to share my initial meeting with Bill in July of 1989. I met him in a program and found him to be hungry for sobriety. He never hesitated sharing his own experience with others. And Bill had an idea — which we all know has come to fruition — to develop and distribute a newspaper dedicated to recovery. He met with innovative individuals willing to contribute to the paper by sharing their personal recovery experiences which offered strength and hope to others. Bill’s intention was to reach as many people and places as he could to distribute the paper, and he drove to every meeting, any and everywhere he could attend. His sense of humor will always be the first thing I remember about him, and the smile in his eyes when he spoke about his personal journey.  Bill honored everyone he enlisted in his dream and was grateful for all of us who were part of his story. He will forever be missed by me and many others. In loving memory.”— Bobbe McGinley

 

“I moved to Arizona as an Outpatient Director in April 1991 around the same time that Bill published the very first edition of Recovery Together. I have fond memories of both Bill and Barb and what a wonderful publication it has been for thousands and thousands of people! ”  —Jim Corrington

 

“Before the first printing of  Recovery Together, I had met Bill Brown. He had a fierce determination to publish a recovery oriented monthly newspaper in the Phoenix area. Gifts Anon was one of his first advertisers and we have continued to support the newspaper ever since. Despite several down cycles in the economy over the years, Bill kept the newspaper going by keeping in touch with the recovery community and local recovery news and events. The recovery community lost a significant advocate when Bill died. Barbara has continued to maintain his high standards with her dedication to this publication.

— Marilyn Rollins, Gifts Anon Bookstore