John “Cubby the Clown” D.
Sobriety date: October 1, 1976.
Home group: Dimondale
How did you get that nickname?
Cubby: Because I am a professional clown. I was involved in the Hanneford Circus. I used to work at the circus and also do birthday parties, com- pany picnics, family reunions, graduations, weddings, you name it. I did a routine where I had a partner, this lady. I had kind of a rabbit outfit on and I was chasing a female rabbit around the circle of the circus while the other clowns were in the middle performing.
Did you catch her?
Cubby: No. She got away every time.
Was that your profession or did you have another career?
Cubby: I’ve had a lot of careers. The most recent job I was in was, I used to distribute a product that’s almost unheard of today, called street maps. Way back when I had accounts like Meijer and Kmart, I had a map rack at every checkout. I remember my best account was the Meijer on South Cedar. I used to put $1,000 a week in that store in the summertime. I didn’t sell quite as many maps in the wintertime, but I sold them up. One year I sold $383,000 worth of street maps. I have a plaque now that the company gave me. It shows I distributed $1 million worth of maps and there’s the plaque, a million dollar sales with Universal Map.
How old were you when you got sober?
Cubby: 46. At the end of this month, I’ll be 95, on April 30th.
With 48 years of sobriety, why do you keep coming to AA?
Cubby: Because I’m afraid if I don’t continue going, I’ll go out. Early in my sobriety, I went to different conventions or get- togethers, and they would have a sobriety countdown. When they called off my year, a whole bunch of people stood up. Just before COVID broke out, they had one here in Lansing, there was 725 people in attendance. There was only 20 people in the whole room that had more sobriety than me. When they called off my year, nobody else stood up. That tells me sobriety is very fragile. I had a fella that I sponsored for 22 years, and he decided he’d pick up one drink. He says, one drink won’t hurt. He was on a flight someplace. He says, one drink won’t hurt. He was out there about seven years. So, I’m either going to AA, or helping somebody, or going to karaoke. I’ll bet you’re good at karaoke.
What’s your favorite song?
Cubby: Well, the one that used to be my favorite was Frank Sinatra’s version of My Way. But I went to karaoke one night at what used to be Charlie’s and is now Nico’s in Dimondale and this lady came up to me and says, I want you to do I Want Your Sex. So I worded it, I don’t sing it. I word it and I throw in little growls here and there. It is now by far my most requested tune. I walked into the Springport Hotel Tavern, which is a bar, one Saturday night and the owner’s wife stopped me and she says, I want you to do I Want Your Sex. A little later on, another lady come up to me, she says, I want you to do I Want Your Sex again. Okay. I get it. I did it. The last time I was at Joe’s Music City in Potterville for karaoke, I did that tune and I had a huge reaction from the audience. And when I got up to leave, three girls come up and gave me a hugs.
So you’re a ladies man?
Cubby: Oh, I like women. I’ve got a lady that I pal around with. Okay. She’s 35 years younger than me. I was at karaoke one night and she comes up and she was looking for somebody she knew to sit with. She spotted me. She came over to me and wanted to know if it’s okay to sit with me. I said, sure you can sit by me. And then we started talking and I said, maybe you’d go out with me, you know. She said yes. And then when I found out how young she was, I was a little suspicious. What’s going on? Why is this young lady wanting to go out with a guy that’s older than her? I’ve got kids that are older than her. But the thing is, she’s never asked me for a dime. She’s never asked me to buy her anything. I’m actually dating her, just dating. That’s a friendship thing. She doesn’t want a deep relationship and I’m happy. We have a song we sing together, Can’t Help Falling In Love.
What brought you to AA in the first place?
Cubby: Well, I was dating this gal, who ended up being my third ex-wife-to-be. I was dating her and she was getting a little frustrated with me with my drinking. She didn’t like it. And then I got a drunk driving charge. That result was not guilty, but from that point on, every time I saw a police officer, I was paranoid. I was afraid I was gonna get stopped again. Finally, she convinced me, why don’t you go to AA? I walked through the doors of AA. You know, I don’t know anybody that had such a good day they decided they would go join Alcoholics Anonymous. Most of us were forced or somehow shoved into going to the program. I lost my last job as a bartender. You know, every area of my life was messed up. People say, how can you have serenity? I say, because I’m achieving my primary goal. I’m staying sober. I latched on to the Serenity Prayer. I’ve probably used that millions of times. Very little bothers me today. This didn’t happen overnight. It was a very slow process to get to the depths of serenity I have today. Not too long ago, I was in the hospital. Okay, I’m in the hospital. What am I doing? I’m pulling out my red nose. That’s my trademark. Wherever I go, people see the red nose. Even when I was in the hospital, I was pulling out my red nose on people. So, I’m in awe of my life. You know, I just really enjoy life.