Once a skid-row alcoholic, Gene Duffy found hope through AA and opened Duffy's in 1967. A powerful speaker whose passion was to see addicts saved from themselves, his spirit lives on at Duffy's Napa Valley Rehab. To learn more about Gene and watch his inspiring recovery talks, visit geneduffy.com/. TRANSCRIPT: Patrick: What I know about Gene Duffy is he was absolutely passionate about helping alcoholics and addicts who were suffering. Mike: My dad was a skid row alcoholic in Chicago who got sobered up through Alcoholics Anonymous. Through some divine guidance, we believe, he was led in his heart to start a program that he could give back and help those who were in need of the same treatment he received. So in 1967 my dad found this place in Calistoga, CA, and started Duffy's Myrtledale Lori: Gene Duffy was powerful, very, very powerful, and when he spoke, you listened. It didn't matter what, you listened. Gene: "Many who are real alcoholics, and that includes you sitting out there right now, by every form of self-deception and experimentation will try to prove yourself the exception. Those are the ones who are going to die who sit right here in this room tonight. Because of their self-centeredness, their ego, their stubbornness, their refusal to accept the evident truth that's sitting right in front of them, are going to try to drink or use again." Patrick: Now his style of helping them was different probably than what is seen at Duffy's here today. You might say that the style now is a little bit kinder and gentler. Shelly: Gene Duffy, my grandfather, he was a very rough man. He got his message across; there was nothing left unturned. You knew that when he raised his voice, he meant what he said, and he said what he meant, and you listened to it. Gene: "Let there be no doubt in the minds of anybody in this room right now: there is no mortal human being who has the power to predict the outcome of any future event. No one knows what's going to happen to him the next time he drinks, especially you!" Shelly: I have fond memories of him speaking, of filling Duffy's, the parking lot full on the weekends when he was the speaker here. As many people as he could he tried to reach with his message. He was a phenomenal speaker. Patrick: One of the things that you see in some of the videos is that real life and death issue that addiction is. It comes across; he doesn't mince his words when he lets people know that the disease of alcoholism, of addiction absolutely kills people. Gene: "Contrary to what you believe, we know how serious this problem is. Recovery has a life and death proposition; each of us in this room certainly has an opportunity to get drunk, but there sits no one in this room who knows whether or not he or she have run out of opportunities to recover." Patrick: He was absolutely committed to helping people live a good life, to get sober, to get clean. Mike: After my dad's passing in 1993, my younger brother Gene took the reins of leadership here at Duffy's. A couple years ago, I became the president at Duffy's, and we're now training a third generation, still holding true to the foundational principles that my dad established here. Shelly: My grandfather was very much a businessman, but he had great integrity, and I try to let that lead me each day in what I do. He was a caring, giving man in the community, just his compassion, and I hope I have a bit of that in me. And often when we're wandering the buildings and a door opens, we jokingly say, "Come on in, Gene Duffy," or, "Oh there's my grandpa, come on in, you're late for the meeting." Lori: He was a powerful guy. And he loved this place.

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