Beatrice Jorgensen,Benefactor, Dies at 78 : Opened L.A.’s Friendly House in 1951 to Help Women Alcoholics

Beatrice Jorgensen, organizer of Los Angeles’ first refuge for recovering women alcoholics, died Wednesday of a heart attack. She was 78.

Mrs. Jorgensen was co-founder in 1951 with two other Alcoholics Anonymous members of Friendly House and was, until her death, executive secretary of the refuge. For years, friends said Thursday, she lived at the house on Normandie Avenue and worked there as house mother, seeing to her flock of recovering alcoholics.

She was also instrumental in the creation of the Beatitude Center, a detoxification center for women.

At least 10,000 women passed through the Friendly House in Mrs. Jorgensen’s time and, in the words of Jack Prohs, a longtime friend and associate, “about 60% of them maintained consistent sobriety. They all looked to her as the one who gave them the strength to go on.”

Made-for-TV Movie

Mrs. Jorgensen’s life was the basis for a 1982 made-for-TV movie, “Life of the Party: The Story of Beatrice,” starring Carol Burnett. She was portrayed as a hard-drinking Texan who lived in Hollywood, bottoming out as a alcoholic who faces the decision to quit or continue her downward spiral.

With the help of her sister and a sympathetic member of AA, Beatrice Jorgensen--in the movie and in real life--did, indeed quit and embarked on a campaign to help other recovering women alcoholics.

Prohs said Mrs. Jorgensen worked at first as a counselor to women alcoholics in the County Jail, then, with the help of officials in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, started Friendly House.

In a 1969 interview, Mrs. Jorgensen said she relied on faith and donations to keep the small refuge going. “Everything comes when we really seem to need it,” she said.

“The women who are well enough find jobs and pay me part of their wages for staying here. For so long they have been dependent on others that contributing to their own upkeep does their self-respect a lot of good.”

Similar Centers

She remained active on the boards of the Friendly Hand Foundation and the Beatitude Center almost until her death, according to Prohs, traveling extensively, raising funds and helping set up similar centers in San Diego, San Francisco and Denver, among other cities. Although she had received numerous awards from civic groups for her work, one of the things she was most proud of, Prohs said, was that “she had been sober for more than 36 years.”

Memorial services will be held at the Founder’s Church of Religious Science, 3251 W. 6th St., at 3 p.m. on Feb. 24. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Friendly House or to the Beatitude Center, care of Alcoholics Anonymous.