70% + GAMES

Steve Watson, Munster & Lou Nimnicht, Crown Point — 73.24%   June 18

Thomas Carpenter, Fort Wayne and Kimberly Grant, Fort Wayne — 70.31%   June 21

Betty Eason, Valparaiso & Donna Beach, Valparaiso (49er game) — 71.25%   June 23

Jim O’Connell, Valparaiso & John Chmielowiec, Michigan City — 74.07%   July 17

Alan Geller, Munster & Bill Kilbride, Flossmoor IL — 70.03%   July 23

John Aumiller, Fort Wayne & David Aumiller, Raleigh NC — 73.94%   July 24

RISING IN THE RANKINGS

Junior Masters: Linnea Hokanson, Porter; June Reisinger, Hobart; Joan Fahey, South Bend

Club Masters: Martha Harris, Highland; Mary Haugseth, Mishawaka; Joann Lee, Fort Wayne; Lee Baatz, Columbia City; Nancy Conison, Valparaiso; Mary Ennes, Valparaiso; Becky Fastero, South Bend; Sally Frame, South Bend; Alice Giedemann, Valparaiso; Don Giedemann, Valparaiso; Kathleen Steininger, Fort Wayne

Sectional Masters: Thomas Crisovan, South Bend; Jim Fill, Dyer; Gale Osgerby, Dyer

Regional Masters: Sarah Colvin, Fort Wayne; Nancy Garrett, Peru; Roger Garrett, Peru; Michael Heimann, North Webster

NABC Master: Anna Urick, Hammond

Silver Life Masters: Chuck Briggs, Hobart; Ruth Minish, Granger; Constance Stevens, Highland

Gold Life Master: Bud Hinckley, South Bend

Diamond Life Master: Lee Esworthy, Shorewood, IL

IN MEMORIAM

Sandra Trass began playing bridge in the mid ‘80s. Her duplicate career began with the Gary Kibitzers. This group offered lessons, and she took them. When her partner moved to Texas, she quit playing. Then when Sandra retired in 2009, a friend encouraged her to come to the YMCA, where she was reintroduced to bridge. Whenever you talked with Sandra, you knew how much she loved and adored duplicate bridge.

Sandra had an undergraduate degree in English, but couldn’t find a job in her field. She worked as a case worker for the Department of Child Services. She acquired a Masters degree in 1997. She worked in social services for 37 years at a job which she truly loved.

Sandra was one of eight siblings and had a large extended family of nieces and nephews. She encouraged the value of education among those children.

Sandra’s passions beyond bridge were gardening, traveling and needlework. She totally enjoyed the world of retirement.

For her many thoughtful acts and her pleasant disposition, we will remember a person who brought joy and laughter into our lives.
 

GOLD LIFE MASTER

Bud Hinckley lived in Maine his entire life before moving to South Bend twelve years ago. He studied engineering, mathematics and physics at the University of Maine, earning bachelor and master degrees in Engineering Physics and worked on a Ph.D. in applied mathematics at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania with the intent of being a college professor. Unfortunately, after three semesters, he decided not to pursue finishing his doctoral work, partly due to becoming very interested in bridge (and not being interested in the research needed for the Ph.D.). He is now a control room operations supervisor at the Cook Nuclear Power Plant in Michigan.

Bud’s parents and grandparents played bridge during his youth, but it wasn’t until graduate school that his roommate convinced him to join a class on bridge being held on campus. He remembers vividly his first ACBL duplicate game at the YMCA in Bangor, Maine over 25 years ago. It was on March 21, 1987 — the day the laws changed preventing defenders from asking partners if they were out of a suit to prevent a revoke. He was 24 years old and there were dozens of players vehemently complaining about this new law change. It was the talk of the day! (For ACBL games this is no longer true — the ACBL now allows defenders to question each other on being out of a suit.)

Bud recently celebrated his first anniversary with Karen, his second wife, who wonders why three entire bookshelves need to be reserved for about 400 books on the game of bridge. There is one other bookshelf for all of his other books!

One of Bud’s regrets is not having enough opportunity to mentor some of the inter-mediate players. He would like to give back what he has learned over the last few years from his frequent partners, Richard Mao and Howard Piltch, about this challenging game.
 

SILVER LIFE MASTERS

Chuck Briggs recently became a Silver Life Master. He never dreamed that he would ever accumulate over 1000 masterpoints, since he didn’t join ACBL until 2003. He worked in Chicago, and it was too late to play duplicate bridge after he arrived home. He played during his lunch hour for about 25 years until he retired in 1997. The only exposure that he had to duplicate was that he played in the Chicago Industrial League for a few years. The fractional points that he earned weren’t worth joining ACBL. His other activities (fishing, gardening and karaoke) keep him from earning many club points. Many of his points have come from tournaments. Dave Watkins was instrumental in jump-starting Chuck’s duplicate career, which was continued with encouragement from Dave Bigler. Chuck says, “I hope to keep active until I die.”

Dave Bigler is Chuck’s most often partner. Dave has high praise for Chuck. “Chuck is extremely courteous. He can be trusted at the bridge table — always. Chuck is very easy to travel with — no added stress. Chuck never says much, but you can sense the commitment. He is sincere — if you ask him a question, listen carefully. He won’t repeat it unless you ask. When I just don’t get it, he lets me learn the hard way. Chuck is unflappable. Whether our score is -1700 or +1430, it’s just on to the next board. At the start of our first team game, Chuck announced that he was captain of the ship. Was there ever any doubt?”

Congratulations to an excellent player and a top-quality partner and opponent!
 

Pete Smith moved from South Bend to Fort Wayne with Prudential Insurance Co. in 1970. Pete’s wife, Joan, became involved with the Fort Wayne Duplicate Club. She encouraged Pete to play bridge occasionally. Pete went on disability in 1986 and it was then that he played more often.

Pete was diagnosed with leukemia in 1986, and since then he has had six other cancers, surviving them all. His friends call him the "miracle man".

Most of Pete`s points were earned with Joan as his partner, but the last 100 points were all the result of playing with Dave Hoevel, a fine and patient partner.

Pete’s outside interests include golf, as well as playing poker with his Korean war buddies at the VFW club. He previously played a lot of tennis until his health problems surfaced.

Pete is involved with his grandkids, being their chief chauffeur after school for the last 16 years.

Pete plays bridge in the local duplicate club’s afternoon games whenever possible. He is thankful for all his partners and hopes to continue playing for a long time. Pete is very friendly, he has an even temperament at the table, and he is always a gentleman.
 

Connie Stevens has reached the 1000-masterpoint milestone in her bridge career. She writes —      

Betty Treder got me interested in the game of bridge. She was a good friend, good mentor, and my favorite partner. We played and talked many hours of bridge.

I’ve had some other good teachers along the way, including Carol Osgerby and Joe Chin.

While I don’t take the game as seriously as many people, it has, along with tennis, and lately, golf, been a source of many hours of pleasure.

Ten years ago I was paired for a game with Jerry Palm, and here we are — together — enjoying the game and enjoying going to tournaments, as well as other games around our area.

So — here I am, jack of all games, master of none, and find myself having become a Silver Life Master. Who would have thought that would happen? I’ve met great players, great people — and maybe have kept deterioration of the mind at bay.

Mary Schumm has played with Connie for a very long time and finds her a delight to partner with. Mary says, “Connie never berates her partner, and when you goof, she accepts it with grace. She is a first-class lady!”

NEW OFFICERS FOR UNIT 154                         

This is the slate that was voted in at the Unit 154 annual meeting on June 3, 2012 for a two-year term.

President — Joe Shull

Vice President — Dave Bigler

Secretary/Treasurer — Dick Ellis

Area Representatives: 

Area 2 — (Kokomo) Jim Davis

Area 4 — (South Bend) Dick Searcy and Paul Silberman

Area 6 — (Northwest IN) Steve Watson

UPCOMING REGIONAL

The Fort Wayne Regional is scheduled for October 1 through October 7 at the Grand Wayne Convention Center, 120 West Jefferson Blvd in Fort Wayne. Play commences on Monday at 7:30 pm.

For partnership help, please contact Joe Shull at 260-436-3234. For further information and to view a schedule of events, the tournament flyer may be viewed in this Advocate issue and on the ACBL website.