70% + GAMES

Jim and Connie Sullivan, Grand Beach, MI — 72.22%  July 16

Norm Szewczyk, Lansing IL & Charlotte Abernethy, Griffith — 74.54%  July 31

John Aumiller, Fort Wayne & Gary Chaney, Sherwood OH — 71.76%  August 1

Tom Kelly, Fort Wayne & Mary Lou Clegg, Fort Wayne — 70.83%  August 9

Chuck Briggs, Hobart & Wayne Carpenter, Chesterton — 71.76%  August 13

Don and Rose Ferguson, Fort Wayne — 75.00%  August 14

Edgar Lucas, Gary & Charlene Millard, Gary (99er game) — 75.33%  August 18

John Aumiller, Fort Wayne & John Kohne, Hoagland — 72.50%  August 21

Glen McGeady, Long Beach & Dan Cunningham, LaPorte — 70.14%  August 23

Dick Hastings, Bristol & Frank Yoder, Goshen — 70.14%  August 29

Dennis David, South Bend & Martie Black, Granger (599er game) — 74.02%  September 6

Donna Beach, Valparaiso & Betty Eason, Valparaiso (99er game) — 70.63%  September 8

Mary Jaicomo, South Bend & Lyla Lockhart, Notre Dame (99er game) 76.22%  September 11

Tom O’Connell, Long Beach & Glen McGeady, Long Beach — 71.08%  September 24

Delphine Slater, Gary & Elnora Washington, Gary (99er game) — 75.79%  September 29

RISING IN THE RANKINGS

Junior Master: Daryl Fraley, Crown Point; Brenda Hay, Fort Wayne; Bob Miller, South Bend; Marilyn Utterback, Fort Wayne

Club Master: Reggie Lowenhar, Granger; Meera Gangadhar, Fort Wayne; Laurell Law, LaPorte

Sectional Master: JoEllen DePaepe, South Bend; Dorie Horgash, Highland; Lois Edelstein, Schererville; Dee Marshall, Portage

Regional Master: Martie Black, Granger; Shirley Koch, Schererville

NABC Master: Charlotte Abernethy, Griffith; Phillip Kolski, Elkhart

Unit 154 has a total membership of 612. The two largest groups of members are Sectional Master (50-100 mp) - 92 and Silver Life Master (1000-2500 mp) - 85.

IN MEMORIAM

Bob Selund of Ogden Dunes touched our lives in an uplifting way. He was a friendly, happy person whose participation in our games added a more pleasant dimension.

Bob began playing bridge while he was at the University of Wisconsin working on his masters degree. He became involved in duplicate bridge about ten years after graduation.

Bob became a bridge partner with one of his fellow attorneys. They also enjoyed backgammon. He and Ken would play every Friday from noon until 5:00 (when in wasn’t raining, since golf came first for Ken). Bob even entered backgammon tournaments.

Bob played in several party bridge groups in his home town and also with college buddies, but he enjoyed duplicate bridge most of all. He had 155 masterpoints to his credit.

Beyond bridge one of Bob’s former economics students commented, “I had Mr. Selund as a teacher at Highland High School and also as a coach for the Powder Puff football games. He was a very smart man who was fair and caring.”

Another fellow backgammon player comments, “Bob introduced me to the game. When Bob was still in law school and clerking in downtown Highland, he would come over to my place, and we would spend lunch eating a sandwich and playing backgammon.”

Bob was a volunteer at the Sojourner Truth House in Gary. He loved the beach and National Lakeshore. He was a member of Save the Dunes Council and the Historical Society of Ogden Dunes. 

Mary Haugseth 1922-2012

It is with great sadness that we report that Mary Haugseth passed away on July 24th.

She was an enthusiastic player of the “lighter side” of the club, and her infectious smile will be missed. The South Bend Club was pleased to have been able to honor her on her 90th birthday in February.
 

Barbara de Funiak died on August 13. This is what her husband, Bill, wrote:

Our children and I were at her bedside at the end. She was re-intubated that morning, and we thought she would have another rally. The infection that she acquired from her May surgery was apparently so pervasive that she could not recover. I am so blessed that I had her in my life for over 51 years, and our kids and grandkids also feel incredibly grateful. Please give your loved ones a hug from Barbara.

Marci Meyer comments — Our bridge friend, Barb, was loving, compassionate, fun, witty, and her best feature was that, in spite of the adversities in her life, she always had a smile on her face and a kind word for everyone. We will miss her.
 

Eldon “Al” Rossow (1927 - 2012), our very dear friend from South Bend, passed away on August 22nd at home with his family. So many of us remember his quick wit, his great jokes, his warm smile and his devastating penalty doubles.

Everyone has a story to tell about Al. He enjoyed not only bridge, but loved the game of golf. When his health took away his ability to play golf, he spent more time playing bridge. Eventually, that was a chore for him, too.

We send our deepest sympathy to his wife, Marilyn, and his five children, one of whom is Tom Rossow, a Life Master at the South Bend Bridge Club. Al played with many partners, but his favorite was Dave Irwin. Theirs was a special partnership. Al was a Bronze Life Master who was tough at the table but always kind to everyone. We shall miss him.
 

Bob Kellstrom of Chesterton was a treasure to be cherished and a player to be emulated. We will miss his greatness as a bridge player — everyone is one in agreement that Bob was the consummate partner.

Mary Kay, his wife of 15 years and his friend of 50 years, extolled Bob’s many outstanding attributes. She said he was the kindest man she ever knew. He was an extremely brilliant man, a great teacher, talented, a die-hard Cubs fan, a dancer, a golfer, a football player at the University of Michigan and a possessor of much math acumen. He was passionate about people and about his games. With his positivity he always found the good in people and in situations. Two of the ways of Bob’s loving that

Mary Kay mentioned were to make plenty of deviled eggs and to plant tomatoes.

Bob went to California to study language and did musical comedy while there. He could do the beer barrel polka in three languages. In Germany he was stationed away from the barracks, and it was there that he honed his culinary skills. Bob and Mary Kay met at I.U. They were married in 1964. Bob taught at Portage High School.

A show tune sung to close the service was chosen to honor Bob’s musical comedy background:

Try to remember the kind of September

When you were a tender and callow fellow. . . . .

Deep in December, it's nice to remember,

The fire of September that made us mellow. . . . .

Bob was an ideal bridge partner — he never complained or berated his partner, and he complimented their good plays. He always was profusive in his thanks for the dummy that you laid down. It’s sad to know that we will never again hear his hearty laugh that filled the room.

SILVER LIFE MASTER

Ruth Minish was born in a small town north of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. After graduation from business college, she moved to Toronto and took a job with a subsidiary of Whirlpool Corporation where she met her husband, Bill, who was vice-president of engineering. The couple was married in March 1973, and six months later Bill was transferred to Sao Paulo, Brazil.

It was in Brazil that Ruth learned to play bridge — 4-card majors. Ruth became fluent in Portuguese. It was also in Brazil that finding a small kitten on the streets of Sao Paulo began a lifelong association with these little furry friends. Ruth and Bill returned to the states in 1980.

In Fort Smith, Arkansas, Ruth started to play duplicate bridge at the local bridge club, where she learned to play 5-card majors. In 1990 Bill was transferred once again, and they settled in Granger, Indiana. Ruth took a part-time job working for a small security company and did not play bridge for almost 13 years.

Then in 2003 Ruth saw an ad in the South Bend Tribune about bridge lessons. She decided that she was a little rusty (perhaps a lot) and signed up for classes. Her favorite partner was Sylvia Slomski until Sylvia’s death in 2006.

Ruth became a Life Master in 2006, thanks to her wonderful partners, Joan Tobler, John and Tricia Killeen, and Don Groch, who were kind enough to play with her in Gatlinburg, where she got all her gold points. Since then Joan has helped Ruth gain Bronze and Silver status, and they are still regular partners. Honorable mention must also be given to Hugh Metzger, who helped her earn her final 1.87 points to become a Silver Life Master.

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) Bill Searcy and Paul Silberman

Area 6 — (Northwest IN) Steve Watson

$650 CHARITABLE DONATION

St. Agnes Adult Day Service Center in Valparaiso, IN was the local charity to which the Community Bridge Club of Gary allocated its member donations for the past year. It is the primary goal at St. Agnes to keep their participants (mostly with Alzheimer’s disease) functioning at their highest potential for as long as possible and to give their caretakers the best information and respite that can be given. The participants are provided each day with structured activities, nurturing relationships, and professional care for the body, mind and spirit.

Presenting a check for $650 on behalf of the Community Bridge Club is Joseph Chin, club member, and Barbara Walczak, club director. Accepting the check is Barbara Kubiszak, director of the center. The donation will be used to buy teddy bears to make for the police to keep in their cars to be given away when they come across a traumatized child in their daily jobs. When they receive the bears, which are almost complete except for stuffing them, the participants at the center have the satisfaction of finishing a lovely gift for children and also feel that their lives have a purpose.
 

NORTHWEST INDIANA SECTIONAL

October 12 - 14, 2012

St. Mary’s Orthodox Center, 8600 Grand Blvd., Merrillville IN  

Silver points — Refreshments — $5 entry fee for 299er events

For more information, contact Chuck Briggs:  (219) 947-1140