Welcome to these new members:

From Belvidere, RJ Fashingbauer

From Cary, Angela Franz

From Crystal Lake, Susan Seaver

From East Dundee, Marian Taylor

From Huntley, Charlotte Irvine

From Rockford, Roberta Brown

From Winnebago, Terry Gehrke

The unit has unlimited opportunities for honing your skills, so join us regularly at club games and sectional tournaments.

New Life Masters

The good news I have been waiting for finally arrived through the ACBL reports I receive. Unit 239 has added four Life Masters to its roster and I am pleased to introduce them to the readership.

One of the newest Life Masters, Mary Johnson, also reached bronze Life Master at the same time. Mary began playing sanctioned bridge in 2002, but first started playing bridge while attending Bucknell University (she did not offer what year that might be). She recalls sitting on the floor in the dorm hall playing this great game. Mary has lived in several states and in Puerto Rico, but family drew her back to Illinois. She is the proud grandmother to two, one a medical student at Northwestern University and the other a physical therapist in downtown Chicago. Mary loves to travel, especially when it involves a cruise and bridge!

Judy Freeman is long-time resident of Arlington Heights and she, too, began her bridge career in college. Sporadically she has played sanctioned games and became LM after more than four decades improving her game and earning points. A bidding class that she once took was the best tool in helping Judy reach Life Master. For over a year Judy needed a fraction of a gold point and she earned that at the Crystal Lake Regional with her long-time partner Jim Williard (who also became Life Master at the same time). She and Jim became bridge partners after she retired from teaching. Judy has three children and four grandchildren. Besides playing bridge, Judy has maintained a booth in an antique mall for over 15 years.

The third Life Master at the Crystal Lake Regional is the previously mentioned Jim Williard. He has lived in the Chicago area since 1961, and that is when he started playing party bridge. Work kept him too busy for much bridge playing but he rediscovered the game in 2003. He and Judy Freeman have been bridge partners twice a week for the past eight years. Together they earned six gold points in one gold rush session at the aforementioned tournament. In addition to this long-standing bridge partnership, Jim also acknowledges Len Burt, Tom Sucher and Joe Connelly as his bridge mentors. Jim is married and has two children and two grandchildren. He is partially retired so work is now his “hobby.” Jim advises all bridge players to make friends, as they can become your closest friends. Jim closes with this thought: “Remember, bridge is a game, enjoy it and don’t get upset.”

Peggy Anderson started playing bridge in 1972 and took several sabbaticals from the game because of work commitments, which means that Peggy had to earn the Life Master rank twice. She achieved the second ranking while playing at the St. Charles Duplicate Bridge Club in August. She was partnered with her husband, Karl, who is also a director, and earned her 500th point. She recalls that when she first started playing bridge she found the opponents quite nasty, always arguing and even accusing her of cheating. When this accusation was made, Peggy had only been playing the game for a couple of months and calmly explained that she did not know enough about the game to be able to cheat. Her bridge mentor is her husband, Karl, who taught her how to play the game. She realizes that he has probably experienced many frustrating games. She and Karl lived in California for over 30 years and now live in Elgin with her mother, who is also a bridge player. Peggy thinks of bridge as a sport, and reminds all players that nobody can win all the time. It is important to just enjoy playing the game.

The December column will feature at least one more Life Master.

Rank advancements

Unit 239 members advancing their way to Life Master are:

New Junior Master:  Karen Miller of Crystal Lake; John Knoll and Suzanne Pritzker, both of Huntley; Gary Anderson of Rockford; Kathleen English, Donald Hansen and Margaret Hansen, all of Sugar Grove; and Cindy Hovi of Woodstock.

New Club Master:  Cindy Thompson.

New Sectional Master:  Elizabeth Hintz of Prairie Grove; Janet Kagan of Rockford; and Ray Parnell of Wonder Lake.

New Regional Master:  Rudolph Schoppe of DeKalb; Tom Dearing of Geneva; and Joyce Fik of Huntley.

New NABC Master:  Dianne Pauser and Donald Pauser of Dixon; Virginia Fulton of Oswego; Lynne Madden of Sugar Grove; Tom Prucher of Saint Charles; and Lynne Madden of Sugar Grove.

New Silver Life Master:  Karen Pickelsimer of Oakwood Hills; Daniel Chamberlain and Kathryn Chamberlain of Rockford.

  Turkey Bowl Silver Sectional

November 29-December 1, 2014

                  Prisco Community Center

Route 31 & Illinois Avenue (150 Illinois Avenue), Aurora

Tournament Chair: John Pree  (630-631-9141)

Partnership Chair: Bob Quintin  (rq4mulae2@yahoo.com)