News from Northwestern Illinois Unit 239 Editor: Karen Flood, St. Charles IL tkflood@comcast.net
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Unit 239 extends a warm welcome to its seven, newest members:
Anthony Markovich of Batavia.
Carlos Castellon and Russell Howard of Huntley.
Ellen and Jim Scharder of Loves Park.
Diane Hinderliter of Rochelle.
Larry Lewis of Rockford.
Bridge player
extraordinaire, Sherry Wynn, reached sapphire life master (5000 points)
in January of this year. Humbly, she states that longevity has something to do
with reaching this milestone; she has been playing duplicate bridge since
1985. Prior to that time, she had learned how to play bridge with other Navy
wives who were “left behind” when their husbands were called to duty in Viet
Nam. With her move to Virginia Beach in 1978, she was greeted by three neighbors
who wanted to know if she played bridge. They were delighted to find a fourth,
and Sherry continued to play.
As her bridge skills increased, one of her new friends asked if she would try duplicate bridge. Sherry was reticent about going to the duplicate game at the Officers’ Club because of the “nasty” reputation of those players. As it turned out, the duplicate players were very nice and Sherry and her partner came in first East/West. From that point forward, Sherry was hooked on duplicate bridge.
In 1995 Sherry moved to Indianapolis and she played duplicate often before moving to Illinois in 1999. That was home until 2006 when she moved to Georgia. There she played duplicate almost every day and won a lot of points. Sherry returned to Illinois in 2011 and has been playing at local tournaments and clubs about three times a week. It’s noteworthy that Sherry worked from 1993-2006, so she amassed her points at evening and weekend games.
Sherry became a life master in 1989, advanced to the bronze level in 1991; silver came in 1995; gold was earned in 2008; and nine years later she is now a sapphire life master. Her club home is the Elgin game, but she also plays frequently in Saint Charles.
Sherry recalls that the first time she played duplicate bridge she led out of turn and the declarer yelled “DIRECTOR!” She was mortified that she had made this common mistake, and now realizes that a director call is not fatal (usually). Her advice to new players is to not only partner with more experienced players, but to also compete against more experienced players. That is the best way to learn. And yes, there are a few “jerks” playing this game, but they are few and far between as most bridge players are pretty nice. What are Sherry’s final words of advice? “Don’t be afraid of going down in a contract, you will survive.”
New Junior Masters: Brian Hamilton, Kristan Lauer, Cindy Lindgren and Donald Sullivan, all from Rockford.
New Club Masters: Jerome Lietza and Van Stone, Geneva; Richa Haas, McHenry; Beverly and Douglas Giloy, Rockford; Joseph Schatz, Saint Charles.
New Sectional Masters: Kenneth Dornfeld, Huntley; Patrick Radcliffe, Rockford.
New Regional Master: Victor Nora of Saint Charles.
New NABC Master: Tom Dearing, Geneva; Mary Jane Schindler, Rockford.
New Diamond Life Master:
Sherry Wynn of Carpentersville.
THE GREAT SIZZLIN’ SUMMER ILLINOIS
REGIONAL
JUNE 19-25, 2016
Holiday Inn, Route 31 and Three Oaks Road, Crystal Lake IL
Tournament Chair: Marilyn Croft jmcroft@sbcglobal.net 312-203-0849
Partnerships: Ron and Jo Kohn johenricks@sbcglobal.net 847-985-1956
Full schedule is here.