70%+ GAMES

John Chmielowiec, Michigan City & Elaine DeLaney, South Bend — 71.02%  June 3

Marian David, South Bend & Irene Singleton, South Bend — 70.83%  June 4

Ed & Maureen Trubac, Granger (499er game) — 73.14%  June 6

Thomas Kelley, Fort Wayne & Ken Koorsen, Fort Wayne — 70.24%  June 20

Elaine DeLaney, South Bend & Chris Habegger, Bristol — 70.11%  June 21

Elaine DeLaney, South Bend & Frank Yoder III, Goshen — 70.57%  June 25

John Aumiller, Fort Wayne & John Kohne, Hoagland — 71.88%  June 25

Barbara Fedder, Granger & Dick Willson, South Bend (299er game) — 71.76%  June 26

Chris Grande, Mishawaka & Dave Irwin, South Bend — 73.72%  July 4

Elaine DeLaney, South Bend & Chris Habegger, Bristol — 71.99%  July 12

Carol Miller, Valparaiso & Nancy Conison, Valparaiso (99er game) — 72.67%  July 20

Wayne Carpenter, Chesterton & Laverne Niksch, Portage — 71.99%  July 23

Martha Harris, Highland & Delphine Slater, Gary — 71.01%  July 27

RISING IN THE RANKINGS

Junior Masters: Gale Boehnke, Hebron; Tami McNally, South Bend; Nancy Saunders, South Bend; Barbara Emmons, Mishawaka; Karen Nagy, South Bend

Club Masters: Kathy Bear, Fort Wayne; Kathryn Tyler, Granger; Edgar Lucas, Gary; Beth Rader, Valparaiso

Sectional Masters: Martha Harris, Highland; Wayne Hiser, Hobart; George Laflin, Kokomo

Regional Masters: JoEllen DePaepe, South Bend; Mary Pappas, Crown Point; Jennie Alsobrooks, Merrillville; Louise Downs, Kokomo; Glen McGeady, Long Beach

Silver Life Masters: Thomas Rossow, South Bend; D. Irwin, South Bend

Gold Life Master: Lee Knepper, New Haven

IN MEMORIAM

Charles C. Cairns 1910-2013

Charles C. Cairns passed away peacefully July 1 while on vacation in Osseo, Michigan. He was born in Woodburn, Indiana on August 7, 1910.

He was a long-time Seattle resident, having worked for the salmon canning industry in Seattle and Alaska after a varied career in Indiana. In 2010, he moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana to live with his sister and nephew.

He was an avid bridge player, golfer, skier, folk dancer, walker and biker into his 90's. He had been a member of the Seattle Mountaineers and continued his membership in the Washington Alpine Club.

His sense of humor gave joy to others. His family and friends will miss him.

Charlie had a feature story on the “Club News” page in the August 2012 issue of the Bridge Bulletin.
 

Betty Eason January 14, 1926-June 27, 2013

We bid our good-byes to Betty Eason — a dear kind lady who joined us in the Novice Game during the summer months. She was recently in the hospital and seemed on the road to recovery, but died suddenly from heart-related causes. 

Betty moved to Valparaiso during WWII to attend Valparaiso University, met the love of her life there, and stayed on for the next 70 years. She obtained a degree in education and taught school in Morgan Township.

Betty was an avid golfer in her earlier years and was a very skilled and enthusiastic bridge player her entire life. She became involved in duplicate bridge rather recently and had 21.68 masterpoints to her credit.

She will be dearly missed by so many who were touched by this beautiful woman.
 

GOLD LIFE MASTER

 Lee Knepper of New Haven provides us with a background from her bridge beginnings to where she is today — a Gold Life Master.

I came from a southern Baptist home where card playing wasn’t permitted. Later, in the work place I was taught to play euchre — loved it and became quite good at it. However, I wondered why the people who played bridge didn’t offer to teach me that game. I was afraid to ask for fear of being told that I didn’t have the qualifications to learn. At my suggestion the personnel department at my workplace brought in a bridge teacher as a perk for the employees. I, my partner and another pair started out practicing at my home, and after the third lesson we played there instead of going to class. We thought we knew it all.

Then I was introduced to duplicate bridge and found out how little I really knew. Fortunately, many good players took an interest in me and began the mentoring necessary for me to learn the game. John Tryon was my favorite mentor, even though I couldn’t play with him. He asked me once if I thought playing with him was a life worse than death and I replied, “Not quite, but pretty close.” Everett Bish taught me to do my thinking and study my options, while others were doing theirs, so that I would never hold up the game. Good advice! Jolly Barr taught me, when playing Blackwood, to never ask for Kings unless you have all the Aces. Yes, I had to learn that, but had to verify it with several players before I accepted it and added it to my bridge repository.

One of the greatest gifts of bridge is the interesting, intelligent and wonderful people that bridge attracts and who become your friends and often accept you as their equal.

I am sure that if my mother knew the years of enjoyment that bridge has brought me and the gap it has filled in my life, she would understand and be pleased.

I have been fortunate to have many excellent partners but my favorite and most frequent partner is my life partner, Paul, even though when asked, he tells the opposition that my weak two-bids are suicidal.

SILVER LIFE MASTER

Congratulations to Tom Rossow, the newest South Bend Bridge Club member to reach the special level of Silver Life Master!

Tom has lived in South Bend all his life. He graduated from Indiana University in South Bend with a B.S. in Accounting. He married his beloved wife, Judy, in September 1993.

Tom’s parents taught him and his brother, Jim, to play bridge when the brothers were just in high school. At that age Tom’s father, the late Eldon “Al” Rossow, would take him to the Niles Duplicate Club to play. With school and work, bridge was a part-time hobby with limited opportunities to play in the evenings. Tom played regularly with his father at the Tuesday night Elks DBC, where he met his friend and long-time bridge partner, Don Maupin. Tom and Don partnered in their first game at the Merrillville Sectional in January 1996, and both became Life Masters within a few years. They enjoyed much tournament success together and still partner today, although work schedules limit their games to online bridge and an occasional tourney.

Bridge is Tom’s favorite game — he likes the mental challenge and the social aspect, too. He enjoys spending time with Judy, is very involved in his church and enjoys working Sudoku puzzles.

We’re proud of you, Tom!

UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS

The Fort Wayne Regional is scheduled for September 9 through September 15 at the Grand Wayne Convention Center, 120 West Jefferson Blvd in Fort Wayne. Play commences on Monday at 7:00 pm.  For partnership help, please contact Mary Lou Clegg at marylouclegg@comcast.net. 

The Northwest Indiana Sectional is scheduled from October 11 through October 13 at St. Mary’s Orthodox Center, 8600 Grand Blvd. in Merrillville. Play commences on Friday at 1.00 p.m.  For partnership help, please contact Chuck Briggs at charles.briggs@frontier.com. For further information and to view a schedule of events, the tournament flyer may be viewed on the ACBL website.

For more information and event schedules for these tournaments, see the flyers in this issue of the Advocate and on the ACBL website.