Greater St. Louis Bridge News

News from Greater St. Louis Unit 143

Editor:  Mary Dolan, 10806 Charlton Way, St. Louis, MO 63146  dolanmary@sbcglobal.net 
 

“It is the obvious which is so difficult to see most of the time.
People say, 'It's as plain as the nose on your face.'
But how much of the nose on your face can you see, unless someone holds a mirror up to you?"

 -- Isaac Asimov, "I Robot"

Unit 143 Winter Sectional

Want a cure for the post-holiday doldrums? Treat yourself to the St. Louis Winter Sectional, Friday, January 18 – Sunday, January 20, 2019 at Blanchette Park Memorial Hall, St. Charles, Missouri.  Events include:

 Friday afternoon - Open and 299er Pairs

Friday evening - Single Session Swiss and 299er Pairs

Saturday AM - Single Session Swiss

Saturday afternoon and evening - Two-session Pairs, side games, and 299er pairs

Sunday - Swiss Open and two single-session 299er Pairs

  Click here for further event details.

Meritorious Service Award Winner

At the Fall Sectional, Unit 143 President Becky Hubert presented Nell Schneider with the Meritorious Service Award.  Here is a condensed version of President Hubert’s comments.

Nell has served Unit 143 since 1969.  She served 9 consecutive years on the Unit Board. Nell supported the St. Louis Regionals as a committee chair in almost every capacity.   Hospitality was one of those chairs.  If you have the chance to meet Nell, you will immediately see why hospitality is a natural for this lovely lady…always a smile and always makes you feel you are the only person she is interested in speaking to that moment.  Hospitality chairs work hard but make it look easy; she has a real knack to solve problems while making the other person feel great.

With her professional business experience, Nell provided an invaluable business perspective and acumen to Unit operations and decision making while serving on the board.

In addition to her service on the board, at Nationals held in St. Louis, Nell served as VIP committee chair for the spouses of ACBL planners and National Board members.  This included organizing all activities such as tours, transportation, and dinners; arranging for tour docents; leading the tours; and participating in all activities.  Nell worked with the National Chair/Co-Chairs, one of whom was our own Mike Carmen, to raise funds and collect donations for the nationals (just one example—obtaining $300 in Shannon’s Restaurant gift certificates to give as door prizes at the Nationals).

For almost 50 years, Nell has willingly and selflessly contributed her time and effort to promote St. Louis Bridge. Please join me in congratulating Nell on her Meritorious Service Award.

Unit 143 Advancers

Life Master: Janet Bernacki, Steven Clements, Grace Fagin

Gold Life Master: James Nunn

Congratulations!

St Louis Bridge Center honors “Bridge Builders”

The Canfield Bridge-Builder Award was created to honor the duplicate bridge player whose honesty, integrity, competence, zeal, and leadership -- in short, professionalism -- have earned the respect of the duplicate bridge playing community.

It publicly recognizes one who continually strives to balance respect for the game with the competitive spirit of each hand, and in so doing:

• Deals honestly with opponents at all times
• Invests the time and energy necessary to improve play
• Conducts oneself with dignity and decorum
• Inspires others to act nobly and professionally
• Encourages others to learn the game

Congratulations to this year’s winners:  Katie Boles (left) and Mark Ziegelman (right)! 
 

St. Louis Fall Sectional Results

A good time was had by all on a picture-perfect weekend at St. Charles Blanchette Park. St. Louis Fall Sectional attendees enjoyed friendly competition and outstanding hospitality while earning 1302.52 masterpoints.  Following are the top 25 masterpoint winners:

   38.73  Debra Romero, Clarkson Valley MO

   28.65  En Xie, Saint Louis MO

   28.06  Mark Boswell, Clarkson Valley MO

   26.71  Nancy Popkin, Saint Louis MO

   25.71  Nate Ward, Champaign IL

   24.97  Tod Moses, Saint Louis MO

   23.59  Shirley Dicks, Saint Charles MO

   23.59  John Dicks, Saint Charles MO

   21.65  Jack Bryant, Saint Louis MO

   18.96  Karen Erlanger, Saint Louis MO

   18.96  John Burgener, Saint Louis MO

   18.61  Rod Van Wyk, Alton IL

   18.61  Arbha Vongsvivut, Godfrey IL

   17.96  Alan Popkin, Saint Louis MO

   15.88  Milton Zlatic, Saint Louis MO

   15.28  Clay Cuthbertson, Quincy IL

   14.58  Susan Perez, Maryland Hgts MO

   13.92  Michael Carmen, Saint Louis MO

   13.92  Kathleen Safranski, Chesterfield MO

   13.37  Judy Pass, Saint Louis MO

   13.37  Helene Siegfried, Saint Louis MO

   13.29  Roger Lord, Saint Louis MO

   12.23  Judy Eaton, Edwardsville IL

   12.03  Jacqueline Sincoff, Saint Louis MO

Big Games at Unit Clubs