Bob Erwin:  Life Master

Not many players achieve life master status playing in a local sectional with a home town partner. But that's what happened to Bob Erwin (Rochelle) last September, playing in the Rockford Classic Sectional Swiss Team event with Archie Millotte (also Rochelle.)

Bob began playing bridge in college at Iowa State in Ames back in 1947, but only started serious duplicate in 1989 at the Bridge Center of Rockford. "This was right after I retired, so I had time for all the bridge that my late wife Gloria was urging me to play. I took lessons, I have had mentors, and I developed as a player through all the programs available in Rockford, which I've been glad to take advantage of."

Bob was born and raised in Kansas City, MO, but went to one year of college through a Navy program in Cape Girardeau, MO in 1944, when he studied pre-engineering. But then the Navy sent him to Ames, where he graduated in 1949. Meanwhile, he decided he wanted to be a teacher, so he became a math major and started teaching in Clear Lake, IA. After teaching there for two years, he went back into the Navy again during the Korean Conflict, and then taught in Clear Lake for three more years. "That's my long, hard road to Rochelle, IL," Bob laughs.

Bob and his late wife Gloria have four children: Sue Kapraun, an art teacher at Johnsburg High School in McHenry; Scott, a lawyer in DeKalb; Sarah Mariani, an elementary teacher in Poplar Grove; and Steve, a math teacher in Woodstock.

Bob was a boy scout through high school, and participates widely in civic affairs to this day. He is active in the Presbyterian Church of Rochelle, and volunteers at Focus House, a juvenile detention center which is a home for minor offenders. He travels extensively with Global Volunteers, which sends volunteers everywhere worldwide to do everything. "It's a sort of mini-Peace Corps," explains Bob, "but the volunteers only serve one to three week assignments." He has done stints in the Cook Islands, Ecuador, Australia, Ireland, and even on an Indian reservation in Montana where he took 9 members of his family.

"Bridge keeps one thinking," Bob insists. "One meets lots of nice people, and since my wife passed away I've continued what she started. I've had the good fortune to play with many other different partners who have helped me to improve further and reach this goal."

Dan and Kathy Chamberlain: Life Masters

The doctor and his wife are both very "in" this month: Dr. Dan Chamberlain and his wife Kathy (both of Rockford) are Unit 239's latest life masters. They made life master playing together in a Lake Geneva Regional in late October in a knockout teams event with Tom Hardy (Huntley) and Pat Haverty (Woodstock) as their partners.

Between them, the Chamberlains have six children: Sheila, a computer analyst in Fond du lac, WI; Pamela, a teacher and homemaker in Stillwater, MN; Jonathan, a liberal arts student in Fond du lac; Jennifer, a bookstore manager in Milwaukee; Alison, a cosmetologist in Milwaukee; and Jill, a graduate student in physical education in Madison.

Kathy was born and raised in Fond du lac, WI. She attended nursing school in Milwaukee, but returned to Fond du lac for her BSN. She has also lived in Champaign and Rockford, and now works for Swedish American Hospital in Rockford.

Dan was born and raised in Belvidere. He attended Loyola University and went to medical school at the Stritch School of Medicine there. He has lived in Belvidere, Chicago, Fond du Lac, Champaign, and Rockford, where he has been practicing for over 12 years, specializing in internal medicine.

Kathy enjoyed "party bridge" starting in the early 70's "when our children were little," and he gradually joined in. They took lessons from Karen Walker in Champaign in 1993. But then they moved, and "simply lacked the time" for bridge involvement. "On a lark," they took lessons again in 2000, and have been regular duplicate players ever since. "Emboldened by the kindly, steady encouragement of the late Pam Eden, we played in our first regional in 2003, after a major anxiety attack. Then Bob Coffey (Rockford) taught us bridge for a while; but we shook him up so badly he fell out of a tree while hunting and Kathy Owens (also Rockford) took over."

"We owe the success that we have enjoyed so far to an incredible number of wonderful people," both assert. "Included in this list are Burt Moore (Rockford,) Bob DeKeyser (Rockton,) Karen Golden (Davis,) Sue Tunelius (Winnebago,) Doug Gugger (Freeport,) Marlene Estes (Rockford,) Dan Scroggins (Beloit, WI,) Jack Snyder (Rockford,) the late Pam Eden (Rockford,) Kathy Owens (Rockford,) and Mary Belle Moss (Rockford.) Our lives would not be the same without you."

Kathy enjoys what she terms "the mental stimulation of the game," while Dan often speaks of "the beauty of the game, with its infinite possibilities." But both find rewards in bridge as an activity to share: "We live together, we work together, and we eat together. We were looking for an activity with which we could actually enjoy spending leisure time together. Lo and behold, we discovered bridge."

The Changing Scene . . .

New Junior Masters: Anita Bull, Crystal Lake; Marilyn Croft, St. Charles; Arlene Lefevre, Dixon; Thomas McDonald, Batavia; Karen Stunkel, Crystal Lake;  Charlene Whitney, Winnebago.

New Club Masters: Jan Kloweit, Rockford; Mary Simonson, Sarasota, FL.

New Sectional Masters: Tara Mufich, Rockford; Mariloy Wallen, Rockton; David Wilson, Davis; Nancy Wilson, Davis.

New Regional Masters: Patricia Benedict, Rockford; Carol Fischer, Rockford; Anne Godin, Loves Park; James Knowles, Elgin; Karen Pickelsimer, Oakwood Hills.

New NABC Masters: Judy Coffey, Rockford; Caralee Hopman, Huntley; Ron Hopman, Huntley; Lynn Patterson, Lake-in-the-Hills; Mary Jo Sergent, Rockford; Douglas St. John, Rockford; Dolores Witte, Roscoe.

New Life Masters: Dan Chamberlain, Rockford; Kathryn Chamberlain, Rockford; Paul Stunkel, Crystal Lake.

New Bronze Life Masters: Mickey Schallberg, Rockford; Phyllis Seeman, Rockford.

New Silver Life Masters: Grace Selby, Huntley.

As I See It . . .

I hope our Advocate editor, Karen Walker, took a minute to "enjoy the flowers" when she read the profile, above, of Dan and Kathy Chamberlain, two of our Unit's new Life Masters. You see, Karen's bridge lessons started it all for Dan and Kathy: and the Bridge Center of Rockford now has two active, participating, enthusiastic, contributing members whose lives are continually enriched by the game of duplicate bridge. It's true that another community (Rockford) inherited the benefits of the hard work, enthusiasm, and time that Karen invested in Champaign. But the point is that bridge reaped the benefits.

Teaching bridge is a tough row to hoe. It's a long and often discouraging path. Few students sign up for lessons and immediately turn into regulars at the local club. Many students need recurring experiences with bridge to become "hooked." Many need encouragement, tender loving care, reassurance, and perpetual seeking-out. (They also need to be met with common courtesy when, with their hearts in their mouths, they finally get up the nerve to play in their first sanctioned game.) Each experience a newcomer has with duplicate bridge feeds into others and eventually creates a regular participant.

And so we market bridge and market bridge and market bridge. We teach two students here, four students there, and six students somewhere else, knowing that it may be seven years down the pike before we see any of them with any regularity in club games. We plan ahead to offer these students continuing experiences on their level when their lessons are over.

Recruiting new players to bridge is a lot like raising children: sometimes it really does "take a village." Look at the long list of players whom the Chamberlains wished to thank in their profile: each one of these wonderful folks had a direct hand in "bringing in" two new recruits as regular players. All these efforts are inspired by one great over-riding truth that has already verified itself over the long haul: this hard work eventually pays enormous dividends, and our long-term survival as a viable activity depends upon its continuity.

The Bridge Center of Rockford has had four responses to a recent newspaper ad for new players this past week. If traditional statistics hold, one of them will continue with lessons and club play in limited games, eventually becoming a regular club player. One will drop out entirely. Two will drop out temporarily, to emerge again when more special efforts are made at marketing to seek them out yet another time. This means that the Center must plan for (and finance) continuing bridge education on all levels, make (and finance) continuing marketing efforts aimed at both new players and at experienced "drop outs ," and fight (and finance) an uphill battle for continuing community exposure. Any bridge club that intends to survive must, indeed, do all that and firmly believe that its survival depends upon getting it done.

So your assignment, Mr. Phelps, if you choose to accept it: congratulate, thank, and encourage a bridge teacher near you. And if you are an active part of "the village," take a bow.