Pitching in for bridge

I went to the Rockford Sectional in September. They always have nice players and great lunches. There is always a convenient parking lot and a comfortable playing space. If you did not go this fall, you did not experience the beautiful job they did with decorations and hospitality.

I asked how this happened and learned that many, many volunteers worked together, each doing what they could to add to the tournament.  Special congratulations and thanks to Cindy Musser, Fran Fey, Kyle Larson, and Doug St. John for coordinating this fun tournament!

Speaking of Rockford, the Rockford Club does many things to encourage new duplicate players. We need to get new people involved to maintain our games and unit.

Do you have suggestions for getting more players to duplicate? If you send ideas to me, I will put them in the next Pair Fare.

Here are a few people/groups who are helping already.
   Rockford Bridge Club has lessons and mentors!
   Robert Quintin (AKA Bob) helps people in the St. Charles area who have played bridge and want to get up to date and play duplicate.
   Lela Lowe has a bridge study group (St. Charles senior center) that helps beginning players understand conventions.
   Ray Parnell runs games (Crystal Lake) that get people playing.

All of these people are in the Unit 239 directory. If you have a friend who needs a start, you could get them connected!

Congratulations to the 239 Players who have reached new levels.

Junior Master: Melanie Calbeck (Saint Charles,) Karen Carroll (Huntley,) Col Conrado Bruce (Dekalb,) and Jill Theis (McHenry)

Club Master: David Donnelly (Rockford)

Sectional Master: John Bassett (Geneva,) Kristan Lauer (Rockford,) Tom Looman (Crystal Lake,) and Lela Lowe (Geneva,) and Alan Cooper (Rochelle)

NABC Master: Andrew Guagenti (Crystal Lake,) Nancy Sleeth (Saint Charles,) and Sandra Karnatz (Huntley)

Advanced NABC Master: Karen Ann Miller (Crystal Lake)

Bronze Life Master: William Carpenter (Rockford,) Gary Brigel (Aurora,) and Linda Murphy (Rockford)

Silver Life Master: Peggy Anderson (Elgin) and Alex Balestrieri (Crystal Lake)  

Diamond Life Master: Richard Blumenthal (Crystal Lake)

Welcome to new member Marilyn Murphy of Rochelle. 

William Carpenter is a Bronze Life Master

I grew up in Golden, Colorado, lived 61 years in Rockford, Illinois broken by a five year break living in Macomb.  My family lives near me.  Cathy and Lee live in McHenry, and Dan looks after me in Rockford.

I started playing bridge at Purdue University and continued playing serious duplicate at the Macomb club. I had some early great games with Karen McCrary.  You never forget playing against Barry Crane.

I play in Rockford. Gina, Jan, Susan, June, Kyle, Cathy, Kathy and Barb carry the load in Rockford. Sometimes, I play too fast and should think twice. That is my bridge advice.
 

Peggy Anderson is a Silver Life Master

My future husband Karl taught me to play bridge in the early seventies. I consider learning to play from someone with a logical approach to the game is still an advantage today.

We played in Tacoma, Washington at various games. I especially remember the "Chalet" Bridge club. It looked like the name suggests. The club was still running with the same director until a few years ago. Many college students played and after the game, there was usually a beer and poker party. College students played for a couple dollars, but just chips and cake crumbs were served at the game.

I was not especially fond of bridge when I was young. I was not that competitive and there were more nasty people than today. If you read old bridge literature, opponents were referred to as the enemy. That explains it all.

A couple years later we moved to Illinois, got married and then I worked for 10 or 12 years no time for Bridge.

We moved to California in the mid-eighties. I knew no one except a couple of Karl's family members. Bridge is a great way to make friends who have shared interests. Wherever you go, there are bridge clubs. Sort of like joining a religion. Karl even played in Sydney, Australia when on business trips. I especially remember the New Years parties at The Long Beach Bridge Center. They served champagne and Karl and I usually scored well as it was amateur night.

I played bridge occasionally and finished college. Karl and I then both worked at all encompassing jobs and took about another 15 years off from bridge.

We moved back to Illinois about ten years ago. Now, I usually play in St Charles and Yorkville so I made Silver life master at one of those clubs playing with my best partner, Karl Anderson