Learning to play bridge, was one of  the best things I ever did. My husband was an avid bridge player, so I had to learn. You know how the husband teaching the wife works – it doesn’t.  So I went to our local YWCA and took lessons.

 In 2008, after my husband died, I came to live in Delaware.  I was alone & didn’t know one person.   Fortunately, the community I settled in had a social bridge game.  It was fun, bridge and lunch.

I met a lot of nice people, one of whom asked if I would like to play duplicate bridge.  I had only played  duplicate a few times in my pre-Delaware life.   My new friend & I set off to Ocean View, Dini Romito’s game.  Social bridge is interesting but duplicate is even more so, I thought.  I liked it very much and played twice a week at Dini’s game, then at Dorothy Hand’s game and Anna Delapo’s game in Rehoboth.

Over the years I traveled to many tournaments.  During Covid, I played from my couch in virtual clubs.  Entering the Bridge at the Beach tournament, I had garnered enough black, red & gold points so I only needed 0.05 gold for Bronze Life Master.

Getting 0.05 gold at home, in Rehoboth Beach, just made it that much more special.  My team, Bob Breen, Cindy Hoardley & Marilyn Haskins were excellent!

Thanks to Kim Holm for running a wonderful tournament and to the ACBL.

My bridge journey is a bit unusual.  In 1988, a group of engineers decided to teach ourselves bridge with Charles Goren’s book as our guide.  We played at lunch for a few years until lunch hours became lunch half-hours.  Then my only bridge for nearly thirty years was against early computer robots or on my smartphone.

After retiring in 2021 I began playing bridge at the Senior Center and library in Hershey PA.  I had an unrelated but very negative volunteer experience that freed up my time. On a whim I drove to the Harrisburg Bridge Club on March 20^th of this year.  Pam and Jack were incredibly welcoming and described the guarantied partner policy.  As fate would have it my first experience was in an open session.  I had never played duplicate before or used a bid box.  My partner, Sam, could not have been nicer.  I was so nervous.  My goals for the day were not to revoke or have the Director called on me.  On one of the first boards I missed a transfer to hearts and left Sam in a doomed 2 Diamond contract with a combined six trump.  Sam just smiled and said “Thank you partner.”  The director was never called that day nor did we finish in last place.

After the session Pam and Andre spent time with me to answer my questions and provide invaluable guidance.  The kindness and understanding shown to me that day made joining the club an easy decision.  I have been a regular at the club for the last month and a half.  Depending on traffic the one-way commute is 35-45 minutes, but the club is such a fun place to be.  There are dedicated volunteers that keep the club running smoothly.  There is an emphasis on civility, and I have had the opportunity to play with many partners.  Masterpoints are nice, but establishing bridge friendships is the real reward.

At 94, I am pleased that I finally made Bronze Life Master.   My late wife and I took bridge lessons many years ago when the children were quite young.  It was one of the best things we ever did.  Not only did we keep our minds active, but got to meet a lot of nice people (also occasionally some not so nice).

I had a job as a community pharmacist (before the big chains) and did not have a lot of free time.    We got another couple and went to the Cheltenham High School adult education lessons.   The other couple became dropouts, but we continued taking more lessons, playing and eventually were introduced to Duplicate.  I really didn’t get serious about bridge until many years later after my wife had passed away (13 years ago) from Alzheimer’s and other bad stuff.   Bridge became my life.  Really, I became addicted.  Someone asked me how many times a week I played and on reviewing, it had been nine times that week.

I went to Philmont Country Club a couple of summers for Bridge Camp with Joann Glasson.   I got my gold with my late bridge partner, John Bravo.   He passed in July 2022 and I really miss him.  And with Covid, (we didn’t and I don’t) play online, it has been a struggle to make Bronze but I’m happy that I finally made it.   Here at Rydal Park there is a lot of bridge played but it is social – much different.