I returned to bridge at age 64 after a 40-year absence from Goren bridge (the only bridge in my era). I took beginning bridge at least twice and then learned every convention that was needed to play Standard American Bridge. Everything about the conventions seemed foreign and complicated. I just wanted to play simple bridge. I was hooked and played almost every time there was a bridge game at our Club in Long Beach, CA never dreaming how far I had to go to become an accomplished bridge player.
My partner Bill Rawlings and I went to our first tournament with only 50 points and won almost one-third of our gold thinking why does everyone think it’s so hard to get gold points? Well reality set in about gold points even though we did it within two years of not missing many bridge tournaments.
My partner Bill Rawlings and I became bridge Instructors and opened up two clubs in Colorado just to become cruise directors on cruise ships. We have taught and ran bridge games on the Queen Victoria, Queen Mary, Norwegian, Princess and Royal Caribbean, traveling the world and having the time of our lives in our senior years playing duplicate bridge. We had to learn Britannica Bridge — ACOL Bridge in England — to teach bridge on British Cruise Lines, so we hired one of England’s top bridge instructors and took lessons at his bridge club in England.
I needed 20 black points to become a Silver Life Master when Covid hit the scene. After 1.5 years of not playing, I reached my goal in 2021.
I have looked at the next level of bridge title which will be Ruby and feel my age will not give me the time to get that title but I’m going to keep trying!