UNIT CHARITY GAME Sunday, June 25

Lunch at 1pm – Game at 1:30 pm

JUNE UNIT GAME: This month’s Unit Game is the ACBL Charity Foundation Game. The game is sectionally rated and will be played at the regular 1:30 time. The attendance at the Unit Games has been great. Your support is appreciated and encourage you to continue coming out to the Unit games.

APRIL UNIT GAME RESULTS: The Awards Day Unit game was a great success. Both by turnout – we had twenty-four tables in two sections – and the food was terrific. The OA results: 1st, Chuck Messall & Ron Steinberg (Flt C Players), 2nd, Bea Kinman & John Killian, 3rd, Lois Perovich & Bill Cornwell, 4th, Peggy Waite & Dann Habberfield, 5th, Jo Daigle & Frank Bartlett. The NLMs top three scoring pairs were: 1st, Cory Hand & Jose Rodriguez, 2nd Keith & Susan Hafen and 3rd, Rosemary Ford & Kato Yeung. Again the Flt C players did us proud! Keep up the good work. John Killian – using Peggy Waite’s recipe – made some “killer” strata that was delicious. We would be remiss to not thank Morris Lorber who was in charge of the awards at the Unit Awards game. LB players garnered their usual Ace of Clubs and Mini-McKenney awards but did so well in the national races that Morris had an extraordinary job to just sort through them without missing anyone. Not an easy job but it was very much appreciated. We should remember to thank our Unit Board members more often. They work tirelessly to make the game better for their members.

NEW STATUS & NEW MEMBERS: Linda Bolt, Rita Collins, Julia Cunningham, Mary Kirk & Vince Remedios joined the unit this month. Welcome to all of you! Bob Ballack, Monica Gettis & Jean Ingram became Club Masters. Tom Cotton became a Sectional Master. Madeline Coulson, Sue Fardettte & Jose Rodrigues are now Regional Masters. Fred Benedetti is our new Bronze Life Master. Pat yourselves on the back for your achievements!

70+% GAMES: Bruce Horiguchi & Chiye Horiguchi - 71.99%; Miranda Kwan & Anthony Reddy 71.83%; Jo Melis & Cayce Blanchard, 71.59%; John & Susie Hand - 71.47%; David Goetz - Ted Sneed, 71.43%; Lois Abramson & Len Beck – 71.3% Now that’s more like it. We definitely are out of the 70+% drought this period.

THIS MONTH AT THE CLUB: June 3 at 12:30 is the World Wide Bridge Contest. It is sectionally rated, pays half red, half black points. The card fees for this game will be $10. The monthly Team Game is set for June 12 at 7pm so get your team together and plan on playing. On June 13, there is the ACBL Membership Game at 4:15 (dinner at 6pm) and it will be repeated on June 16 – same time, same dinner game. The club has had a Jackpot Game on Saturday afternoon for years – and it was regularly won. They haven’t had a winner in months and the jackpot is up to $250 again. If it hasn’t been won in May, the club will be awarding it to the best percentage Saturday game in June. That sounds like reason enough to play on Saturdays…as if you need a reason… and play well and you and your partner just might end up a little richer!

GET WELL: Players that we still have on our “Get Well” list are Dottie Thompson and Jan Mann. Get well wishes to both of you. We’re pleased to see that Phyllis Parker is recovering quickly from the fall she took at work. We saw her with a walker and a couple of days later she had a cane. That looks like progress to us.

CONDOLENCES: We lost two of our players, Dale Nelson and Frieda Kenigson, on the same day, May 11. Our sympathies go out to Eileen Nelson and her family as well as Frieda’s family. Dale played frequently but was not around the bridge club as much as Frieda – everyone knew Frieda.

Frieda died very suddenly from a heart attack following pacemaker surgery and was buried on Mother’s Day. She was a director and owner of the LB Bridge Club for many years and still kept her hands in – whether on the computer entering scores or doing the dishes for George.

Frieda’s family held a Memorial Service at the club on May 13 and shared “Frieda” stories with the attendees. Club members shared their memorable “Frieda” anecdotes as well. We all expected her back at the tables since she was recovering nicely the leg wound that wouldn’t heal. She was an excellent player, a fierce competitor, optimistic, good-natured, intelligent, active, compassionate, "sharp as a tack" and a friend to all. Frieda’s egg salad, chicken livers and jalapeño jelly were renowned – at the Bridge Club, for sure. She loved her family, bridge, friends and a good joke. There will be no replacing her. She was one of a kind or in Frieda lingo “the very best”. We will all miss her.

Frieda’s family has asked that people log in to the Press Telegram website and sign the guest book. The website is http://www.legacy.com/LBPresstelegram/Obituaries.asp?Page=Lifestory&PersonId=17790892

NLM LESSONS: We’ve failed to thank Steve Sulzby for the NLM lessons he has been giving for some time at noon preceding the Tuesday afternoon games. The players have really learned a lot from those and we thank Steve for teaching that each Tuesday. Frank Bartlett will be taking over those lessons for eight weeks for Steve. The lessons are a gift to the NLMs from the Unit. This editor has been remiss to not mention them previously.

THIS AND THAT: Arnie Maddox has resigned from the Unit Board for health reasons and Jan Wagner has been elected Vice President to fill the vacancy.

As the editor of this column who plays infrequently, my apologies when I fail to acknowledge someone. Please feel free to contact me and I will do my best to make it right.

CHRISTMAS IN JULY: The LB Bridge Unit’s charity is the LB WomenShelter for battered women and children. This time of year – they are especially in need of fundraising. The Unit will have a special donation box at the LB Bridge Center and at the Long Beach Regional Tournament to raise funds for our unit charity. Please look for it and dig deep in your pockets for this worthy aid organization.

For any news items you would like in the column, my email is golfgal@charter.net and my phone number is 562-434-8993. Thanks again for all the reporters out there that give me bridge news.