Craig von Land
Partners
Craig von Land and
Mark McWiggins of the Seattle area each became a Life Master playing in the North American Pairs Flight C on Sunday. Pictured is von Land.
Michael Windham
of Cypress TX became ACBL’s newest Life Master Saturday evening when he and partner Linda Windham finished second in their section in the Gold Rush Pairs.
Bob Babb
of Georgetown TX became a new Life Master playing in the Gold Rush Swiss Teams on Friday. Babb was playing with his wife, Laurie Babb (who is just 0.25 masterpoints away from becoming an LM herself), and teammates Emil and Marie Russiello of Austin TX.
Babb needed 2.75 masterpoints to earn his gold card, but earned 4.84 in the event.
Mary Ryder Wright
of Albany NY became a Life Master on Monday playing in the Daylight Gold Rush Pairs with Kay Lang. She needed 1.76 gold points when she arrived in Memphis and was down to 0.27 when she played on Monday.
Babette Brenner
of Morton Grove IL became a Life Master on Wednesday playing in the Cindy Bialk Memorial Daylight Gold Rush Swiss Teams with Judy Cohen, Raeann Koerner and Leslie Brucker. Brenner needed about 8 gold when she arrived in Memphis and was down to 1.89 before the Swiss. Their team won and got 11.76. Brenner credited Cohen for pushing her so much to come to Memphis.
Karen Grossman
of Boca Raton FL became a Life Master on Tuesday playing in the Daylight Gold Rush Pairs with Marci Yunes. Grossman needed half a gold point and got 1.93 in the event.
Mary Ann Shepard
Congratulations to new Life Master
Mary Ann Shepard, who traveled from Kirkwood MO to attend the NABC. She got the last needed gold playing in the Saturday Daylight Compact KO. Her partner was Jane Miller from Chesterfield MO; they teamed with fellow St. Louis-area players Lisa Lampen and Carolyn Coffin.
While Mary Ann has played bridge for many, many years, it wasn’t until 10 years ago that she began playing competitively. “Seven years ago, my husband died, and I got much more competitive,” she says. “It was my therapy.”
Back home, Mary Ann plays at the St. Louis Bridge Center.
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Life Master Milestones
Bella Ionis-Sorren of Fort Lauderdale FL became a Platinum Life Master on Friday playing in the Silodor Open Pairs. The rank requires 10,000 masterpoints, of which a certain number must be platinum. Ionis-Sorren has almost 13,000 MPs, but she lacked the necessary number of platinum until yesterday.
Jennie Flynn Sauviac
of Metairie LA became a Diamond Life Master playing in the Thursday side game playing with longtime bridge partner, Daryl Fisher of Diamondhead MS. She said that after the joy of becoming the National Goodwill Member in 2007, becoming a Diamond Life Master was her quest.
