Normally, I try to write funny stuff in this blog and sometimes I succeed and other times maybe not so much. However, today, I want to say how much I will miss my new friend Carl Morris. Carl was a veteran of three wars and distinguished in many other ways as well as at the bridge table. Partner/husband is not the zippiest of bidders or players and, when we first came up against Carl, he called the director on P/H's long hesitation prior to making a bid. Carl said, "I counted to 100 before his card came out". I passed anyway but he was no less irate. Two boards later, I did count to 100 before Carl bid and I said, "I got to 100 Carl but I'm not calling anybody". The smart remark earned me the bridgemaster glare.
As with many other A players, as we continued to show up and take our beatings, he thawed somewhat. I found out he was a WWII vet and thanked him for his service. That seemed to take him back a bit. Then I asked him in which theater he had served. He told me about island to island fighting in the Pacific. I told him that my Dad had died in Italy two months before I was born and that, now, I am the president of a national group of people who lost their Dads also. There were 180,000 of us. Like most people, he had no idea of the number of us there are but when I would sit down at his table, he would come up with another WWII story and there were no further director calls.
His long time partner and friend, Roger, announced yesterday that Carl was no longer with us and I teared up. Roger said that they came in first in their last game together before Carl died. That's the way I want to go. I will miss him greatly.
Carl had dealings with Carl Gunderson, an army neurologist that I know well. We had several discussions about medicine, the military and "things " in general. After Partner/Wife and I beat him a few times (usually on one board), he looked forward to whacking us. He had a great sense of humor and I truly miss him a lot.
ReplyDeleteI had a similar experience when I first played against Carl. He called the director when I took too long to put down the pass card. He claimed that I was giving my partner information by taking so much time to bid. The director told Carl that he had just played that hand and that I had no information to give.
ReplyDeleteThings were fine after that. A while later he bid and made a 7 no-trump grand slam,the only person to not bid and make 7 spades. Of course, he got a high board. We joked about that hand for months. I always looked forward to playing against him after that.
Barney Bursack