JoAnn Aiken
Terry Coe
Nurturing, managing, leading, smoothing, hiring, firing, accounting, peace-making, room finding, candy buying and hectoring as needed—in short, Jo Ann has mothered our club an amazing 16 years and we haven’t made her job any easier in all that time. I’m sure glad she’s willing to keep it up for many more! Her efforts are and have been so valuable that the board voted to present her and her husband Roy a cruise to show our gratitude. Jo Ann, always putting the club first, refused the gift as too extravagant. She suggested a thank you card with the members’ signatures! Who here wouldn’t have held out for at least a box of Belgian chocolates and a pair of diamond earrings? All the members—including Jo Ann—enjoyed the tribute Trudie Penta wrote for her.
Jo Ann’s love for Bridge began many decades ago in her other life—the one filled with work and bouncing babies. When Roy’s boss needed a pair to sub in one evening, armed with the total knowledge he imparted — “If you want your partner to bid, then you say ‘one short club’”— she agreed to play. Surprisingly they survived the evening and enjoyed the experience.
Albuquerque had a great club and good teachers, but Jo Ann soon learned that other players laughed at her ‘one short club’ opening. That led them to a teacher who taught them a very disciplined bidding system by Donald Oakie. Their teacher would play with them in tournaments for the imminently fair charge of a bottle of gin and at their very first tournament they played against Mr. Oakie himself. This is where she first coined her favorite bridge prayer: “Please don’t let me get any points!” But, lo and behold, they had a top board against Mr. Oakie and his partner and felt like they had won the whole tournament. She didn’t say if her prayer was answered, though, so we don’t know who played that board. They were next awed by world class Grand Master Hermine Baron who died in 1996 with the most points of any woman Bridge player to date — 22,645. Her table had a white table cloth and a bowl of ice that she ate during the session. Needless to say, they felt totally insignificant. Time to learn more.
Those were the good old days of smoke filled rooms, when master points were saved on paper and mailed to the ACBL. Points were one color and progress to Life Master was slow. Fast pairs began at midnight and everyone was awake for them.
Life with kids and work forced Jo Ann and Roy out of Bridge for decades until retirement let them return to the game. Recently when playing teams at a tournament, Jo Ann’s opponents were Rodwell and Meckstroth—somewhat famous for not speaking at all to one another during the game, no “thanks,” no “sorry,” nothing. She called on the Intimidation God once more: “Please don’t let me have any points!”
If you haven’t met JoAnn yet, you should join our very well run club on Tuesday and Friday afternoons at 1:00 p.m. in the Mariposa Room at DesertView. Table fees are $4. If you need a partner, call Jean Reitan at 520-445-8225 or email her at [email protected]. Jo Ann will welcome you with a mother’s care.