Minnesota's bridge community suffered two great losses this week. The first was the passing of Mary Meinecke. Family, friends, teaching - and bridge - were the highlights of her life. A mainstay of the St. Paul Bridge Center and its community, Mary was the heart of bridge in St. Paul for decades.
Kim Hayward has written a beautiful remembrance of this remarkable woman. We thank Kim for her contribution to honor Mary - and we thank Mary herself for all she has done for us over the years. We mourn our loss - and an obituary follows Kim's stories about Mary.
Mary Meinecke is one of the first people anyone would meet when arriving at the Bridge Center of St Paul. She was a teacher and game director. She served on the Board. She always sat at Table #1, which put her in line with the front door. Everyone would greet her as they arrived. No one would dream of sitting in her seat of honor.
Mary played a very uncomplicated game, she didn’t add every new convention to her game plan, she didn’t need them. Her declarer play was phenomenal. A player once mentioned that playing with Mary was like driving a brand new car, all the buttons, lights, levers worked perfectly, brakes and transmission powerful and responsive. What you expected in the bidding and play, you received--reliable and spot-on.
Lately she has been a mentor, both in our mentoring classes and in countless 1-on-1 mentoring relationships. She was willing to play with anyone and everyone. This is not usual for players of her caliber. Often players with thousands of masterpoints play with piers. Mary used her talents to help any level player reach their next level.
She enjoyed playing at tournaments both in town and around the ACBL. Last year she went to play in Florida. In September this year she attended the Rochester Regional and won 1st overall yielding almost 23 masterpoints. Just this month she played in the Oakdale Sectional.
Two days before her trip to the hospital, she played at the club and won 1st overall with a 60%+ game. As of this month she had earned 3,765 masterpoints and reached the level of Sapphire Life Master.
Her loss has created a huge hole in our hearts and our club. Someone will have to sit at Table #1 and fill Mary’s chair, but there is no one who can replace her.
--
Comments