Hsu was tops among
women in 2003

Although there are many NABC and World women’s events, there is no women’s Barry Crane 500 race. If there were, Dixie Hsu of San Luis Obispo CA would have been the winner last year with 1221 points.

“It was like a dream come true,” said Dixie. “I never even knew I had a chance until Barry Harper told me in October that I should go for it. My Canadian and Indonesian partners pulled me through.”

Dixie has an amazing history. Born in Shanghai, she attended college at age 15 – quite startling for two reasons. First, she was so young. Second, she was a woman, and women were not given many chances to advance in China back in those days.

She graduated with a degree in economics. At the same time she learned English and social bridge.

Her family fled to Hong Kong in 1948 because of the pending Communist Revolution. They wound up in Bangkok where she worked for UNICEF. In 1959 her family was granted political refugee status and came to America.

Dixie believes America is the greatest country in the world because “it is a land of opportunity, and if you apply yourself you can do anything.” In the late Seventies she attended Harvard and received a management degree.

She retired from her position as a corporate planner in 1983. She didn’t start playing duplicate until 1997, but she became a Diamond Life Master (2500+ points) in 2002.

Diamonds and gold

A team that included a pickup partnership enjoyed a major celebration after they won Bracket 2 of the Tuesday-Wednesday Knockout Teams.

They won 50.38 points in the event. Wilf May of New Westminster BC got enough points to become a Diamond Life Master (more than 5000 points). And Doug Hansford of Delta BC is now a Gold Life Master (more than 1500 points).

The pickup partnership was Dave Whitcher of Lacey WA and Don Sache of Delta BC. Witcher also became a Gold Lifer Master. What about Sache? “I’m still in that middle ground between Gold and Diamond.”

New Life Masters: 4th team member
makes the grade

Yesterday we told about the team on which three of the four members became Life Masters. The fourth, Dan Stowell of Hillsborough CA, said that he hoped to go over the top by the end of the week.

They finally got that last precious fraction of a gold point, so Bernell and Don Scott of Grass Valley CA are celebrating Life Masterhood today. “We tried all through the Monterey Regional,” said Bernell.

“We won masterpoints all right, but they weren’t gold. We still needed that final 26 hundredths of a point.” They made the grade in the Morning Knockouts, and now they’re within 40 points of becoming Bronze Life Masters.

“We started playing seriously five years ago,” said Don. “We used to play way back in the Sixties, but we stopped because our work kept us too busy.”

“This represents a lot of work and time,” said Bernell. She and her husband play almost almost exclusively with each other. Their teammates were
Wanda and Neil Keyes of Nipomo CA.

Now we have a second husband-wife combination who made Life Master together. John and Lynne Tolson of Bedford NS made the grade in the Thursday-Friday Bracketed Knockouts. Their teammates were Sandra and Fred Boddy. The Keyes needed only two gold points to earn their gold card.

Ann Grubbs of Aurora CO earned her gold card in last Saturday’s Compact Knockouts, playing with Monty Grubbs. Their teammates were Wayne Grosso and Stan Imhoff.

Edwyna Pace Festerman made Life Master in yesterday’s Open Pairs in partnership with Gayle Mauldin.