From the Diamond in the Ruff Newsletter Article
By Maxine Reagh
Open October at Finley 509
All games will be Open Games in the month of October at Finley and each week there is something special:
Oct. 7 is a Unit Championship (63.6% more point value)
Oct. 14 is a Club Appreciation game (81.8% more point value)
Oct. 21 is the Instant Matchpoint Game ($5 extra and you get a booklet) Chance for GOLD!
Oct. 28 is another Club Appreciation Game (81.8% more point value)
Unit Game and Lesson July 18
Evelyn Holtz opened us up to new possibilities for communicating in Jacoby Transfer and Texas Transfer bidding sequences. For many of us, this was completely new and eye-opening. For others, it was an excellent review of all the nuances involved. Over fifty people participated in the lesson, and we had 17.5 tables of bridge, necessitating two sections. Jackie Ortiz provided a delicious buffet lunch of green salad, potato salad, corn dogs, apple pie and cookies. We were more than satisfied. Thank you to Evelyn and Jacki and Kathy V for making a great day. Here are the winners:
Section 1 N/S
A Bob Klein and Gary Robinson
B Lawson James and Jonathan Cohen
C David Kramer and Veronica Berlin
Section 1 E/W
A Evelyn Holtz and Lynn Blumenthal*
B Andy Andrews and Carol Morse
C Tony and Naomi Ramsden
Section 2 N/S
A Daniel Harp and Joanne Wegsten*
B Susan Cook and Barbara Simon
C Katherine Schram and Stephanie Poley
Section 2 E/W
C David Mendel and Jerry Besses
B Larry Borsian and Asher Nathan
C Azar Riazi and Tess Offord
*= overall winner
Unit Game and Lesson August 15
Game tries after suit agreement come in various styles, depending on partnership agreement. Tony Jackson gave a thorough explanation of the various approaches, with handouts that have several examples and quizzes that help you check your understanding. He also made time to introduce the Spiral Convention (and Modified Spiral) which helps players find the best spot to play when they might have a seven-card fit. Jacki provided another great lunch with zucchini fritters, salads, and muffins. The winners in each tier from the fifteen tables that participated are:
North/South
Carolyn Zocchi and Ann Goldberg (B) 59.9%
Jackie Ortiz and Barbara Simon (A) 57.69%
Carolyn Loe and Randy Loe (C) 54.17%
East/West
Asher Nathan and Paul Scheinberg (B) 65.71%
Mark Hersko and Larry Spanier (A) 63.46%
David Mendel and Jerry Besses (C) 57.37%
Big Games
We have had three very fine lessons provided on Saturday Unit game days. Jackie Ortiz and Bruce Blakely came in 3rd overall out of 138 pairs with a 70.3% game on June 9th.
Roy Redlich came in 3rd out of 2,143 players for an 83.07% game on FunBridge on July 10.
John Shribbs and Lynn Dondero got a 70.33% game playing in Sonoma on July 20.
ProAm Game at Finley
Nancy Gunn and Pam Schrock, N/S and David Foote and Jesse Stamness, E/W were the top winners in the July 29 ProAm game. They each won $12, a lottery ticket, and two chocolate bars! Three people won door prizes, with the same contents but a $10 bill instead. (Jeremy Brott, Lynn Blumenthal, and Patty Harberson). Our next ProAm game occurs on Sept. 30.
Sara Rothmuller Represents!
As of the writing of this newsletter, Sara is competing in the World Bridge Federation 2026 World Bridge Series in Katowice, Poland. She will participate on a team comprised of herself, Silvana Rojko from Slovenia and Thomas Rush and Victor Quiros from various parts of the U.S.A. I will report her impressions of this event in the October Heart of the District. Best of luck, Sara!
Rank Advancements
Jeff Sachar has become a Silver Life Master and Barbara Olsen has become a Club Master. Congratulations.
A Shout-Out to Kathy Venton
Kathy has been on vacation for several weeks but before she left, she made sure that all the clubs in Unit 509 (Finley 509, Oakmont and Bridge Gallery) had all the boards we were going to need in her absence. She prepared over eighteen sets of boards and accompanying hand records so that we would be able to “carry on” as usual. On behalf of the club managers, directors and players, thank you Kathy. That’s a lot of work.
Bob Rottmayer
Written by Mary Lyons
Bob Rottmayer became ill during our late-April bridge cruise with Larry Cohen and died in Santa Rosa on May 24. We met at the Bridge Gallery in 2012. With his PhD in physics and mine in clinical psychology, we made an interesting partnership. During his distinguished career, he once led a team of 30 physicists and earned more than 30 patents. My son-in-law recently said, “All the scientists in heaven are cheering and clapping—he’s here, he’s here!”
He was an avid gardener – loved his grapevines, his wonderful vegetable garden, his fruit trees. Bob loved cooking, fine dining and great wine. Most impressively, he very well managed his type I Diabetes for more than 70 years. Bob was also a master wood craftsman, making pieces and furniture (much like the Amish) for his home and for his family. In his career Bob traveled all over the world. And, in retirement we visited national parks – Glacier, Yosemite (often), Bryce and Zion – vacationed in summers at Lake Winnipesaukee, NH – and traveled to Alaska, Ireland, Germany (we experienced the entire Ring Cycle in Wagner’s Opera House in Bayreuth). He loved opera and going to symphony concerts. In the past he played golf and tennis, was a serious bicyclist, and walked every day. Bob was married to Pat for 50+ years and has a sister, Sue in New York, his son, Mike (Agnes), his daughter, Julie (Paul) and two wonderful grandchildren. He will be greatly missed by us all.
John Kozero
From Legacy.com
John M. Kozero was born into a steel-working family on August 12,1942, in the South Side of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and passed away on August 3, 2026, from complications of Parkinson’s disease in his home in Santa Rosa, California. Possessing a rare combination of intelligence and earthiness, John pursued with consuming passion the interests that inspired him and loved with fierce generosity those he deemed worthy of that affection. From his childhood obsession with magic tricks to his mature enthusiasm for Easy Racer recumbent bike century rides, John did not believe in doing things halfway. He had an abiding love for verbal legerdemain (look it up, John would want you to!), bridge, theater, good food and witty company, and the belief that humanity would always prevail over evil.
As a student at Lehigh University, John developed many of these interests, writing for the Brown and White newspaper and performing at the Pennsylvania Playhouse where he was best known for his role in their 1962 production of “Send Me No Flowers.” It was also at Lehigh where John first encountered bridge. One day, intending to join the chess players, whom he found solemnly plotting away at their matches, he saw another group of students laughing, chatting, and playing cards. Intrigued, he asked the game’s name. “I’ll take that,” said John, who went on to found the university’s bridge club, and later won several national bridge tournaments, receiving the Life Master Award from the American Contract Bridge League in 1972.
After graduation in 1964, John served with the US Army Intelligence Corps first in Vietnam then in Nuremberg Germany. He briefly wrote for the Easton Express (now The Express Times) in Easton Pennsylvania, before parlaying his mastery of language into a career in public relations. Following a stint with Kemper Insurance in Chicago, he moved to northern California where he worked as the Director of Public Relations for Fireman’s Fund Insurance and met Sandra (Sandy) Chin while playing in a bridge tournament. The couple, united by their shared giving and passionate natures, would enjoy a happy marriage of forty-four years in their beloved Sonoma County, where they would serve many superior dinners paired with appropriate wines.
John is survived by his sisters Marie and Barbara Kozero, his brother Robert and numerous nieces and nephews. He is predeceased by his wife Sandy, his brother Frank, his sisters Anne and Lucy, and his much adored and faithful Schnauzer, Watson. Memorial contributions can be made to a Parkinson’s charity of your choice.
