Written by: Jeff Roman

Mom got her start in bridge the same way I did...our mothers needed a 4th. My parents achieved LM at a time when it was considerably difficult to do so. For my father, it was "ok, did that...what's next?", but Mom's love of the game lasted her entire life, and up until a couple months ago, I played with her online for hours every day. If we had disagreements I would tell her there are no directors who can actually play the game, and she would say "just because I taught you everything YOU know, doesn't mean I taught you everything I know".

After my parents divorced, Mom started directing to make money, and discovered that she loved it. She started with club games, then bought a dedicated bridge studio ("Bridge Aces") with some partners, and then became an ACBL tournament director. Being in the DC area allowed her to learn from great directors and interact with great players and encounter intricate situations, and difficult rulings. She was so excited when she started working NABCs, and along with making lifelong friendships, she quickly showed she belonged. Every year I have people approach me "I didn't know T was your mother!", and instantly think more highly of me for that.

There was the time (I was 14 or 15) something happened at my table, so I needed that woman over there to come over here, so I raised my hand in a hotel ballroom full of tables of bridge and called out "Mom!" The room erupted in laughter, as the floor steadfastly refused to swallow me whole. A bunch of bridge players have always called her "Mom" since that day.

Mom was a great cook. I came to cooking late, and I remember the exact moment I lost my fear and general cluelessness... Mom had been visiting, and was getting ready to leave. I was standing at my kitchen sink with a package of frozen spinach, a pot and a measuring cup, and was reading the back of the package. She asked me what I was doing, and I told her what I was making for dinner. "No, I mean what are you doing right now?" I admitted to trying to figure out how to cook frozen spinach, and the look on her face...omg. She said "Hand me the pot. (Turns on water, holds pot under for a moment) Jeff, put some water in the pot." I say "ahhh, so I don't need .014624229 cups of water?" Mom - "Look...there's no rules here. Stick with ingredients you like, don't burn 'em to the pan and you'll do just fine. If it comes out differently than you thought it would?...Call it something else."

She was devoted to her family, and was so thrilled that she got to meet and hold and play with her 1st great grandchild, Ms Violet Roman. :)

You were my Mom's other family. She loved the game, and the travel, and the characters, and made many genuinely dear lifelong friendships that meant so much to her. She retired, and when Tom (2nd husband) died suddenly, she went back to work and to her other family, and that sustained her really thru the rest of her life, for which I'm incredibly grateful to you all, in addition to all of the sweet responses and recollections already posted on the RIP page.