Gone, But Not Forgotten
BOBBYE JEAN CALDWELL
1933 - 2011
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Living Bouquets
When I quit this mortal shore
And mosey 'round this earth no more,
Do not weep and do not sob;
I may have found a better job.
Don't go and buy a large bouquet
For which you'll find it hard to pay,
Don't mope around and feel all blue;
I may be better off than you.
Don't tell the folks I was a saint
Or any old thing that I ain't.
If you have jam like that to spread,
Please hand it out before I'm dead.
If you have roses bless your soul,
Just pin one in my buttonhole
While I'm alive and well today;
Don't wait until I'm gone away.
Anonymous
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Mrs C.
Some people, using the words of Evelyn White, who "get their
heavenly wings" belong to the local club, maybe the unit or the section. Bobbye Jean belonged to the ABA. She did so much for the ABA that it's difficult to list them all.
Many years ago, she was editor of the ABA Bulletin and when it was time to go to press,she had her crew there at her apartment doing whatever the assignment was.
She was interviewed for the "Seventy Year Journal" and from that interview we know that she got her "bridge wings" by losing her money. During her beginning days, the better players in Chicago wouldn't let you into the game unless you had money. She confessed that she and Freddie earned their bridge expertise the hard and COSTLY way. They would get their heads beat in, but they would go back until they mastered the game.
Bobbye was not only one of the top players in the ABA, but she was, from my prospective, "The First Lady of Chicago, ABA". If she wasn't head of the committee, whoever was head, contacted her. As "First Lady," she wore a lot of hats. She was a director, a teacher, a general chair extraordinaire.
I met her in 1965 when she was playing on a Mixed Team with Arnold Jones. I was playing with Bill Williams and the Jay Andersons from somewhere in Ohio. Our teams shared the top spots. " I was asking, who is that little feisty redhead?" They told me!!! Later, Mary Green and I played on a Woman's Team with Joyce Williams & Bobbye.
ABA partners and teammates that I remember are: Arnold Jones, Joyce Williams, Dot Sides, Bob Friend, Edna Cravanas, Bob Wallace, Melvin Rhone & Gladys Jean. All top-shelf competitors.
Bobbye was one of three people I know who "listened" to their telephone calls and rarely answered it. I was there a couple of times with Almeta Gary when I noticed that whoever called, just started talking, telling the whole story. Almeta said they didn't expect her to answer but they knew that she would respond somehow.
Bobbye was editor of the "Seventy Year Chronicle" and when the ABA held tournaments in Cities where they were no host group, you can bet Bobbye was somewhere in the mix.
Go ahead Bobbye, and get your bridge game together: Almeta , Joyce & Dot Sides are keeping a seat warm for you. When it's time for the Mixed Pairs, seek out Larry Berkley. (He idolized you!) He had all of us New Yorkers wanting to meet you or to travel to Chicago for a cup of your "continuously-flowing" coffee.
Yea, he told us all about the marathon bridge games during the Chicago snowstorms.
Our sympathy to your family.
Done in Sorrow by Mary E. Moragne
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