Unit 172 is pleased to recognize Beth Gale for her untiring service to the Unit and the local bridge community. She has served many years on the Board of Directors and supported local clubs and tournaments. She is always friendly and willing to help whenever there is a need. Her smile and welcoming attitude at the table are always appreciated by partners and competitors alike.

We are thankful for her hospitality. She is a wonderful cook, and the local bridge community has been fortunate to enjoy her dishes at Unit games and tournaments.

She has been chairperson for numerous sectional tournaments and unit games. The checklist she prepared for tournaments and games continues to be helpful to the current chair. Even after she completed her last post on the Board, she continues to prepare the flyers for tournaments.

The Board members of Unit 172 want to thank her for her generous contributions to the Unit and local bridge community

Jack became interested in bridge right after college, while he waited to join the military. After serving in the Air Force, he joined Schlumberger as a field engineer. He later went on to specialize in analyzing nuclear magnetic resonance data acquired in oil and gas wells.

After his retirement, Jack became more focused on bridge. He is known for being a great partner, and a very courteous opponent. In his words, “..I would like to apply my energy toward helping others to play and enjoy this great game that we love. This includes improving the playing environment, the atmosphere, hosting tournaments and especially encouraging new players to join and retaining current players”. His actions have mirrored his words.

He has served our Unit 174 in many capacities including Supply Coordinator and most recently as President. During his tenure, Jack was tasked with keeping our Board of Trustees focused and on point during the pandemic. We were zooming our Board meetings and Jack would Zoom or chat with any of us any time to teach and explain what needed to be done. He was always available to help the new board members learn operations and procedures and share his own experiences. With patience and foresight Jack is still an integral part of our Unit 174 Board and is always willing to help. In 2019, Jack was asked to serve as District 16 Recorder. He gladly accepted this role and all of its responsibilities as another way for him to ‘give back’ to our bridge community.

Unit 176 is pleased to award the 2022 Unit Star award to Joe Gill. Joe has served on the unit board for the last 6 years, including 2 years as President.

During his time on the board Joe became our unit communication guru. He streamlined and automated the monthly newsletter and cleaned up our contact list. Because of his efforts the read-rates for our email communications increased greatly. Joe's expertise was also integral as we transitioned to an online unit board election process during the Covid pandemic.

In addition to these specific efforts, Joe brought valuable insight and and leadership during a very challenging time for our unit. Congratulations Joe, and thank you for all your hard work.

Randy Eads burst upon the duplicate bridge scene the very day he retired from his real job as an engineer at Lockheed Martin. His new career had begun. Randy played often and well and he advanced fast! Since he was so often at the studio - and such a likeable guy - he was, and still is, an easy target for anyone wanting something done. His first "volunteer" job was keeping the drink machine stocked. Soon after that he started taking random pictures at studio events. After acquiring some bigtime photography equipment and taking some special classes he got serious about it and, sure enough, he got volunteered to be the official photographer for lots of Sectionals and Regionals in the area.

Randy had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the right time and got volunteered to help chair the Unit 183 tournaments. He is now designing our flyers, keeping track of the covid cards, and contributing to the daily bulletins at Regionals. And finally, this year he was nominated to run for the Unit 183 Board of Directors. In his own words, "When Jacque asked me to run, my initial reaction was to run the other way as fast as possible. But I could not outrun her, so here we are." Randy easily won election to the Board. Now there's a guy who knows how to volunteer! Truth be told, folks just like having Randy around. That's why he gets volunteered so much and that's why he is our Star!

Mabel Byrnes is our Unit 187 District Star honoree this year. She started playing bridge about twenty years ago after she sold her CPA practice and semi-retired. She was hoping to just improve at party bridge, but instead got hooked on duplicate. She has been an active and valued member of our club ever since, serving several terms as Treasurer. Covid and leasing issues have made this a difficult time for the club and she is working hard to make sure that we can continue to have "face to face" bridge here in Corpus Christi. She is presently our Treasurer, does a really great job and is very well liked by all our members. We think she is definitely deserving of the Award

Bill and Rita Lancet began their fairly tale romance in May 1969. After six dates, Bill asked Rita to marry him and she said yes! During their 53 years, Bill and Rita have continued to strengthen one another daily. Not only are they partners for life, but they have always been duplicate bridge partners. Bill and Rita had to take a 30 year hiatus from bridge while working and raising their family in Seagraves, Texas. They began duplicate bridge again in 2016 when they moved to Lubbock, Texas. Bill and Rita soon realized that all opening two bids were not strong! They made everyone at the Llana Estacado Unit 197 138909 their second family and lifetime friends. To be recognized by their peers with the Texas Star Service Award, Bill and Rita are honored. Everything they have participated in doing in the club was done with the support of their bridge enthusiasts and the love and challenge of the game.

Since Valerie Townley-Smith became a member of Unit 201, she has been an active supporter serving on the Board, chairing tournaments, and encouraging new members. She has even created an evening game to encourage newcomers, and continues its weekly organization. Val doesn't ask for recognition, but continues to support our membership and duplicate bridge. This award can only begin to say how grateful we are for all her continuing hard work

Pat Bitner shines bright in person and thru text. Our bridge community appreciates Pat Bitner for her thorough reporting of bridge happenings, participants and results each week. Pat is encouraging to all players with a mix of recognition, humor and appreciation via group email and local newspaper weekly. Our human interest stories are colorfully described by Pat. She previously served on the Board of Directors for many years specifically as our scribe for meetings. Congrats and thank you.

Mary Ann grew up in a family that played bridge, and "tinkered" at it for several years before being introduced to duplicate. She began to take it more seriously and started playing duplicate about 16 years ago at the Arlington Duplicate Bridge Club in Arlington, TX. The plan was to do something to keep her mind active as she crossed the 50-year-old threshold. But it turned into something more than that--a passion for the game and a love for the many wonderful people she has met along the way. Mary Ann now plays most of her bridge, and teaches, at the Lake Chapala Duplicate Bridge Club in Lake Chapala, Mexico where she has lived for the last 8 years. She is President of the Unit 205 Board in western Mexico, is active in planning the Puerto Vallarta Regional and Ajijic Valentine Sectional tournaments, and is a regular attendee at other tournaments in Mexico.

Rita learned to play social bridge in Wisconsin where she and her husband, Glen, lived. While on a winter vacation in Sun City, she began playing duplicate bridge with her now longtime partner, Kay Lynch. In 2009, Rita and Glen moved to Sun City permanently. Their next-door neighbor, Dale Irish, was an avid duplicate player who became her mentor. Rita was soon playing in tournaments all over Texas.

Rita quickly began volunteering at the club for events and activities, including developing a class she called "Bridge Mechanics" designed to turn a social bridge player into a tournament player. She has taught this class every year since 2013.

In the past 10 years she has contributed countless hours to the growth of the Sun City Bridge Club. Among her accomplishments: • Teaching the Audrey Grant Conventions Class and Bridge Mechanics yearly. • Named Education Chair for Sun City • Earned her director certification • Served on the Unit 207 Board • Acts as Club Coordinator and Unit Facebook Administrator • Welcome Committee Chair for the Austin NABC • Speaker program for the Sun City Club

In her spare time, she and Glen enjoy tennis, biking, traveling, church and entertaining friends and family in her home.

Scott Vaughan first joined ACBL in 1994. But after a year, he quit until 2011. Since 2011, he has become a Life Master and currently holds more than 1500 points. Scott is an excellent bridge player, who is consistently pleasant to both his partner and his opponents at the bridge table, but it is not his ability at the bridge table that got him a unanimous vote from the nominating committee to be the Unit 209 District Star. Nor is it his willingness to serve as an officer of both the Unit and the Odessa Duplicate Bridge club. He has served as Unit Vice President, Unit President and Odessa Duplicate Club President multiple times, and he is currently serving as Unit President. It is Scott’s willingness to help out where ever he is needed that has made him our nominee. He has helped with bridge lessons in Odessa, is always available to substitute as Club Director for games in both Odessa and Midland, as well as acting as Club Director for a game in Odessa, and spent countless hours helping in the remodeling of the Allison Bridge Center in Midland. He has accomplished all of this while holding a full-time job.

I was born in Norman, Oklahoma, where my Dad was stationed in the Navy. We moved to Wichita Falls, Texas, when I was 2 and this is where I grew up. I graduated from Midwestern State University and married Gary May. We then moved to Irving, Texas, for 17 years where I taught mathematics at MacArthur High School, had 2 children and graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington. We moved back home in 1981 and I taught mathematics at MSU for 31 years, retiring in 2013.

I had taught for nearly 50 years and had no idea what I would do when I retired. Luckily, a good friend introduced me to duplicate bridge and I have loved every minute that I have been involved with Unit 353. I took lessons and started playing with another novice who was a special partner for 7 years. She was my crutch when my husband of 54 years died in 2018. Sadly, she died in 2021 and I miss her. I have been privileged to play with many different partners including the good friend who first introduced me to duplicate bridge. I have served as Secretary, Treasurer and President on our Unit Board. I write the Scorecard and I am the Unit 353 Representative on the District 16 Board. I have been so blessed to be involved with all our members and I consider it such an honor to be nominated for the Star Award. Thank you Unit 353.