Milton Bridge Club still going strong
One day in 1953, when Lydia Wagamon was having coffee with her late friend Lib Clendaniel, she mentioned she wanted to learn how to play bridge.
Lib said she would teach her, but they would need four people to play. So they set out to convince a couple friends to get together. Thelma Black and Jeanne Sposato, joyfully accepted, and after a few weeks they opened another table to more friends: Wanda King, Betty Black, Rose Reed and Alice White.
Original members Lydia, Wanda and Jeanne reminisce about the old times. They started playing at each other's homes in the evenings, after dinner was done and the kids were asleep. They would take turns hosting the event from 8 p.m. to midnight, every other week on Thursday.
Lydia recalls her husband's reaction 62 years ago when he walked in on them playing cards. "Where did you learn to play bridge?" he asked. Lydia responded, "We are highly intelligent."
Jeanne recalled one evening when she left after midnight. Her husband had locked the door, not knowing she didn't have a key. He had gone to sleep, and she couldn't rouse him. Long before everyone had a cell phone, she decided to travel back to her friend's home, praying the whole time they were not yet asleep.
She was relieved to see the lights still on and told her friends of her dilemma. She appointed her friend's husband to climb in the window to unlock her door, but at that point her husband woke up. Hearing the commotion, he thought there was a burglar in the house.
Jeanne said it all ended alright, and no one was hurt.
In the last few years, the bridge club decided to meet out instead of in each other's homes. "It's just easier on us to let the wonderful people at The Rookery take care of us," Jeanne said, and Lydia agreed.
New club members who joined the original three and meet at The Rookery are Caroline Donovan, Sara Burnham, Pat Stenger, Ethel Graham and Ginny Caras. Of the eight members and loyal substitutes, two are 92, two are 88, one is 89, two are 85 and one is 79.
