 Gloria Rowland was recognized by the Van Zandt DBC as their player of the year for 2023, her second time to be recognized. This award is given to the member who accumulates the most points during the calendar year.
Gloria’s lifelong love for the game began with party bridge. That changed about 65 years ago when she was living in Abilene and attended a lecture given by the legendary Charles Goren. She was immediately captivated by the competitive nature of contract bridge. Gloria and her husband played together, and she played against both Goren and Oswald Jacoby in tournaments.
Gloria and her husband moved to Dallas from Abilene, and she did not play for some time while she was busy raising her children and working. Gloria’s husband died and she remarried a gentleman farmer who did not play bridge.
In 1991, she moved to the Cedar Creek Lake and took up the game again. She found some people who played party bridge, and in a moment of serendipity, found out from a kibbutzer that a local duplicate game existed. There she met Evelyn Schmidt who became a friend, bridge partner and business colleague. Evelyn, Gloria and others used to attend tournaments together, always loading into Evelyn’s vehicle since it had the most room for luggage.
In 2002, they attended a tournament in Atlanta where they discovered knockout team play. They entered and won – totally exhilarating because the number of points awarded in this type of play is much higher than pairs.
Evelyn and Gloria opened The Bridge Studio at Cedar Creek in 2003. It welcomed players for the next 17 years, until Covid shut everything down. It hosted classes for new players and attracted players all over the region due to its reputation for friendliness.
Gloria is a Sapphire Life Master, with over 4100 master points, and received the Texas Star Award, a District-level award which recognizes a player’s significant contributions to his/her Unit throughout the year.
The Van Zandt DBC is honored to have Gloria as a regular player. Her love of the game, sense of humor, generosity of spirit, and willingness to help less-experienced players is so appreciated by those of us who know her.
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