September 2019 - 69

Ken Van Cleve 1950-2019
* Alma Pittenger, Amarillo TX
Ruth Eilene Sullivan, San Antonio TX
* Charlene E. Pascal, Bountiful UT
Paul R. Deuster, Fairfax VA
* Louise Hayes, Potomac Falls VA
John F. Kling, Richmond VA
* Elizabeth P. Paul, Gwynn VA
* Maryan Stevens, Arlington VA
* Ralph L. Fuller, Woodinville WA
* Jan I. Kulczycki, South Bend WA
* Maultin E. Mathias, Lakewood WA
Mary Lou H. Nolan, Gig Harbor WA
* Bob Esser, Madison WI
Norma L. Jorgensen, Green Bay WI

photo by Jonathan Steinberg

* Roene E. Severyn, Canonsburg PA
Sue L. Andrews, Irmo SC
* Patricia L. Beuoy, Hilton Head SC
Michael E. Gardenier, Daniel Island SC
Charles S. Goldberg, Charleston SC
* James S. Crowell, Kingsport TN
Herbert Lepper, Knoxville TN
Maria R. Nikola, Chattanooga TN
Rolf C. Rosenvinge, Oak Ridge TN
* Kyle Weems, Chattanooga TN
* Patricia J. Worsham, Oak Ridge TN
* Sylvia S. Besing, Dallas TX
Barbara L. Cunningham, Wichita Falls TX
* Bob Joyce, Houston TX
John E. Kimble, Granbury TX
* Judith Lotridge, Carrollton TX

Associate National Tournament Director Ken Van Cleve of Traverse City MI
died July 9 after battling cancer. He was
68. During his 25-year career with the
ACBL, Van Cleve served as a field supervisor, area manager and as director in
charge for a large number of tournaments,
especially those in Michigan, where he ran
almost every tournament for more than a decade.
He was born Oct. 2, 1950, to Claire and Bernadine Van Cleve
in Muskegon MI.
Van Cleve started working for the ACBL in 1994 as a local
tournament director and moved up the ranks, gaining a reputation for carefully assessing situations and making things work.
"He was one of the pillars of working at nationals," said Mike
Roberts, a TD who worked with Van Cleve at all the tournaments in Ohio and Michigan large enough to have two directors since 2007. "You could always guarantee whatever event he
was running was running smoothly. It's quite a big blow for the
directing community."
Alex Bealles is another TD who knew Van Cleve for the past
12 years. "He had a calming effect on players and directors,"
Bealles said. "He was a great mentor to me. He taught me a lot,
gave me opportunities to do new things when we were working
together."
As chair of the annual sectional in Traverse City for 10 years,
Lynn Larson enjoyed working with Van Cleve. "He was always
prepared, kind, thoughtful, helpful and understood the psyche
of bridge players," she said. "Before we began play, Ken would
remind us that our partners were our best friends, something
some of us forget."
One of Van Cleve's closest friends was Jonathan Fleischmann, a young player in the Detroit area who has known him
for 20 years and played with him semi-regularly for the last few
years. When Van Cleve was directing in southern Michigan,
he would drive down a day early to play with Fleischmann, and
they often won. "As I got more involved with local directing, Ken
became a mentor to me, and I learned how exceptional he was
at his job," Fleischmann said. "It also gave me a chance to enjoy
his sense of humor and wit."
When working a Swiss teams event, directors often call out
results to each other using cultural references in places of numbers. For Van Cleve, classic rock was the preferred point of reference. "I had to brush up on Bob Dylan and Alice Cooper" to
decipher the code, Bealles said.
Roberts noted that Van Cleve seemed to mellow and become more cheerful after marrying his wife, Sarah, about three
years ago. "He seemed to be smiling and happy a lot more,"
Roberts said. "Even during the time his illness was on, he always
had a smile and he was cracking jokes." Van Cleve was diagnosed in December 2018.
Van Cleve is survived by his wife, Sarah; three stepsons,
Samuel, Jonathan and Joseph Carpenter; three grandsons; and
many friends in the bridge community.

*Life Master

In Memoriam policy
Notification of death must come from a family member or from the
estate of the deceased. Notification from a non-family member - such
as from a club or unit official - is acceptable only with a copy of a
published obituary or link to an online obituary. Notifications may be
sent by email to inmemoriam@acbl.org or by phone to 800-264-2743
or by mail to ACBL, c/o In Memoriam Desk, 6575 Windchase Blvd.,
Horn Lake MS 38637-1523.

Tom Walsh 1992-2019
photo by Jonathan Steinberg

Tom Walsh of Saskatoon SK, a former
King of Bridge and Canadian national
champion, died July 14, 2019, after a long
battle with anxiety and depression. He was
27.
Tom was born April 27, 1992, to Gregory
and Cathy Walsh. He joined the ACBL in
2006 at 14 and became a Life Master two and a half years later.
He was chosen for the Sportsmanship Award at the first Youth
NABC in 2008 and was named a Youth Ambassador at the
second one. In 2010, he was King of Bridge, an honor he shared
with Adam Grossack of Newton MA.
A Gold Life Master, Tom won the Canadian National Teams
Championship in 2014. He was vice chair of Unit 575, where his
mother is unit president.
Sharon Stevenson knew Tom since he was 16. "I learned to
play 2/1 with him in the under-99 Tuesday evening group and,
not many years later, watched him win the CNTC in Calgary,"
she said. "Over the years, he spent hours on my deck or at my
kitchen table, and I came to know a smart, funny, kind young
man with a huge caring heart. He wasn't just a world-class
bridge player - he was a world-class human being."
Tom was preceded in death by his father and sister, Katie. He
is survived by his mother.

September 2019 Bridge Bulletin

September 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of September 2019