Jan Birkett of Sedona/ Flagstaff Arizona became a Life Master this past January. Jan was born and raised in New Jersey, but has lived in many different places, including Utah, Colorado, California and most recently Arizona.
Jan’s work career began as a Legal Secretary and later, as a Real Estate broker in California and Arizona. Jan learned to play bridge at lunch while working at U.S. Steel in Provo, Utah. She was introduced to duplicate bridge in Prescott in 1968 and played weekly at the Elks club. She moved to Sedona in 1976 and gave up bridge for the next 20 years until she moved to Flagstaff, Arizona. While living in Flagstaff, Jan took lessons from Peter Wahl and partnered with Francie Cody at least 3 to 4 times a month.
Jan moved back to Sedona 3 years ago and her real addiction to bridge began. She became inspired at a 299’er regional in Tuscon two years ago to see how many points she could earn in a year. Last year, she accumulated 184 Master points and all the colors she needed to earn her life master.
For the past 6 months, Jan is conceivably Sedona’s hottest tournament player. She played on the Kavanaugh Team at the Las Vegas Regional which won 3 knockouts and earned over 28 master points. She played on a winning knockout team in Laughlin, Nevada in September. In October, Jan played on the 1776 team which earned 22 points by winning a knockout at El Paso Regional. She also played on a winning knockout team which earned 20 points at this January’s Albuquerque Regional.
Jan
is fortunate to have a very supportive husband, John, and a bunch of
children, step-children and grandchildren who don’t quite understand
her compulsion to bridge. Her husband, John, is quite the competitor
himself. He coached
college basketball at NAU and High School
basketball in Iowa and California. John also enjoys golf and has
participated in many golf tournaments over the years. He never realized
how competitive his wife was until she took up the Bridge and is
astonished at her ambition.
Jan has had a lot of help in attaining her success. Besides Peter Wahl, Jan has taken lessons from Suzanne Wells of Cottonwood, Arizona. She has partnered with Cass Johnson, Larry Green, Jay Kavanaugh, Linda Mueller, Pat Dodd, Marsha and Darryl Helton on tournament teams. She earned her 300th point while partnering with Josette Arvey in a local game.
We wish to congratulate Jan on becoming a Life Master.
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