a little History 

Back in the late eighty's, Eldon was a divorced Chiropractor in Bay City Michigan, with two children, 
a dog and a cat. Susie, a realtor, was just divorced from a non-bridge player in Midland, Michigan, 
twenty miles from Bay City, with a grown son living in Wisconsin. Although they had seen each other at 
bridge, they did not know each other.

One weekend, Susie's son Michael (now 40, a married chemical engineer with one daughter ) took her
water skiing - she was thinner  then.... Taking a bad fall, landing on her neck, she waited
about a week thinking it would heal itself before finally giving in and calling the only Chiropractor she 
had heard of - Eldon.

Eldon x-rayed her neck, adjusted it, and as she was waiting up front to pay the lady at the desk, he came out of
the office, put his arm on her shoulder and said, "No charge." Now she was really in trouble. Both were seeing
other people at the time.

Five months later, Eldon moved in with dog and cat. They were to the point of closing every Tuesday and 
Thursday because there were two bridge games on those days, and of course bridge was more important than 
being in an office!

Married in 1989, both only kids with elderly sick Mothers, Eldon decided to retire early to take care of Susie's 
Mom in North Carolina. His Momma, Sophie, had passed away in early 1992. They put everything on sale, 
planning on leaving as soon as possible. In December, 1992, they arrived in North Carolina with many 24 foot
U-Haul trucks. It was a good move, Susie's Mom had Alzheimer's, and needed the help. She passed away 
in May of 2000.

Eldon wanted to involve himself in bridge once retired. Starting off with one sanctioned game in 1994, he now
has five games a week, four sectionals a year, attends most sectionals and regionals in the area, is a teacher, 
director, bridge pimp, (does all local partnership), has been on the Mid-Atlantic Board of Governors for four 
years, was elected to the District Seven Board of Governors  many years ago, was District Seven President  for two years and as of September, 2004, will be President of the MABC  (Mid-Atlantic Bridge Conference) until January 2007.

Susie, also on the Mid-Atlantic Board of Governors, spends all her time in the kitchen whipping out cookies,
cakes, and snacky things. Poor Eldon doesn't get many good meals anymore with all the bridge cooking, 
but he does realize Hardee's is on the corner.

Eldon's two kids are Jamie, now 30, made us grandparents first.!  She and her husband, Josh,  live in  Midland, Michigan, with their two children, Jenna, 5 and Jake 1.   Justin, 28, is a married electrical engineer,  and living in Milwaukee,  Wisconsin. And when you
notice Susie's kid is older than Eldon's - no, Eldon is older than Susie by three years. He was just in school
longer and got a late start....

After being married several years, Susie and Eldon noticed a collection of pictures that had been hanging
on their wall in the office for years. Susie had taken the shots at a bridge sectional in Flint, Michigan in 1987.
A picture with Eldon in the background was in the collection. He had been framed, hanging there for years, can you imagine -
a picture of him even before she knew him. Eldon swears he spoke to her in the elevator at that sectional, 
asking where she was from, and thinking to himself that  even driving forty miles to play bridge was the dumbest thing he had ever done, and here she was in from Kentucky!.... 

 This was written by Chuck Whidden in 2002, updated by the Claymans in 2004 because the children aged, and added little ones on....