Don Bowen attained the rank of Gold Life Master after collecting his 2500^th point at a recent club game. His friends decided to purchase a cake for him, and because it was Don, decided a roast was in order. The call went out to members to contribute an anecdote. Plans were put in place and Don’s roast took place on Monday July 30^th, just before the start of the Swiss team game.

Don was invited to the front of the room and the fun began. The introduction was made and the first tidbit, submitted by Pat Clark and read by Annabelle went as follows: (From a Daily-Recap news report June 8, 2008) His heart was in the wrong place, He didn’t wear his heart on his sleeve. Pulled a heart out of his _________, you decide. At the Swiss, yesterday, it seems Don Bowen was humming along nicely in a hand, when he noticed he had 2 fewer cards than everybody else. After a little searching, he found he had been sitting on them! Turns out he had revoked on a previous heart trick, giving Carl McGiffin and Doug Macdaid an extra IMP. Luckily, it wasn’t crucial. But I guess it was assinine.

Rich Talbott followed with: "Don was a paratrooper during World War II but doesn’t normally like to talk about his experiences. One he will tell you about, however is this flight home. The plane was airborne, getting close to the time to start the descent into the designated airport. The stewardess noticed that Don was visibly nervous. Knowing the reason for these passengers being on this particular plane, she asked “You’re from an airborne unit aren’t you”? When he replied he was, she asked, 'Why are you so nervous?' His answer? 'I’ve been in an airplane many times before. It’s not the flight that makes me nervous. It’s the landing. This is the first time I’ve ever been on a plane when it landed.'"

Christie Bendickson was next: "When I started playing in the 'big' game I was extremely nervous and looked forward to the end of the game and being able to go home to soothing my music. When we got to Don’s table, I heard this faint humming sound, and believe it or not, my nerves settled down and I actually enjoyed the rest of the game. Keep right on humming, Don."

Howard Coley’s submissions were read by Annabelle. "Don bought a large red pickup truck that was sooo big he couldn’t see into the bed. (His words.) - Don was so famous for his humming while playing bridge that GM named a vehicle after him – the Hummer! (It’s now out of business.)  One always has to ask Don what he’s driving because he changes vehicles so often."

Mary Ann contributed the following: "Lois Fortunato, Annabelle, Don and I played in all the Tuesday and Wednesday games together supporting the Hernando Bridge Association and working diligently to make it grow. One time when Don’s wife, Joanne, was in Bayonet Point Hospital for bypass surgery, we girls decided to visit Don at the hospital. After waiting in the waiting room for a goodly amount of time we set out in search of Don. He was nowhere to be found. Upon returning to the waiting room, other people in the room overheard us talking about having to leave without seeing Don. They offered to let him know his friends had been looking for him. When they asked “who should we say was visiting, all 3 of us replied, 'His harem!' Mary Ann, Lois and Annabelle were affectionately known as Don’s harem for several years after that."

Jonnie Waite spoke affectionately of Don’s tireless effort to build the bridge clubs.

Annabelle completed the program: "Karen Alpaugh sent me the following comment made by Don himself: '[Annabelle and I] are the only partners in this club who have played together for over 15 years and still use at least 3 bids a game the other doesn’t recognize.'  My reply is, 'Or maybe we just don’t acknowledge that we recognize them. Did you ever think of that, Don?'"

"About 4 years ago, after Don’s mellowing, he had a date to play with Jane Fellows which Jane had to cancel. Don wasn’t home so Don’s wife, Joanne, answered the phone and took the message. During the conversation, Jane mentioned how much she enjoyed playing with Don, how much fun he was to play with and what a pleasant personality he had. Joanne listened attentively. When Don got home she told him about the call and added, “She couldn’t have been talking about you. Do you think she had the right number?”

"My association with Don was strictly through the bridge club. My association with bridge was on again, off again, as I sometimes worked and my work schedule interfered with my bridge playing. I never learned the names of any of the players, just played bridge and went home.

"During these early days, I sometimes lined up partners for coming games and then was unable to keep the dates. At one particular time, when I had to cancel my play dates, I had the name of 1 player but only the initials of the second, DB. My only other clue, I knew it was a man. Looking down the list of players provided by the club, the first name I came across that fit the criteria was Don Bowen. When I called his phone number, our conversation went something like this. 'Hello. Hi Don, this is Annabelle Hills.' Surly voice: 'Who?' 'Annabelle Hills with the bridge club. Do we have a date to play next week?' Surly voice: 'I don’t know any Annabelle Hills and if I did, I certainly would never play with her.' Strike one for Don Bowen.

"My DB turned out to be Dale Brown, not Don Bowen.

"When I was able to return to bridge, I remembered that phone call and didn’t particularly care for Don Bowen. After watching him at games, I decided he must have been a career Drill Sergeant in the Marines. He wasn’t. He was proud to let you know he’d been in the 7^th grade for 37 years. Then he’d tell you he was a teacher. He did serve in the military, parachuting out of planes and fighting for his country in World War II.

"Well, I ended up getting the last laugh. I married him. No, I couldn’t do that, but something just as bad. I became permanent bridge partners with him. That’s almost the same thing as being married and a great way to get even with somebody. It was rough at first; Don flipped his cards in the air to show his disapproval of my play and tried to teach me his bidding system by constantly criticizing my bids. He learned after a fashion, that his criticisms only caused me to dig my heels in deeper and as the years went by he mellowed."

"Let’s talk about Don’s humming. Is there anyone here who isn’t aware of Don’s proclivity to hum? He’s been humming all the many wears we’ve been partners and I haven’t been able to identify a song yet."