We are sad to say we have lost another bridge player. Miki passed away on March 21 from complications of pancreatic cancer surgery. Miki's dear friend and bridge partner Marie Groh has been updating a Caringbridge journal to keep people up to date.
Miki's favorite thing about playing bridge was interacting with the people she grew to know and care for. Her proudest bridge moment was winning her first ever knockout at Jeffco in 2017 (with Patti Tussy, Marie Groh, and Tim Niebauer. She was a patient and forgiving partner and did not have cross words when her partners made mistakes - even one who kept forgetting coded 9's and 10's for 3 years!
A strong woman at the table and in life Miki was diagnosed with Chron's Disease at the young age of 25. She did not let her often painful and physically challenging health issues slow her down and she traveled extensively. Miki was an insatiable learner and took 2 or 3 Road Scholar trips every year. She was and avid and unstoppable hiker. In January she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
The daughter of Austrian parents smuggled out of Europe by her maternal grandparents just before the holocaust. While a law professor at Lake Forest University in Miki discovered some letters written to her parents in 1941. She and another Lake Forest professor found a personal connection while examining the letters which eventually led to an NPR interview in 2008. The contents were disturbing but the story behind it is beautiful, poignant and fascinating.
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