Jean Carol
This is a hard journal entry to write, simply because I don't want to admit that we've lost Jean.
I enjoyed Jean as a Scrabble player, a friend, a confidante, and just a fun, great, lady.
She was a fierce Scrabble opponent, particularly in tournaments. My lifetime record against Jean in tournaments (beginning at the Midwest Invitational in 1991 and ending with the Pigeon Forge tournament in 2007) was 9-7.
She was very adept mathematically and strategically and for 2 or 3 years calculated old and new ratings resulting from the Wednesday night club sessions (from 6:30 to 11:30 or 12am) which included Steve Krieger, Bob DeTore, and Phyllis Prather). It helped me to take each and every game seriously, and to think when I was tired, but didn't quite feel like it.
Jean was the master of accents (some of them included British, Indian, Russian, and southern US (Martha Magnolia)). Most of the accents she did had me and other of her friends laughing in stitches.
She enjoyed and appreciated fine dining. Two places we would go in Cincinnati to celebrate victories (or accomplishments) were the Maisonette (a many time 5-star restaurant) and The Iron Horse Inn.
Jean was family-oriented and always updated me on what was going on with her sister Mary Lou and husband Al, her nieces Shannon (and her sons) and Katie and her nephew Govinda. She enjoyed traveling to see them or hosting them when they visited.
She also was a big tennis fan -- me, her and Letty Dolphin (another Cincinnati Scrabble player) went to the finals of the Cincinnati Masters' Tennis tournament (a step below the Majors) and saw Pete Sampras clobber an opponent. I believe her favorite player was Roger Federer. He displayed a lot of the class and competitiveness that Jean exhibited over the Scrabble board.
Jean was always fun to joke with, and she was good at joking back as well. One of my memories that I will take to my grave was that I was having a hard time at Scrabble club and said I could "easily go 5-1" after losing my first game. I think I ended up 2-4 or 1-5 for the night. After losing each game that night they kept repeating that comment to me :) But I think the club got a lot of mileage of that comment when I was (and wasn't) there. She, Steve Krieger, and others never let me live that down (and I smile as I type this).
Jean was always a good counselor -- she always asked good questions and didn't assume or judge. She was also good with sincere, comforting thoughts and words after I had been through a rough period at work or Scrabble. I've really missed her over the past few years since her devastating strokes. I know she's happier up in Heaven, though.