PEOPLE

Last summer, Hoover resident Roy Martin traveled to Las Vegas for the 2019 Summer North American Bridge Championship. He came home with the trophy — something he attributes to a lifelong love of the game instilled in him by his family.

To some, the game of bridge might seem like an anachronism. It doesn’t hold the cultural relevance it did in the 1940s, for instance, when 44% of American households had at least one active bridge player. Now, the average age of a competitive bridge player is 71. While the game has seen a recent rise in popularity in the U.K. and China, that resurgence hasn’t happened in America yet.

The love of bridge has been strong in Martin’s family for generations, though. His grandmother, Eula, played for fun, “just with friends around the dinner table,” he said. She taught her three children how to play.

“And so I learned when I was really young, probably 4 or 5 years old,” Martin said. “It was very addictive.”

When he returned home from college, Martin and his father started going to the Birmingham Duplicate Bridge Club, where they would play as partners.

“It was a fun way to spend time with my dad,” Martin said. “There’s just fun memories, and the club has always been really awesome and generous.”

The father-son team eventually qualified for a national tournament, and while they didn’t win, the experience was too fun not to pursue again, Martin said.

“We were just hooked from then on.”

But his father, Guy, wasn’t available to travel to Las Vegas last summer, which meant that Martin had to play with a different partner, Denny Cahan, whom he met in Atlanta during another tournament.

“That was tough for me, because obviously my dad is my favorite partner,” Martin said. “But Denny’s a very nice guy, and I could tell instantly when I met him that he was a very skilled player … . I would’ve loved to win my first national tournament with my dad, but winning it (at all) was cool, and Denny is a great partner.”

Having a great partner is so important, Martin said, because bridge is a deeply psychological game.

“They say bridge and chess are the two great intellectual games, but I would say there’s more psychology in bridge because you have two opponents and a partner,” he said. In a tournament setting, for example, team members have to agree on a bidding strategy, which can include coded “artificial” bids.

PEOPLE A Trick of the Mind

Hoover’s Martin Wins Bridge Championship, Enjoys the Complexity of the Game

Steep Learning Curve

Martin acknowledges the game is complicated to learn.

“The only problem with it is that it’s got a high barrier to entry,” he said. “But once you take off, you’ll never regret it … . Every single hand is different, and it’s something you never really get bored of because there’s a challenge on every single hand, trying to maximize what you’re doing. It’s something you never ever fully figure out. You’re always improving; it’s just a constant challenge.”

For those who are looking to tackle that learning curve, the Birmingham Duplicate Bridge Club, located in Hoover, offers many resources to novice or first-time players.

“I would say that it’s thriving,” Martin said. “You certainly have some older people there, but there are some younger people too. All sorts of walks of life are represented. If you’ve never played bridge a day in your life, they have ‘easy bridge,’ where you can learn to play in a day. There are a lot of people there to help you learn bridge, and most of them are volunteers who give a lot of their time and effort to make things successful.”

Martin also encourages younger people to consider playing bridge, adding that there are more incentives to playing the game than just fun.

“There have been lots of studies that show, especially for younger people, how good bridge is for math skills,” he said. “There are a ton of transferable skills, just in terms of counting and making deductions and inferences. All of these can help people in school. If you add bridge to your curriculum, you’re just by nature going to do better with your academics.”

“A lot of people play poker and video games now, which have kind of replaced bridge,” he continued. “There are so many more things to do. But bridge is superaddictive. It’s the most fun game I’ve ever played, and I’ve played tons of video games. I’ve lived in Vegas and played poker, and it’s great too. But bridge is just so much more complex and fun, no matter your age level. It’s just a fantastic game.”

National bridge champion Roy Martin.

Building a Legacy

Emmet O’Neal Presents Tynes Award to Longtime Supporter Tom Carruthers

By Emily Williams

Each year, Emmet O’Neal Library recognizes an individual or group of individuals who have showcased a devotion to supporting both the city of Mountain Brook and the library. The 2020 Tynes Award, named in honor of former library foundation board Chairman William “Bill” Tynes Jr., was given this year to Thomas N. Carruthers Jr.

A longtime Mountain Brook resident, Carruthers was a founding member of the Mountain Brook Library Foundation – formed in 1993 – and served on the board for its first decade.

“And that was a busy decade,” said Emmet O’Neal Library Executive Director Lindsy Gardner. “That included a capital campaign to raise money for the Emmet O’Neal Library building that we all love today, with its impressive foyer, abundance of natural light and second-floor view of Crestline Village. You can tell I’m a little biased.”

Gardner introduced Carruthers at the Mountain Brook Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Luncheon on Jan. 30, where he was presented with the award.

Upon accepting the award, Carruthers thanked the library board and dedicated it to last year’s award recipient, Alice Williams, who passed away in November. He worked closely with Williams for many years, including serving on the Jefferson County Historical Society Board together and working on the capital campaign for the new library building.

In addition, Williams was a formidable birding expert, a hobby she shared with Carruther’s late wife, Dale.

“She was a remarkable woman and one of the finest women, person, people that I have ever had the privilege of … working with,” he said.

“I’m very honored to have worked with her, and I’m very honored to receive this recognition today.”

Gracious Service

Having been with the library for just three years, Gardner deferred to her predecessor Sue DeBrecht to properly describe Carruthers’ spirit in service to the library.

“The first word that came to her mind was ‘gracious,’” Gardner said. DeBrecht noted that Carruthers was always cheerful in giving his time to the library, whether that required handling building contracts for the new library facility or speaking at a library conference to educate others on establishing a foundation.

In addition, DeBrecht noted that Carruthers saved the library thousands of dollars during the building process, Gardner stated. Those thousands were invested in the foundation to fund future projects, including author events, special collections and capital projects.

“Tom also supports the library by using the library,” Gardner said. “And he passed along his lifelong love of reading and writing to his daughter Virginia Carruthers Smith, who continues Tom’s legacy of library support through her role as president of the Mountain Brook City Council.”

Carruthers is a graduate of Princeton University and earned his juris doctor at Yale Law School, where he served as editor of the Yale Law Journal. He is retired and was a managing partner at Bradley Arant Rose & White. He was named Outstanding Lawyer of the Year by the Birmingham Bar Association in 2001.

He received the Brotherhood and Sisterhood Award for Outstanding Community Service in 2000, awarded by the Alabama Region of the National Conference for Community and Justice.

In addition to his service in Mountain Brook, Carruthers is a member and has previously held leadership positions with the Birmingham Rotary Club, Birmingham Museum of Art, the Lakeshore Foundation, Children’s of Alabama, Leadership Birmingham, the Boy Scouts of America and the Jefferson County Historical Society. He also has had many other philanthropic affiliations.

From left, Colin Melville, Aidan Wright and Jonathan Parris.

Troop 97 Recognizes Three Eagle Scouts at Court of Honor

On Jan. 5, Scouts BSA Troop 97 at Trinity United Methodist Church in Homewood held a Court of Honor to recognize three members who have achieved the rank of Eagle Scout.

The Homewood-based troop celebrated Jonathan Parris, Aidan Wright and Colin Melville, who join more than 240 other Troop 97 Eagles.

Jonathan Parris

In his scouting career, Parris has served in leadership roles including patrol leader, assistant patrol leader, troop guide and librarian, as well as 2010 president of the Venture Crew. He has earned 52 merit badges and his Arrow of Light, is a member of the Order of the Arrow and attended National Youth Leadership Training.

Additionally, Parris has completed high adventure trips – such as backpacking and Rayado treks at Philmont, living aboard Scuba at Sea Base, canoeing and okpik treks at Northern Tier, the new river trek at The Summit and the 24th World Scout Jamboree in 2019.

For his Eagle project, Parris built an octagonal wooden deck at Red Mountain Park’s Susan Mott Webb team-building area, to be used for a comfort circle activity.

He is a junior at Homewood High School, where he plays the saxophone in the Homewood Patriot Band and jazz band, and leads Homewood’s Robotics Team.

Parris is the son of Steve and Cynthia Parris of Homewood.

Aidan Wright

Wright has earned 44 merit badges during his time as a scout, as well as his Arrow of Light, and has served in such leadership roles as patrol leader and den chief.

He has attended the National Youth Leadership Training course, serving as a staff member for the 2018 Winter NYLT, and has served as a Venture Crew staff member for wood badge courses S9-118 and S9-119.

Wright designed an orienting course at the Homewood Forest Preserve for his Eagle project, which helps new Scouts fulfill requirements for their first class rank.

A junior at Homewood High School, he plays the trumpet in the Homewood Patriot Band and jazz band. He is also a member of Patriot Pride Ambassadors, Peer Helpers and Beta Club.

Wright is the son of Shawn and Leigh Wright of Homewood.

Colin Melville

Melville has earned 35 merit badges in his scouting and served in leadership positions that include assistant senior patrol leader, patrol leader and librarian. His accomplishments include canoeing and okpic treks at Northern Tier, membership in the Order of the Arrow, attending NYLT and earning his Arrow of Light.

For his project, Melville built a blackberry arbor and compost bin for the community garden behind Trinity United Methodist Church’s West Campus.

Melville is a senior at the Alabama School of Fine Arts, focusing on a math/science specialty, where he is a Mu Alpha Theta peer tutor and serves on teams for the Science Olympiad, programming, Capture the Flag Hacking, physics and math. He plans to attend the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s School of Engineering in the fall.

Melville is the son of Hannelore Melville of Birmingham.

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New Resident Is Loving Life at The Eastbury

Phyllis Beshany says it over and over: she “fell in love” with The Eastbury.

After spending 30 years living in a two-bedroom condominium in Pembroke Pines, Florida, Beshany decided to make a move.

“I grew up down there, but I reached an age where I wanted to be around a lot of people, especially my family,” she said. She decided to join her son’s family in Homewood, but there was still the matter of finding a place to live.

“I didn’t really want to live with my children, even though they said I could live there,” she said. “I like to be on my own. I’m very independent.”

She was discerning, too. When her son and daughter suggested The Eastbury – a 122-condominium development at 1840 Oxmoor Road – she didn’t immediately say yes.

“When they found this place, I said, ‘Well, I don’t want to move there unless I see it,’” she said. “And the minute we drove here from my son’s house, I fell in love with the place. It’s wonderful. It’s just overwhelmingly good. I can’t find one thing that I don’t like.”

Last year, the owners of the Hill luxury apartments announced that they were redeveloping the property into condominiums meant to appeal to a variety of people – “folks who want a lower-maintenance type of lifestyle, where they can have a place in an urban setting, whether they’re traveling as professionals, young or old, downsizing or upsizing,” said Farris Properties portfolio manager John Chapman.

The Eastbury offers one-, two- and three-bedroom units that have been totally renovated, including new flooring, bathrooms and kitchens. Beshany opted for a one-bedroom.

Price points for the condominiums range from $200,000 to $500,000, which Chapman calls “very attractive.”

Beshany is renting one of the development’s apartment units while work on her condominium is being finished.

“I love the open floor plan,” Beshany said. “The interior and the way it’s laid out … it’s handy. And the kitchen is marvelous. The cabinets are wonderful … . It’s just beautiful, compared to where I came from. And where we’re located is wonderful. There’s nothing that I could say I’m lacking here.”

Developers have often cited The Eastbury’s “irreplaceable” location near downtown Homewood as a selling point for the condominiums, which are a short distance away from the city’s stretch of shops and restaurants on 18th Street. The Eastbury also features plenty of amenities of its own, including a swimming pool, an outdoor kitchen, a fitness room, off-street parking, garage spaces and storage rooms.

“I can walk anywhere I want,” Beshany said. “I don’t have to get in the car. I can go to restaurants. I can walk down to the library. I love to read, I love to exercise, and I’ve been exercising here, whereas before, where I lived, I had to get in the car and go somewhere. Now, everything is located around me, and I just love it.”

“The area here at The Eastbury, I found it so invigorating,” she added. “There’s so much to do, and I’m never bored. … And the people are so friendly in Birmingham compared to South Florida!”

Beshany also said she’s grateful for the proximity to her family.

“My daughter-in-law is a teacher in Mountain Brook, and my grandsons are going to college at the University of Alabama,” she said. “I only saw them, like, one or two times a year, and now I can see them anytime I want.”

Now, Beshany said, she’s mostly just excited to move into her new home. “I don’t think they’re far from being done (with construction), but I just can’t wait!” she said. “I love my temporary place, but I can’t wait for it to be my own place … . Once I move in, I’ll be able to decorate; I’m so excited!”

“WHEN THEY FOUND THIS PLACE, I SAID, ‘WELL, I DON’T WANT TO MOVE THERE UNLESS I SEE IT.’ AND THE MINUTE WE DROVE HERE FROM MY SON’S HOUSE, I FELL IN LOVE WITH THE PLACE. IT’S WONDERFUL. IT’S JUST OVERWHELMINGLY GOOD. I CAN’T FIND ONE THING THAT I DON’T LIKE.”

Phyllis Beshany