Lily Johannessen earned Diamond Life Master status earlier this year at the Honolulu Regional. It is fitting that, after living abroad in Sweden and Norway for over 50 years, she was back home in Honolulu when she reached this milestone. And also fitting that she did so at the Regional, where she served as Partnership and Hospitality Chair for the second year in a row.  

Here is a bit of Lily’s story in her own words:

I gained my points from traveling back and forth from Scandinavia to Hawaii and that’s probably why it took so long to achieve this goal (of Diamond LM). The most difficult was to get my final Silver points as it is for many*, and I managed to fly to Pennsylvania for a sectional and played with a friend (since deceased), Mike Whittaker, who whipped up a team and helped me get the last 11 points I needed to become Life Master.

A funny story is that I had achieved some Norwegian points that I hadn’t reported at one tournament, and some opponents complained that they didn’t think I belonged in the C bracket. They reported me to the directors who sent ACBL a note, and they told me I had to add 1000 points to my present points for qualification purposes. I didn’t think I was “ready” to move up to the A bracket, so I wrote to Matt Smith, who was our head director for our regionals in Hawaii and he managed to change it to 500 points. This caused me “problems” to get partners in Hawaii as my friends didn’t want to move up to the A bracket to play with me. Such is life.

I am grateful to all my bridge partners who have helped me achieve this goal.

Mahalo,

Lily Johannessen

*Note that in Hawaii with relatively few tournaments that don’t involve getting on a plane, all colored points can be difficult to earn, with Silver often the most difficult.