From: jjchew@math.toronto.edu To: crossword-games-pro@egroups.com Subject: [cgp] In memoriam: Margaret Tolnai Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2000 09:57:55 -0400 (EDT) It is with deep personal sadness that I have to announce the passing early this morning of longtime Toronto Scrabble Club member Margaret Tolnai. Margaret had attended the club regularly for over twenty years, and among many other distinctions was recently awarded free membership on the occasion of her ninetieth birthday. She led a long and colorful life in parts of the world that are only film locales to me, and contributed greatly to the character of the Toronto club. At the club, she was always willing to be the one to sit down with a newcomer and show them the ropes, a generosity which both Mike Wise and I took great advantage of. For most recent newcomers to our club, playing Margaret was the first big Scrabble challenge of their lives. Once we discovered our shared not-so-secret vice for chocolate, she never failed to bring me a bar of some exotic and delicious brand wach week. The chocolate often made a difference when my energies were flagging in the last game of the night, and my godson Daniel benefited from any leftovers the morning. The last time I saw Margaret was a week and a half ago, when I called unexpectedly to give her some cherries that had seemed especially fresh at the farmer's market. She greeted me at the door with a magically produced box of my favorite Leonidas chocolates. Her 80th and 90th birthdays were occasions for great celebration at the club. For her 80th, Lynda Wise had asked the bakery for a birthday cake with "a big fat 80" on it, and was mortified when she picked it up and found those very words printed on it. Margaret took it in characteristic good humour, and the anecdote was restaged for her 90th birthday, no doubt to the mystification of the bakery. Margaret is survived by her daughter Frances, who is planning on attending the club this week to be with her mother's Scrabble friends. No memorial service is planned. John -- John J. Chew, III Director, Toronto SCRABBLE(R) Club (National SCRABBLE(R) Association Club #3) jjchew@math.utoronto.ca * http://www.math.utoronto.ca/jjchew * +1 416 876 7675