Diana Garber passed away quietly in her home in mid November. She was quite a character among characters and she lived a truly independent, free spirited life of her own choosing.
One can become very flowery when extolling her virtues, her excellent bridge play, her sense of fairness, her exceptional command of English language, but it is her unique style we probably will miss the most.
Diana made purple streaks of hair color commonplace and transformed our otherwise neutral colored club into a Bohemian festival each and every time we greeted her at table one. She may have single handedly kept both East Indian and American Indian designers solvent with her plethora of flowing, muslin and silk dresses and her countless turquois necklaces. It is fair to say she appreciated beautiful objects d’art.
What was not so visible, was her love of books…good books. Diana was an avid reader of literature. Having taught English at the University level, she could easily navigate through Chaucer’s ‘The Canterbury Tales’ or Whitman’s ‘Leaves of Grass’ with equal ease.
She was also generous with her knowledge. Any posted article was fair game and would be dissected by the careful eye of Ms. Garber. Once a teacher, always a teacher, or so the saying goes.
In her bridge world, she was also responsible for teaching so many of us. Among her many pupils were Doreen Grant, Joan Easton, Cynthia Sommer, Nancy Alvarado, Sadhna Joshi, and Elizabeth Silvius. She partnered with almost everyone in our club. Her only requirement was that her partner was “nice”. If you were rank beginner, mistakes were forgiven because learning from them was the most important lesson of all.
Diana was a creature of habit and nothing made her more relaxed than knowing on a certain day she would sit across the table from a certain partner and play a certain level of bridge. Those frequent, permanent partners were Emoke Gaspar, Al Grant, Doreen Grant, Elizabeth Silvius, Sadhna Joshi and Ginny Devoe, whom, on occasion, she shared food, wine, stories, shopping and of course, bridge. After Covid, thanks to Ginny and Sadhna, Diana was able to read and play bridge as Ginny provided a “Nook” reader and Sadhna and hubby Alok provided her with a computer and connected her to BBO. In Diana style, she continued to do the two things she loved most, read a good book at home and play a good game of bridge with friends.
The mere thought of Diana not sitting at one of our tables is sobering.
Diana you will be missed.
Mary Ann Braden
ACBL Unit 537 - Riverside Bridge Club 
I miss Diana every day! Because of the Covid situation, we’re all stuck at home. Bridge was Diana’s life line at such a time. She and I played so frequently during the last 6 months, that I miss her whenever I want to play Bridge.
She was a great teacher – always pointing out what I did wrong BUT doing it so gently that I didn’t look at it as criticism: more like helping me improve my game. She was a very disciplined player and expected the same from her partners and opponents. A very nice person and as Mary Ann wrote, she brought a lot of color to our club. Diana, you are missed!
Sadhna
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Diana was very patient and taught me so much! As a beginning player in duplicate it was always welcome when she would give me some ideas on how I could have bid or played the last hand better. I will miss her!
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Tom and I always enjoyed sitting at Diana’s table – we found the conversation, and the game, both invigorating. Watching her and her formidable partners wipe the floor with us was most worthwhile, as we always took away a new lesson. She was a challenge, and challenges are what makes life most interesting!
Darlene & Tom
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We have another excellent bridge player wanting to join all of you.. Winifred Farquhar. She has been playing in Corona for years but now all the clubs are closed!!
How does Wini play with you virtually?
Plese send instructions for the next session on March 12th
Thank you!
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