KEEPING UP WITH STONEY

I just spent a delightful few hours with Tobias Stone’s sister Shirley and his niece Pat .   Since he is no spring chicken (having celebrated his 92nd birthday June 8th), time is fleeting and Shirley (a lovely looking blonde from Florida who was recently widowed) arranged to meet her charming daughter Pat in NY and converged on Las Vegas Thursday night together to pay Stoney a visit at Saint Joe’s Medical Facility.   Because most of his family is gone, he counted the days till their arrival.  Pat shared a number of  memories of her Uncle Tobias relating her exciting youthful experiences when Stoney hosted her family on several trips where she met countless famous people (Omar Sharif, Yul  Brynner, Sam Spiegel, Billy Wilder, etc.).

When the three of us brunched at the Riviera this morning, I learned so many hilarious experiences of Stoney from his younger days (no surprise) that delighted me no end.  What a character!!!!   He should have written an autobiography.  It would have been an instant best seller.  He did it all — and besides had a distinguished bridge career to boot.  After an hour of nostalgia at the coffee shop, we headed to see Stoney for another hour and then I left for home but Bobby and I will be back to see him Tuesday on the way to our bridge outing.  We always look forward to his incorrigible sense of humor and unequaled wit.  Some things never change.

Stoney is the last of the living legends from the fifties …..the days of the early champions that haunted the exhilarating New York bridge scene.