We see lovely Angie Knight at almost every duplicate event held in our
Valley. She is a savvy bridge player and a pleasant competitor. She
often brings her delicious treats to our clubs and graciously agrees to help in
any way she can to make our games enjoyable and our organization bloom.
Angie has been one of the major helpers at our recent Sectionals and Regional.
Angie was born in South Korea; she grew up in North Korea. Her
family—mother, father and two brothers—never played card games when Angie was a
child. "We were all too busy making a living," she explained. After
the Communists took over in 1948, and after the Korean War began in 1950, Angie
and her family were forced to flee to South Korea. They had many harrowing
moments hiding from the enemy. Her father was imprisoned for a time.
After many months of waiting to come to the United States, Angie was
sponsored by a University of Oregon professor. She was awarded a full
scholarship to attend OU. Angie arrived in Oregon in 1956 with $50 in her
pocket. Her family stayed in Korea. She didn’t see them again for the next 16
years.
Angie’s OU roommates had trouble pronouncing her given Korean name, Okyang,
so they renamed her "Angie."
During her second year at OU, Angie met and married a fellow student, George
Knight. George graduated and the two set up housekeeping and began a
family in Eugene. A friend introduced George and Angie to bridge when they were
first married. They played social bridge on and off throughout their
marriage.
In 1966, George’s company transferred him to Ashland, and the family moved
here. Their two daughters, Theresa and Joanie, attended Ashland High
School. The daughters grew up and married. Theresa lives in Central
Point and she and her husband have three daughters. Theresa is the
percussionist in the Rogue Valley Symphony. Daughter Joanie lives in The
Dalles, Oregon; she owns an insurance agency. Angie went to work at a "Saving
and Loan" as a Loan Servicing Manager in the late 1980s, after the girls no
longer needed her at home.
When George contracted cancer and her mother-in-law became seriously ill,
Angie quit her job in 1998 to become a full-time nurse. She found herself
with time on her hands after they both passed away. She remembered having fun
at bridge and joined Bill Holt's class to hone her skills in duplicate. In
the two years Angie has been playing at our clubs, she has accumulated well over
a hundred master points, and has made many new friends. Angie now takes
classes from Bernadine Lacy at Rogue Community College. Though she loves
to win, Angie has no specific goals in bridge. She says she just enjoys
the challenge and loves learning new things about the game. She is amazed
that every game has different challenges from the previous ones. Angie
used to knit as a hobby, but she insists that bridge is her main focus now,
so the knitting needles are in storage.
Angie thinks the younger generation is the key to keeping duplicate
bridge strong and vital. She is encouraging her granddaughters to take
lessons and play the game.
It is a pleasure to play with friendly folks like Angie, and we thank her for
all her hard work at our tournaments and clubs.
