Caroline Woolley

CAROLYN WOOLLEY

1946-2022

Carolyn’s infatuation with bridge began at Grand Slam Bridge over on Racecourse Road with Joan Butts in the mid- to late-1990s. Club bridge was fun but it wasn’t long before she was playing competitive bridge and her first success came in the 0-49 Teams at the Summer Festival of Bridge (SFOB) in Canberra. Then in 2003 with husband Chris, Jan Peach and the late Geoff Slack-Smith, Carolyn won the Non-Life Teams Championship again at the SFOB.

Carolyn was a French teacher and was fluent in the language having lived in France for two years. She was Head of French at Cannon Hill Anglian College when she retired in 2003. Those early retirement years were spent playing daytime bridge at QCBC where she was Director for the Tuesday sessions for many years. Weekends were spent travelling to country congresses where, with Chris as her partner, Carolyn at various times won the Congress Pairs at the Bribie, Gympie, Goondiwindi, Mackay, Toowoomba, Dalby, Glen Innes, and Grafton Contract Bridge Clubs.

However, it was when Carolyn began to play with Margaret Millar that her bridge really improved. She learnt a lot from Margaret for whom she had enormous respect, and she also worked hard on her game using software on her computer. She went on to represent Queensland in the Women’s Team in 2012 and 2013, to win the Queensland Butler Pairs in 2012 and the Queensland Seniors’ Pairs in 2013. Unfortunately, her cancer diagnosis in 2014 put a stop to serious bridge but she still continued to enjoy her club games with Margaret.

Although Carolyn was highly competitive, she was always very courteous to others both at the bridge table and in her everyday life, and she treated her opponents with the utmost respect. She loved bridge not the least because of the many good friends she was able to make while playing the game. She will be sadly missed by all. Vale Carolyn Woolley.