In Memoriam: Jan Verhees

We hebben het droevige bericht ontvangen dat Jan Verhees op 70 jarige leeftijd is overleden.

Jan was ruim 40 jaar lid van onze club, altijd aanwezig op donderdag en heeft ons in de competitie ook heel veel seizoenen, succesvol,  vertegenwoordigd. Daarbuiten ook successen in verschillende partnerships op nationaal en internationaal niveau. We zijn dankbaar dat Jan zo lang lid is geweest van onze club en we zullen hem missen.

In Memoriam: Door Paul Cardwell

Jan Verhees (Eindhoven / Bergeijk)

Recently we lost my long-time bridge partner, Jan Verhees, after he passed
away totally unexpected, and far too soon.
Here are some reflections on our time together.

Jan and I had known each other as bridge colleagues since my arrival in The
Netherlands back in the 1980’s as we were both members of BC70,
Eindhoven, but it was some years later before we teamed up as a
partnership….now 18 years ago.
At the time I had been playing 5-card majors etc with my previous partner,
but Jan was very much wanting to continue with a natural 4-card system, so
that’s what we did. However, we did agree we would change over if we felt at
a disadvantage.
18 years later we were still playing 4-card openings, so that says enough.
Only difference being we felt we should now alert it !!!!!

Jan was a player who had enormous table presence, with an ‘air of
confidence’, and basically enjoyed applying pressure to opponents (in a fair
way). There were many times when I thought ‘I am glad he is my partner and
not the opponent’. He was a fantastic card player, but also very
realistic/practical about mistakes/improvements when it came to behind the
scenes ‘analysis’ sessions. It was a joy to discuss situations with him, and he
would quite readily admit ‘I should not have bid that’ if appropriate.
Lets be honest, Jan did like to bid a lot.
Jan achieved a great deal in his bridge career, including recent major
international honours, and was well known through-out the dutch bridge
community. It was a privilege for me to be part of that success in the later
years, especially our seasons together in the Meesterklasse.

But strangely enough, my long-lasting memory of Jan will always be when we
played the annual ‘kroegentocht’ in Bergeijk, his life-long home town.
The organisers were always pleased when he took part. He had ‘superstar’
status in that area (and nearby villages) ….it was like the King had come to
town. The people used to point him out, stop and talk to him, and of course
look to see if he was on their ‘loop-briefje’ (not sure if they wanted to see his
name or not!!). I was of course ‘unknown’ to them but was also treated like
‘royalty’ being the partner of the ‘King’.

Jan will be deeply missed, especially in the Brabantse bridgeworld.

Paul Cardwell