Josef Rabolt celebrated his 100th birthday among friends earlier this month.
What was organized as a surprise did not shock the humble centenarian as he was one of the first people present at the North Simcoe Bridge and Games Club gathering.
Fellow bridge players, who revere his skills, prepared a luncheon with cake and singing followed by an afternoon of duplicate bridge, Rabolt’s favourite competitive form of the card game.
“It’s just a birthday,” says Rabolt of the March 6th offering.
He accepted many happy birthday wishes and told stories, exclaiming “my life is good!”
With a wave of his hand he says “you take it all as it comes,” describing the journey of ups and downs.
Rabolt was born in Kormend, Hungary and immigrated to Canada with his wife, Isolde, in 1958. He worked in Toronto until 1973 when they moved to the Port Severn area before moving to Midland in 2008.
They were married almost sixty years, he says. Sadly, she passed away in 2008 as well. He has two children, five grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
“His keen mind, good eyesight and excellent mobility enable this centenarian to live independently and until this past year, still drove himself around town,” says Mary Duggan, fellow bridge enthusiast and one of the eight club members who organized the party.
Duggan met Rabolt playing bridge and described the many cars lined up to enter the space at Victoria Harbour. She kept noticing him at other bridge functions and the two quickly became friends.
Vern Beacock says he has known Rabolt since the late nineties.
“I used to deliver gas to his house, it was a quaint little spot, he and his wife loved it there. He would never shovel a path to the boil tank, he never gave me a tip, but he always paid his bills, that’s how long I’ve known Jo,” Beacock says to a laughing group of friends.
“I have many friends, am very lucky,” says Rabolt of his experiences. His favourite pastimes include lawn bowling and golf, boasting two hole-in-ones. With a smirk, he says he is “accidentally” good at bridge.
Rabolt tells a story about an annual vacation spent golfing at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Laughing, he says fellow golfers were not expecting his strategies to be so successful.
He says he started playing bridge a long time ago when his wife played among friends, “their husbands did not want to play.” Because they needed four for the game, he quickly became part of the group. Though Rabolt explains his familiarity playing competitive bridge with other soldiers when he was in the Hungarian army.
Like a game of cards, “some days are good, some days are bad, I don’t care too much about that,” he says.
He spends his life working hard and grateful for what he has and the time he spent travelling Europe, Canada and the United States.
“Josef is a remarkably independent, active, and determined individual… there’s not much else that I can say other than that Jo trumps us all,” Duggan says to the room of friends.
For the celebratory cake cutting, one of those friends brought a ceremonial sword with Rabolt delighting in the task.
