Ladies group shares bond deeper than bunco

For Trussville residents Libba Ellison and Hazel Clanton, the third Thursday of each month is always reserved for bunco night, and it’s been that way for 40 years.

They’re part of a group of 12 women who began playing the dice game in 1976. The women were neighbors, family members, old classmates and church friends, all with young children. Eight of those original 12 still show up each month, now with grandchildren and great-grandchildren instead. Almost all the members have been playing together at least 20 years.

“It was kind of on a whim,” Ellison said of why she joined the group. “At the time we were all young moms that had little children, and we were all looking for a night out. So it’s kind of evolved from there.”

The bunco nights are held at a different woman’s home each month, spread out across Birmingham. They begin with dinner before setting up the three tables and begin rolling the dice. Bunco requires exactly 12 players, so the regulars are committed to attending or send a substitute to play if they can’t make it. Each night’s winner gets a small prize, but the group agrees that winning is beside the point. Bunco nights are about their decades-old friendships.

“The most important thing is that the friendships have developed and they’re just lifelong friends,” Ellison said. “We’ve been there for so many life events.”

They’ve been by each other’s sides through pregnancies, health scares, children getting married and family losses, to name a few.

Having seen each other through the highs and lows of life, Ellison said there’s no subject that’s off limits anymore. The rattle of dice can barely be heard as jokes, memories and favorite recipes get tossed back and forth between the tables.

“We’re playing but we’re talking,” Ellison said. “I guess that’s how we’ve kept up with everybody over the years and what’s going on.”

When member Beverly Harris reflected on how much had changed since the bunco nights began, Linda Wade piped up from across the table: “And we haven’t killed each other yet, which I think is some sort of miracle.”

Those deep friendships, Clanton said, are part of what has given the bunco group its staying power. The other part, she believes, is the regularity — every third Thursday, those 12 women know it’s time for bunco.

“You don’t have to know how to play. We’ll show you in two minutes how to play,” Clanton said.

Ellison now keeps a hefty photo album of the group’s time together, though they didn’t take any photos in the early years because “I guess we didn’t anticipate it, us staying together for this long.” The photos chronicle everything from fake tattoo nights and costume parties to 15 years of goofy photos from their annual August weekend trip to Lake Martin.

“We’d do some of the silliest, craziest things,” Ellison said.

For the members who only see each other once a month, that lake trip has bonded them even closer together.

“It’s just been an amazing group of very strong women, strong Christian women, who have tremendous character and I guess longevity to stay in this group,” Ellison said.

The bunco group officially celebrated their 40th anniversary with a dinner together in February. Ellison is the last of the regulars to retire, and once she does, Clanton said it’s likely that they’ll move to daytime games instead of evenings. Except for that, all the members agree the group is going to keep on playing with little change, just like they’ve been doing for 40 years.

“The circumstances in everybody’s lives have changed, but not making sure we come and play bunco,” Clanton said.