At the Casino, Taking a Chance on Love
The woman waits with her silver shoes and her partner, each selected with careful thought. Her companion sports a blue shirt, complementing his eyes and the makeup she wears above hers.
With their hands locked, Harvey Lindstrom and Anna Kozusko gaze through a window of the Gulfport Casino looking at the Boca Ciega Bay.
They wait patiently for the beginners to finish their dance lesson.
Minutes later, a fox trot blares from the casino speakers calling Lindstrom and Kozusko to the floor. Their glide along the floor is square, and they admire each other’s moves the entire time. Each craves the swing or waltz next, as they have every Sunday for the last seven years.
There was a time, after two divorces, when 77-year-old Kozusko said she would never be in a serious relationship. And 67-year-old Lindstrom believed he was “hot stuff,” so much so that for him one woman was not enough.
But after their first night at the casino, after Lindstrom filled five spots on Kozusko’s dance card, after they finally danced alone, they were hooked.
“He said he could hardly get to me because my dance card was always filled, but it hardly ever was,” Kozusko said of their first casino meeting in 1996. “He was sharp-witted and he paid some attention.”
Lindstrom’s sharp memory recalled his impression of his girlfriend: “I was ready to dance and she had a nice butt.”
Within the walls of the 69-year-old casino, couples like Lindstrom and Kozusko are trying relationships again. Some travel more than an hour for the events while others drive across town from their Gulfport homes. Through events, senior citizens find both comfort and companionship on the creaky wooden dance floor. They find their soulmates and their best friends. And sometimes, if they are lucky, they find love.
Occasionally, unescorted women hold flowers as they search for a partner. Some men constantly appear to scan the ballroom deciding whom to pick. Others are content to sit at tables giggling with the girls or telling stories with the boys.
In Gulfport, senior citizens are almost 40 percent of the population. They are playing bingo at senior centers, gathering at bars, listening to music at the beach and dancing at the casino.
In the casino dating scene, senior women seem to have the most trouble.
“Men want younger women and the ones who are older than me usually can’t dance anymore,” Arlene Samuel, 77, said.
Samuel has been alone for 37 years. She has male friends but is not interested to have any of them as her boyfriend.
“We go dancing, but they don’t move in. They are not roommates,” Samuel said.
Men appear to have all the options.
On average, women live seven to nine years longer than their male peers. According to the National Institute on Aging, there were 70 men to every 100 women over the age of 65 in the year 2000.
Guy Van Doren has been to the casino a few times, but he prefers the crowd at O’Maddy’s Bar.
He is sitting on a stool debating a surfing trip with one of his friends.
“In a lot of ‘senior things’ they are mostly attended by people who are older or act older than me,” he said.
When thinking about his last long-term relationship, 65-year-old Van Doren has to concentrate. Almost 10 years ago he was involved, but has only casually dated since.
Finding active women, he said, is a challenge at his age.
But just in case, Van Doren has little yellow business cards tucked in his wallet. Under the drawing of a palm tree and a man drinking on the beach is a list of his favorite activities and his phone number.
He is very selective about whom he wants to call.
“As I’ve gotten older, the dating game is less superficial,” he said. “I am not interested in a wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am type of thing. I’m interested in a relationship where I can do the things that I enjoy. It isn’t sexually related now. Although I still like it, that is not the main reason for dating anymore.”
Van Doren hasn’t found anything but friendships in Gulfport so far. But those relationships have sustained him.
Lindstrom and Kozusko’s relationship continues to sustain their life as well.
But instead of meeting at the casino, they now drive there together.
Every Sunday, they make the drive from Fort Myers to Gulfport so they can dance once again on the floor at they place they met.
