Published: October 31, 2008 10:36 pm      

Competitive seniors don creative costumes

Special to the Sun

Eighty-eight year old Betty Windsor posed for the Halloween costume contest with fists forward and left leg kicked high. She entered the Edmond Senior Center contest on Friday wearing Chuck Norris gloves, an Apollo’s muscle shirt and kick boxing specialty shoes.

Betty knows her kick boxing, having participated in the sport from ages 76 to 82 at the Edmond YMCA. She demonstrated for other costumed seniors the correct way to kick with the ball of her foot and the flat of her heel.

Betty’s friend Margaret Moberly initially protected her identity by wearing gloves to hide her wedding ring and refusing to talk. Margaret, dressed as a clown, added flair to her costume by demonstrating her light-up yo-yoing skills and blowing through a Donald Duck quacker roped around her neck.

“The last time I wore this costume was in 1986,” said Margaret, “when I rode an elementary school bus as a monitor.”

As the two visited, a crowd-stealing green gecko entered the room. Erleen Massey said she made her gecko costume from scratch to compete against Norman family members and friends at the center.

“It took me a month on and off to make this,” Erleen said. She painted nightlights from Dollar Tree to make the gecko’s realistic eyes. “I had just finished an acrylic paint class here at the center,” she said.

Dressed as a gypsy, Judith Perry made a variety of offers to the audience.

“For a dollar, I will read your palm. For a dollar, I’ll let you pet my snake,” Judith said. “Or, I’ll buy your vote for a dollar.”

Judith made her gypsy skirt from men’s silk ties that she bought at garage sales over the years. “I have worn this skirt on the street for a while,” she said. “I get my mind set to wear it, and go right on.”

Judith’s snake started as a stick she picked up in the woods to use as a cane. “I made the cane into a snake 15 to 20 years ago,” she said. At her home, the snake “sits in a corner and watches over my books. I don’t want anybody getting my books.”

“Now that I’m a widow, I’m going to have fun and act like a kid,” said Lavina Gustafson. When not playing Elvira, she comes to the Senior Center to sew with the Tuesday quilting class. Lavina made a convincing “heart-on-fire” Elvira, just as Mary Munro made a provocative vixen.

After a parading to the “Monster Mash,” the costumed seniors waited while audience members filled out secret ballots.

And the winners are:

• First place: Earldean Brokaw, grouchy old man;

• Second place: Mary Munro, vixen; and

• Third Place: Judith Perry, gypsy.