The first time Marilyn Usvolk visited the Flower Mound Senior Center in January 2022, she told the staff two things: She was looking for a man and wanted something to do.
She was six months shy of her 100th birthday.
“She didn’t want to sit at home,” said Jamie Jaco-Cooper, the center’s longtime director.
Though her hearing and eyesight aren’t what they once were, her sharp wit and quick mind remain. That’s been evident every Tuesday and Thursday when she joins friends for lunch at the senior center, and especially during the celebrations marking her 104th birthday on July 23.
At both her assisted living residence in Denton, where she has lived for the past year, and the following day at the senior center, Usvolk held court with friends and family who gathered to celebrate.
“Life has been good. People have been wonderful to me,” she said. “It’s worth it to live this long. Just have a healthy attitude about everything. Think young. I never want to sit around thinking old.
“It’s a wonderful, wonderful world, and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. Time passes very quickly. But I will always have wonderful memories of the people who were so very kind and loving and gracious to me.”
Fellow residents at Caresana Care Home and friends gathered in Denton to read birthday cards and watch her open gifts. Her daughter, Susan, and son-in-law, Ira, of Plano, along with her son Mark of upstate New York, joined other friends at the Flower Mound Senior Center. Between celebrations, her son Scott and his wife, Marsha hosted a family gathering at their Flower Mound home, where Usvolk lived for four years. The couple has her only grandsons and one great-granddaughter, with another great-grandchild on the way.
“She’s pretty upfront,” said Mark, a musician and jazz club owner who graduated from the University of North Texas in 1977. “When you meet my mom, you pretty much know the whole package. She’s just a loving human being. She loves people.”
Born Marilyn Siegel, she grew up in Tyler before moving with her family to Dallas when she was about 15. She proudly recalls her family’s Southern roots, especially the way they dressed and loved to dance the jitterbug.
She worked as a secretary and volunteered with the USO during World War II, where she met Chuck Usvolk while he was home on leave.
“He was from Chicago, and after the war he said, ‘Should I go home or should I stay in Dallas?’ I said, ‘Is this a proposal?’ And he said, ‘I guess so.'”
The couple married in 1946. Over the years, Usvolk worked for an attorney, in marketing, at a men’s clothing store and later co-owned a Christmas shop while Chuck managed a commercial scrap yard.
“He had a great sense of humor,” she said. “He could make something funny out of anything. But sometimes it had a little bite to it, Ã la Don Rickles. He was very, very funny. And, of course, the women just loved it.”
The couple lived briefly with her parents before settling into a home in North Dallas, where they spent 42 years together until Chuck died in 2001.
Seven years later, she agreed to move into a retirement community on one condition: she wanted to find a boyfriend.
“I was only 85 then,” she said. “I could do everything. I could go anywhere.
“Growing up with four brothers, I was always accustomed to being around men. I got along much better with men. Besides, they’re all pushovers. You think you’re getting your way, but in the end, we’re getting our way.”
For much of her 14 years at the retirement community, she shared her life with a man named Harry Star. After his death, she moved in with Scott and Marsha in 2022 and became a regular at the Flower Mound Senior Center.
Since moving to Denton, she still makes the trip to Flower Mound twice a week for lunch, games of Rummikub and special events. She has been known to rise from her walker to dance in place and even modeled in one of the center’s fashion shows a few years ago.
During the birthday luncheon, she was serenaded by young pianist James Wright, who performed one of her favorite songs, “Young at Heart.”
“I love her jokes,” Jaco-Cooper said. “She tells the funniest—I don’t want to say dirty jokes—but off-color jokes. And when they’re coming from someone who’s 104, it’s just awesome.
“She’s so inspirational to everyone here. Not only is she telling jokes, but she comes to every party we have. She gets up and dances, even if it’s just at her table. She may be the only person dancing, and she doesn’t care. I think that’s awesome. At 104, you don’t care.”
