Long Beach couple find romance can flourish at any age

They were acting like teenagers, holding hands, laughing, walking down the sidewalk on a suy day on Long Beach’s Eastside last week.

With his other hand, he was clinging tightly to balloons proclaiming, “I Love You.”

Young love? You could call it that even though the two enjoying themselves weren’t exactly teenagers.

They were Gilbert Goodwin, 84, and JoA Kuroda, 76, who met while walking along Woodruff Avenue three years ago.

They were headed separately for Grounds Bakery, a popular restaurant on Spring Street a few blocks from their homes in the Millikan High School area.

They soon discovered they had much in common: reading, gardening, going to the movies, watching “Jeopardy” on TV and a sense of adventure.

They also had lost each of their spouses after many years of marriage.

“We both had wonderful marriages, but when our spouses passed on, we were both alone, except for our children,” Goodwin said. “Meeting JoA was one of the best things that happened to me.”

The two have hit it off in grand style.

Since they met, they have:

• Ridden in hot air balloons over Dubai, Mexico , Ireland and Tuscany, Italy.

• Soared in gliders over Palmdale.

• Ridden the zip line on Catalina Island.

• Gone sky diving (he alone while she watched).

• Ridden camels in the Arabian Desert.

• Seen Pope Francis in Rome.

• Flew in a Waco biplane with open cockpits over downtown Los Angeles. “One of the coolest things we did,” Goodwin said.

Their next adventures will take them to New Orleans and Mongolia.

Kuroda, a travel agent for Nance Travel for 15 years and for the Auto Club for 10 years, introduced Goodwin to world travel.

“He had never been outside the United States,” she said. “Now, we plan two trips a year overseas. After Mongolia, we’re thinking of Spain, Japan, Thailand, maybe Cambodia.”

JoA, whose maiden name was Sakamoto, was bo in El Monte. In 1942 her parents and four siblings were uprooted and sent to a detention camp in Poston, Arizona. Her father died in 1944.

After World War II, she moved to Norwalk and graduated from Artesia High School, Cerritos College and UCLA.

She worked as an administrative assistant to Mayor Eunice Sato before working at the Long Beach Symphony and the travel agencies.

She met her husband, an ink manufacturing manager, at Gardena Bowl. He died in 2001 after 35 years of marriage.

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Goodwin was bo in Philadelphia, but his father, a Navy man, moved the family to Long Beach where Goodwin attended Burbank Elementary, Jefferson Middle, Wilson High, Long Beach City College and Cal State Long Beach.

He met his wife, Barbara A. Kosmoski, a Poly High grad who was bo at the old Seaside Hospital. They got married in 1952. She was 19, he was 20.

Goodwin was a civil engineer in the Long Beach Public Works Department for 42 years before retiring.

He and his wife were married for 60 years. She died in 2012.

Both spouses of Goodwin and Kuroda were classmates and graduated from Poly High in 1951.

In an interesting footnote, the senior photos of Sojo Kuroda and Barbara Kosmoski are on Page 131 of the Caerulea, Poly’s yearbook.

Goodwin also noted that they both are buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Long Beach not far from each other.

What’s in the future for the “young” couple?

JoA said, “He is a very thoughtful man. He washes dishes and still opens doors for me. He wants to get married. I love him, but I want my space for now.”

As for Gilbert, he has made reservations for a romantic dier to celebrate Valentine’s Day today (Sunday) atop the Holiday I on Lakewood Boulevard near the Long Beach Airport.

“There is a great panoramic view from there,” he said. “JoA and I are just going to keep on enjoying each other’s company. We love each other. That’s the bottom line.”

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