Seniors stir up whimsy with unorthodox calendar

PALMER — Meet “Miss July,” Jean Chapman.

The pin-up calendar bombshell is an attention-getter in her black lingerie, perched on the tailgate of a vintage pickup. She enjoys long walks on the beach, playing bridge, reading and volunteering in her community.

She also remembers the day John F. Kennedy was shot and hearing about the bombing of Pearl Harbor on the radio Dec. 7, 1941.

“I remember Pearl Harbor,” the 85-year-old said Friday, the 71st anniversary of the attack. “I was a little kid and we came home from church and had the radio on and we all just couldn’t believe it.”

During World War II, scantily clad photos of bathing beauties on pin-up calendars were a big morale-booster for solders. Today, clients and supporters of Mat-Su Senior Services are capturing some of that whimsical fun in their own beefcake 2013 calendar. At $12 each, money from the sale of the calendars will benefit the senior center.

An added bonus for Chapman is that, after more than eight decades of life, now she gets her turn as a pin-up beauty.

“We thought this would be a wonderful money-raiser, so we said let’s try it,” she said, adding the seniors in the calendar — ranging in age from 66 to nearly 91 — had a blast doing the project.

That was Carl Baker’s take, anyway. The mischievous 69-year-old is Mr. May and September. In one photograph, he appears to be topless wearing nothing but a chef’s hat and suspenders while he cleans dishes. In the other, he’s wearing the same get-up with an apron, reaching over a topless Gena Straayer to whisk up a bit of fun.

Baker said he doesn’t see the calendar as being risqué or tasteless.

“I think it’s really adorable,” he said, adding his first reaction upon seeing the photos was, “I’ve got to lose some weight.”

Baker may have had fun, but what about the lady in his life? What does she think of him posing topless for the world to see? Well, you can see her sitting on that tailgate with Chapman in July.

Suzann Patterson, 66, is engaged to Baker — they’ll be married in January — and was not only OK with it, she gave her hubby-to-be some extra help during the photo shoot.

“The photographer could not get him to smile,” she said. “They just stood there, not smiling. So, I flashed them and they smiled. I flashed them to make them smile.”

It wasn’t necessary to flash Jack Easley, 90, to make him smile. Easley and 87-years-young Straayer are Mr. and Ms. June. Both appear to be topless at the breakfast table reading the funny pages. Easley sports a bolo tie while Straayer is in the summer mood with a wreath of flowers in her hair.

Although the photo gives the appearance of nudity, there was none, they said.

“I was all for it and I was the first one they came to with the idea,” Straayer said. “Actually, I had my bathing suit on. … That one turned out really good. We had more fun doing it than the calendar’s worth.”

Easley said he doesn’t have any regrets about posing for the calendar. Well, almost no regrets.

“If I’d have known I was going to be this old, I’d have taken better care of myself,” he said, adding that even at age 90, he can still appreciate beauty. “(Straayer’s) a beautiful lady, you know.”

Looking ahead to February, attorney Bill Tull is apparently caught with his briefs down, and he’s not worried that posing for the calendar would land him on Santa’s naughty list.

“I’m older than Santa Claus,” he said.

Then there’s “Miss April” Dee Brown, 79, whose full-body pose on a classic vehicle is covered by the convenient placement of a borrowed umbrella.

“I felt very silly, but I laugh now,” she said.

That she’s a pin-up girl at age 79 is something Brown said she never would have imagined.

“I never, ever would’ve thought I’d do something like this,” Brown said. “In fact, I was 32 years old before I would allow this bone (her collarbone) to show with an open collar.”

The photos in the calendar are fun and tastefully done, Brown said. Asked what reaction she received at home for posing seemingly au natural, she said her family was all for it — almost.

“My whole family, except one member, all thought it was wonderful,” she said. “One grandson, my granddaughter’s husband, they showed him the umbrella picture and he looked at it and said, ‘huh! Trash!’ The rest of the family thought it was super. … I’m sure he knows I don’t go around (every day) looking like this.”

The seniors had so much fun putting together the 2013 calendar that they are already making plans for another one, Brown said.

Senior beefcake and pin-up girls may have raised some eyebrows decades ago, but not today, Tull said.

“None of it is risqué or naughty,” he said. “Maybe 50 years ago, but times have changed now. Haven’t you heard? 80’s the new 50.”

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.

What: Mat-Su Senior Services 2013 pin-up calendar.

Where: Available at the Palmer center, 1132 S. Chugach St. and selected merchants.

Cost: $12, all proceeds benefit Mat-Su Senior Services.

Information: Contact the center at 745-5454