Calendar Features Great Grams And Gramps

Don’t expect any leggy supermodels or musclebound hunks in this racy calendar. The youngest pinup is 70 years old.

“Give me some sass, now. That’s it. Hold it,” photographer David Athanasas said last week while shooting the cover shot for the Royal Palm Retirement Centre’s 1998 calendar.

The shot featured a line of amateur models ranging in age from 70 to 95, wearing trenchcoats.

In the middle stood William Wetzel, the only one facing the front, grinning with his coat held open. The shorts he was wearing will end up blanked out by a “censored” banner to simulate a flasher photo.

“You’re never too old to have a good sense of humor,” the 88-year-old Wetzel said.

Besides being a great morale booster, 1997 calendar sales netted $4,000 after costs, which went into a “hardship fund” available to all center residents. Nearly all 2,500 copies of the 1997 calendar were sold.

“We sent copies to everyone we could think of, including Playboy, the governor and even the president,” said Donna Levesque, the center’s administrator who started the idea. “And we got letters from all over - marriage proposals, well-wishers. It’s just been wonderful for everyone.”