(soft music) - Just nice lady and nice grandma.

We get along good.

- [Narrator] Wanda and Albert on their porch looking back at 60 years of marriage.

- When she was made, they threw the mold away.

There's nobody like her.

- [Narrator] Just off this same porch, Wanda hung the wash every Monday.

(filmstrip clicking) Inside the same house, she cooked thousands of meals, baked hundreds of cakes, trimmed 60 trees.

Fed four hungry kids, tied a lot of shoes, stood who knows how long at the kitchen counter.

- I spent my life raising children, taking care of Albert and the house.

(music continues) (soft shoe music) - [Narrator] Then, just like that, at the age of 82.

- I said that's not my wife, but it was.

- [Narrator] Wanda became known as Miss August.

- I almost jumped off the porch when I saw it.

(Wanda and friends laughing) - [Narrator] Wanda's getting quite a kick out of her new fame.

The same for 11 other women from Monongahela.

- [All Ladies] We are the Vixens of the Valley.

(bass jazz music) - I'm Lorys and I'm Miss January wearing pearls and nothing else.

- I'm Sondra.

I'm Miss December.

(maracas shaking) - I'm Lois and I'm Miss September.

- Well I asked my husband, you know.

And he says well, what do you have to do?

And I says well they want me to pose in the nude.

- And I said of course I'll be in it.

(funky guitar music) - I didn't know what I was gettin' into.

(ladies giggling) - I says, let's go for it.

(brass band music) - [Narrator] So they did in the Ladies of the Mon Calendar.

These Vixens of the Valley are raising money for their hometown Historical Society with two gimmicks: their anatomy and their age.

- 85.

- 75.

- 74.

- 84.

- 83.

- [Narrator] Faster than you can flip through the calendar, the calendar girls were everywhere.

(salsa jazz music) - As far as they would go.

- [Narrator] "Inside Edition" came to town.

- What did you have?

You must've had something covering you.

- I had my navy hat on.

- What'd your family think?

- [Narrator] They hit the talk show circuit, watched their stories spread across Europe and Asia.

They're signing autographs and sitting pretty in parades, but when you meet the calendar girls in person, their photos don't do them justice.

- You can see that we all admire each other.

- [Narrator] And with good reason.

These are accomplished pinups.

- But when we got on national TV.

- [Narrator] Peggy, Miss November, is a gold medalist in the Senior Olympics.

Lois, Miss September, a painter.

- Lorys asked us if-- - [Narrator] Esther owns a grocery store.

Dot is a fitness trainer.

And a show of hands, how many were teachers?

So with those credentials, why risk their reputations?

- Oh, please, I'd like to know myself.

(ladies chuckling) - [Narrator] Miss February jokes about it now, but Fran waitressed at Eat'n Park for nearly 40 years.

Everyone in town knows her.

- Okay, guys, what are we drinkin' here?

- I said they have me lookin' like a call girl, there.

(ladies laughing) I was more worried about what the priest was gonna say when he saw that.

After mass, he even gave me a cross and a little prayer book.

(ladies laughing) - I guess I'm not a traditional person.

I, in a lot of ways, I haven't been in my life.

(trumpet jitterbug music) - [Narrator] From her service during World War 2 to her doctorate from CMU, retired college professor, Sally Stephenson often shows the non-traditional feminist path.

But a nude calendar?

- Oh, at 84 you could, I can do anything I want.

(ladies chuckling) I thought perhaps somebody would say I disgraced the uniform, and I was going to respond, I didn't disgrace the uniform, only the hat.

I didn't have the rest of it on.

(ladies chuckling) - Oh I've, I got a big kick out of it.

I mean, this is really something.

Go home.

(ladies laughing) - [Narrator] Bebe is the senior of these seniors.

Her pose at the piano hearkens back to a lively career at the local dance hall.

(jazzy piano music) - Mistress of Ceremonies and uh, the singing.

(jazz music continues) June bride.

- [Bebe] She still is a good lookin' chic.

(ladies giggling) I'm the oldest one of the bunch, I hear.

- [Narrator] So at 85, can the former nightclub singer still carry a tune?

- [All Ladies] Ohh.

- Oh, yes.

(jazz trumpet music) - [Narrator] During the 40s, Bebe sang to sell war bonds.

She's still known all over the valley for singing at patriotic events.

♪ God bless America ♪ ♪ Land that I love ♪ ♪ Stand beside her ♪ - All the ladies and myself are probably the most patriotic that you'll ever find.

There may be family members that are turning over in their grave now, because of what they did, but that's, you know, that's okay.

This is what they wanted to do.

- [Narrator] Chris Grilli got to know these women well.

He owns a photo studio in New Eagle.

Took every picture in the calendar.

Didn't charge a thing.

- Keep smilin'.

I was not looking to get anything from this other than to make 12 ladies happy.

- [Narrator] There were challenges.

- [Chris] Well, Sally was a trooper because of the weather.

- And it happened to be 52 degrees and raining that day.

It was a little chilly.

- [Narrator] Chris got an occasional eye-full, too.

- Well let's just say that the one lady wasn't quite as shy as the rest.

- [Narrator] As for Miss October's Halloween pose.

- I guess we have to give Kathleen more of the credit for the casket because not just anybody would've been willing to get into the casket.

- It was quite comfortable.

(ladies chuckling) But I was, but I was glad that I was able to step out.

- What a gutsy bunch of girls to show that they still got a lotta life in them.

Here's north Andover, Massachusetts, Atlanta, Georgia.

Sarasota, Florida.

Florida loves us.

- [Narrator] Susan Bowers can barely keep up with the orders.

She runs the town's Historical Society.

The place was in such bad shape, it had to close.

- It's just been a blessing for us at the Historical Society 'cause we were just about ready to go under.

When you need something the most, it just seems to happen, and it did.

We saw "Inside Edition" yesterday, and were so surprised that we knew some of these ladies.

We now live in Richmond, Virginia but were raised in Monongahela.

- [Narrator] 3,000 calendars so far, 10 bucks each.

The money's great, but Susan gets a bigger kick out of the correspondence.

- And listen how cute this is.

I'm 86 and fading, but I can dream, can't I?

- The old men like to look at the calendar.

They really do.

(laughing) - [Narrator] The woman at the wheel of this project, Miss January.

- We'll probably be in the West Newton Parade.

- [Narrator] Lorys Crisafulli not only keeps a calendar for the calendar girls, she has them over to her house, handles their PR, and keeps up morale.

- When I get these letters from younger women saying you know, that they think it's great what we're doing, I feel good about it.

You know, don't you feel good about it?

(ladies agreeing) - We're going to be in the Veteran's Day Parade in November.

- No kiddin'.

- [Narrator] So how do the men in their lives feel?

- Just that they've blossomed.

And it really has blossomed.

At night when she goes (sighs) I say well, tomorrow's another day (chuckling) and it's gonna start all over again.

- She's on the phone all day long and some days I gotta go out and eat because she don't have time to cook.

(chuckling) - [Narrator] Albert's getting used to it, though, and starting to enjoy the benefits of being married to - A celebrity.

- That's the first time I was in a parade.

I waved to people, they waved back to me and clapped.

- Aw, you look good.

If they weren't there, I'd give you a big kiss.

- Every once in a while I can tear up about this because it's such a wonderful thing to happen to us at our age.

(big band jazz music) - [Narrator] These women have seen a lot of years.

They've enjoyed most of them.

Celebrated some, barely remember others.

But there's one year they won't forget, a year they really lived it up.

(ladies clapping) - You know, it's wonderful to have the respect of ladies whom I respect.

And every one of these ladies is so special.

(ladies chatting) Ta-ta, go home.

(ladies laughing) - [Narrator] A year of 12 friendships.

- Oh, Esther, it's been a good ride.

- It has, Lorys, it has.

- You know?

I think that's how I look at it.

- What a way to go out.

What a way with their spunkiness and their, it took courage to do that.

- [Narrator] A year they never expected.

- I thought my days in the sun were over.

- The final act of my days, I guess.

(ladies chuckling) - Keep on goin', ladies, you're doin' fine.

You're doin' fine.

(clarinet jazz music) (soft shoe music)