By Nicole Gearhart
Beacon Correspondent
The Alger County Commission on Aging has released the 2026 Exceptional Seniors Calendar, now available for purchase at Putvin Drug Store’s pharmacy counter or at the ACCOA office, located at 1604 Sand Point Road in Munising.
The calendars sell for $20 each, with all proceeds benefiting a gas card program that provides qualified seniors with fuel funds to attend medical appointments.
Kris Lindquist, ACCOA director, said the calendars are popular in the community.
“They’re a hot commodity,” Lindquist said. “Lots of people buy them for Christmas presents.”
Lindquist said she believes the idea began in 2016, when the decision was made to create a calendar featuring active seniors from throughout Alger County. After the first calendar, she said, “We just thought, ‘Why don’t we do this every year, and highlight some of our amazing seniors?’”
For the past three years, photography for the calendar has been done primarily by Munising resident Bill Savage. Savage won first place in the Bonifas Fine Arts Center’s “The U.P. Through My Lens” photography competition in 2024 with his photo titled “Living the Dream.”
“He’s amazing,” Lindquist said of Savage. “One day he just showed up in my office and said he wanted to help.”
Lindquist said while she will help with the photography on occasion, it generally falls to Savage these days to capture the calendar’s models.
“I came to her because I was impressed with it. It was taking pictures showcasing local people and appealing to a local audience,” Savage said.
While he had been considering doing an alternative calendar featuring local people of all ages rather than just seniors, he eventually decided to join Lindquist in working on the Exceptional Seniors Calendar instead.
“I’m so happy that it went that direction, because of the people that I have met through this. I couldn’t have met this many on my own, for sure,” Savage said. “And the quality of the people that I’ve met has made it so richly rewarding that I don’t have any need in me to do another calendar.”
Lindquist said Savage does an excellent job of building a rapport with the calendar participants as he works on the assignment.
“He’s such a nice guy,” Lindquist said. “They have a really nice visit, and he sets up a narrative for the photos. It’s a great project for him.”
Savage said he approaches his subjects wanting to show them in a different light.
“I want to take a picture about someone, not of someone, so that is the big difference,” he said. “I think most anybody can sit down and take a picture of anybody else, but I’m trying to somehow get a story in there.”
Linda Trzeciak, 80, of Munising and her husband, John Trzeciak Sr., 83, participated in this year’s calendar and said they enjoyed the experience working with Savage.
“It was wonderful. He was great and very, very professional,” Linda Trzeciak said. “It was a fun time.”
Karen Gamelin, 87, a resident of Alger Heights who was featured in last year’s calendar with her husband, Jerry Gamelin, 92, said she appreciates seeing all the familiar faces included in the publication.
“When you’re looking at the calendar, you see your friends there,” Gamelin said. “And when you see them on the calendar you think, ‘Oh, I wonder how they’re doing’ and maybe you give them a call.”
Linda Trzeciak was in agreement about the happiness she gets from seeing her neighbors featured in the calendar.
“I think it’s a really nice thing to put out there. There’s a lot of elderly people in our area, and it’s nice to see them in the calendar,” she said. “Of course, I know pretty much everyone on there.”
This year’s calendar includes local seniors JoAnn Carlson, Greta and Patrick Donahue, Pat Ely, Ed Gage, Lloyd Hannah, Dennis Hautamaki, Butch and Sue Heyrman, Joanie Lancour, Norm Livermore, Don Maddox, Dot Mitchell, Pat Nybeck, Eileen St. Amour, Linda and John Trzeciak, Luane Warnders and Nancy Weston.
Lindquist said she has already begun making plans for the 2027 calendar, with five possible models already selected.
Gamelin said she enjoyed being part of the calendar and working with Savage, and urges other seniors to take part if given the chance.
“I would encourage people to participate in it,” she said. “It’s something unusual for our area, and it’s for a good cause.”