04027
January 16, 2004

Fire-fighting ‘hunks’ helping hospice

Rosalie Potter memorialized with fund-raising calendar

by Julie Sherwood
The Canandaigua (NY) Daily Messenger
Reprinted with permission

NAPLES, NY — It started as a joke. Somebody gave Rosalie Potter a 2003 New York City firefighters’ calendar, featuring its glossy photos of the muscle-bound firefighting hunks of the FDNY.

It didn’t stay long in her room at Hospeace House, a hospice in Naples where Rosalie Potter spent the last few months of her life.

Naples fire chief Patrick Elwell and Rosalie Potter. Photos by Garth Trickey.

“It was a running joke with the calendar,” said Rosalie Potter’s son, Bob Potter. “It ended up in the kitchen,” he said, where visitors, volunteers and staff shared his mother’s delight with it.

Now the beefcakes of New York have been upstaged by another crew: members of the Maxfield Hose Company — Naples’ Volunteer Fire and Ambulance Department.

Before she died, Rosalie suggested that Hospeace House raise money with its own calendar featuring the Naples firefighters, said Tom Hawks II, president of Hospeace House. And after the members of the Maxfield Hose Co. visited Rosalie Potter at Hospeace House on Memorial Day — including shirtless firefighter Nate Moore, it seemed natural to give it a try, he said.

“I know why the FDNY does it,” said Naples Fire Chief Patrick Elwell. “It sounded like a good project.”

While the FDNY uses proceeds from its annual calendar to raise money for a fire-safety education program, sales of the Naples calendar will help fund the operation of the four-bed hospice home in Naples.

“That’s got to be good for everybody,” said Ambulance Captain Linda Almekinder. Hospeace House and the Maxfield Hose Co. both rely on volunteers, she said — and with the publicity the calendar is generating, both organizations will benefit.

Naples fire and ambulance crew members with Rosalie Potter (center).

Meanwhile, a slew of Naples firefighters are enjoying a brush with fame.

Rollie Hall, “Mr. October,” said he has been signing autographs for weeks.

“They’ve been picking on me,” joked Hall, 33, who works at Bob & Irv’s Shursave in Naples.

“We had a lot of fun with it,” said Elwell, adding that it wasn’t hard to find volunteers to model for the calendar. They weren’t required to go shirtless for the photos, he said, though most of the guys liked the idea.

“They had their choices. A lot of the firemen chose to go topless,” said Elwell, who appears in uniform in a couple group photos — because the company thought its chief should keep all his clothes on, he joked.

Bob Brozic, a free-lance photographer who took the photos, said shooting it was a refreshing change from his usual static subjects, such as landscapes.

“It was a great challenge for me,” said Brozic, who said he liked reacting with the guys — and gals. (Firefighter Chelsea Marshall poses for the cover and December.)

While there aren’t any definite plans to make the calendar an annual event, those involved are toying with the idea.

Firefighter Nate Smith, a house builder, said he’d be game.

“They call me ‘Mr. April’ now,” said Smith, 20, a firefighter of two years.

“It was fun,” said Adam Tripp, 22, a mechanic.

In a small town, Tripp said, word gets out fast when you bare your chest, so to speak.

“The customers have had a field day with it,” said Tripp, who works at Dave’s Automotive in Naples.

Tripp said that when he gets harassed he just smiles and says: “I am sure all the women will leave their calendars on September year round.”

To order the 2004 Naples Emergency Services calendar -- $10 each with all proceeds going to Hospeace House – call Tom Hawks at 585-704-7210