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25 years later: 'Hey, isn't this you?'

A Sunken Gardens photo turns up to the surprise of a mom, former pageant contestant and ex-Marine.

By SCOTT TAYLOR HARTZELL
Published May 25, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - The thud of approaching footsteps awakened Sherry Lee Wert last Wednesday morning.

"Hey, isn't this you?" said her father, Marvin Lee, pointing to a picture in Neighborhood Times.

"Yes," said Wert, surprised that a photo she had posed for 25 years ago had resurfaced.

It featured a much younger Wert, sitting on a ladder at Sunken Gardens holding an orange that she had just plucked from the bountiful tree beside her. "Do you know her?" read the photo caption.

The story was a history column about the landmark's past. The article reported that Sunken Gardens has thousands of unidentified photos in its archives and wanted to find out who the people were. Several old pictures were sent to the Times for publication; one featuring Wert was printed.

Several women who had also modeled for the attraction responded to the article and have volunteered to help Sunken Gardens identify other models in the archives.

Wert responded to the Times to say she was the model pictured in the story. And she had the same photograph in her portfolio to prove it.

Wert, now 44, has a story that is as varied as any.

She began modeling at Maas Brothers while in high school. In 1980, one year after graduating from Northeast High School, Wert posed for the Sunken Gardens publicity shots. She was about 20 years old at the time.

She had answered Sunken Gardens' classified ad for modeling, and the showplace's public relations man Don Poindexter contacted her. "He wanted me to bring a bathing suit."

Wert had numerous sessions at the gardens, each lasting about one or two hours. Poindexter then used Wert's and other models' photographs to trumpet Sunken Gardens worldwide. Wert earned $20 a session.

"We would go to the scene at Sunken Gardens," Wert said. "During the poses, people visiting the gardens would walk by wondering what's that all about. I remember all the plants. All the colors. All the humidity. And the mimosa plant that opened and closed its leaves when it was touched."

Wert's parents didn't know about her Sunken Gardens sessions until some time later, in 1981. They had hardly ever seen her in a bikini.

"She hadn't shown us the pictures of her in a bikini," said her mother, Dorrie Lee, 67. Said Marvin Lee, 70, when he first saw some of the pictures: "My God, there's my daughter, and she's almost naked."

In 1980 as a Miss St. Petersburg contestant, Wert awarded acclaimed entertainer Liberace the key to the city. One year later, she was a Playboy bunny at the local Hilton Hotel.

"Out of 1,278 girls, I was among 25 selected," said Wert, who holds a degree in interdisciplinary science covering anthropology and geography from the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. After six months as a Playboy bunny, she enlisted in the Marines and was stationed in Japan. While there, P.M. Magazine filmed a spot in October 1981 on the former Playboy bunny turned Marine. She also graced the cover of a Japanese TV Guide dated Dec. 26, 1982, and appeared in Budweiser commercials while there.

Wert has been photographed alongside celebrities including actors Robert Conrad and Cheech Marin. In 1987, she was in Marin's film Born in East L.A.

"It was a quick shot," said Wert. "I was an extra."

Wert is now the mother of two children. She returned to St. Petersburg in 2000 after living in California. After two decades as a Marine, she now designs props for school concerts and is looking for a government-level job.

Early this week, Wert was still a little puzzled about that picture from Sunken Gardens.

"I wondered where did they get that picture?" she said. "I thought I was the only one who had it."

After assessing her past and present circumstances, Wert waxed a little philosophical. "After all my accomplishments, what are people going to remember me for? I'll be the girl on the ladder holding the orange."

Scott Taylor Hartzell can be reached at hartzel@msn.com

[Last modified May 25, 2005, 00:40:21]