Newport Beach Grandmother of 14 Also Shines as a High-Fashion Model

Jan Van Putten is one of Orange County’s busiest models of trendy, expensive and high-fashion clothes, and that’s not bad for a 56-year-old mother of six and grandmother of 14.

“I keep thinking every year, this is going to be it,” said Van Putten, a Newport Beach resident who was under contract as a child actress with Warner Brothers. “But each year it keeps getting better.”

There were other early dreams for her.

“My parents thought I was another Shirley Temple,” she said. They gave her drama, ballet, acrobatics, singing and piano lessons. “I even took lessons from a Russian dance teacher.”

She was also sent to the best schools in Europe.

However, she didn’t know how to pretend.

“I’m too much of me, and that’s why I couldn’t make it as an actress,” admitted Van Putten, who has never had modeling lessons. But all those dance lessons came in handy. They “helped me move like a model.”

That same virtue has helped to make her a successful model in exclusive Orange County tearooms and restaurants. “I’m naturally a warm person, and I guess it comes out,” she said. “People tell me I’m friendly and have an ‘inner beauty.’ ”

Whatever it is, she’s in demand and has as much work as she can handle.

She is busy most of the time, and remains watchful of her svelte figure. “I really don’t have time to eat, and when I do, I don’t pig out,” she said.

“It’s wonderful for me because people look up to a model and it feels good.” But “there’s so much wealth here, it can intimidate you,” she said after modeling for a luncheon crowd at the Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach.

Modeling is not on the agenda, though, at the prison in Chino where she occasionally teaches a Bible and church study class for young inmates. “I’m a Christian and a ‘born-again,’ and we should all get out to help. I feel I have to go,” she said.

Van Putten works without an agent for her modeling assignments. “The Lord is my agent,” she professes.

Her modeling career started at age 30, while she was in the middle of a divorce. Later she married John Van Putten, now 60, whom she calls her biggest fan as well as someone who helps with the housework. They’ve been married for 25 years.

“At the time, I thought I was too old,” she said. “But this dress shop asked me to model at the Newport Beach Tennis Club, and my career just took off.”

Her children urged her on, she said. “They told me, ‘Go for it, mom.’ And I did.”

It’s not that unusual to see skunks and snakes near San Onofre Elementary School in San Clemente, but it startled workers and teachers when a 250-pound deer jumped through the glass front door just minutes before the start of the school day.

They tried to entice the buck, which was sporting the beginning of antlers, out. But it kept sprinting around, refusing to leave.

Teacher Tina Gant, an outdoors type, had the answer. She knew that deer like roses, so after she found one, Gant waved it in front of the buck, which followed her outside.

It was last seen running toward the hills.

Officials at the school said damage was minor.

It can’t compare, but Principal Janice Schultz noted that three field mice had visited the school the day before.

Eighth-grader Damon Nagami of Walker Junior High School in La Palma dazzled everyone by spelling appellant and theodicy correctly in the finals to win the Orange County Department of Education’s seventh- and eighth-grade spelling contest.

But when he came to school the next day, everyone asked what word he spelled correctly to win. “I don’t remember,” he replied.

With company coming and no woman to assist “with the social graces to help me host my guests,” widower Eric Boucher of San Clemente advertised for a part-time wife.

“I got some calls,” he said. “And some of them asked if it was for the day or night shift.” But that’s not what architect Boucher, 68, had in mind.

In fact, he earlier had advertised for a housekeeper. “I got a lot of calls, but most of them were from men,” Boucher said. Out of 60 calls, he figured 50 were from men, and that’s why he ran the part-time wife ad.

“I was just looking for someone to help take care of the house,” he explained.

He ended up hosting the guests by himself.