The naked truth: Pleasant Pointe seniors give shirts off backs to help Barberton students
The move from retired politician to pin-up model didn't come without a few questions for Pleasant Pointe Assisted Living resident Kenneth Cox.
After all, he had a stellar political career to consider. He’d served as Barberton mayor from 1966 to 1972, going on from there to become a state representative and a state senator.
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Under former Gov. Richard Celeste, Cox was appointed director of the Ohio Department of Public Safety and then the Department of Commerce.
But the former mayor shed his concerns — and his clothes — when he learned that proceeds from the calendar would benefit Barberton High School seniors.
“The uniqueness of what was done and the purpose for why it was done” drove the decision to doff selected attire for a charitable cause, said.
Off with the clothes and on with the photography session.
Cox and other participants in the great Pleasant Pointe calendar shoot of 2023 gathered on Friday at the assisted living facility to talk about their experience going au natural for a good cause.
They were more than ready to bare all about the experience.
To tell the naked truth.
To strip away unnecessary details.
A smile, a hat and little else
First things first: Cox and fellow residents Corrine “Keen” Rakoci, Regina “Jean” Jenet and Charlotte Smart weren’t really in their birthday suits. Camera angles and nervous smiles suggest otherwise, but all participants remained attired. Nothing you wouldn’t see at a beach in mid-July.
Cox explained the situation.
“I’m not running for office any more, so I can do what I want,” he said. “I just bared myself down to the waist.”
The women wore tank tops matching their skin tones to give the illusion of bare skin and to preserve decorum.
Cox’s photo shoot took place in the mayor’s office, after careful negotiations with the current mayor and city department chiefs. He’s shown sitting at the mayor’s desk, wearing a smile, a hat and little else.
'People honked and waved'
For her part, Smart went to a local ice cream shop to take photos, with two of her daughters on hand for support. Smart, who once owned the shop, holds two strategically-placed, giant-sized ice cream cones in her July 2023 calendar appearance.
“We were at Scoops, out in the open,” said Ann Suboticki, one of Smart’s daughters. “People honked and waved.”
Jenet posed with mums after the city’s annual Mum Festival, posing with a another Pleasant Pointe model. Both hold large bouquets to conceal their state of undress.
Mum’s the word.
The shoot was professional and enjoyable, Jenet said. But weather conditions weren’t optimum.
“It’s cold and it starts to rain,” she said.
But Jenet said didn’t mind a bit. It was her second calendar shoot, and she knew what she was getting into — basically, she said, a lot of fun.
A calendar tradition
In 2015, the Pleasant Pointe calendar went viral, with inquiries streaming in from media across the U.S. The New York Daily News ran a story that topped the day’s charts for the newspaper. A TV station in Houston wanted to do a story.
This time around, a Cleveland television station was scheduled to interview the models on Wednesday.
The whirlwind of attention then and now didn’t bother Jenet when asked if she wanted to pose again.
“I was excited when they asked me,” she said. “I was in the other one… I gave one to my cardiologist.”
Rakoci was selected as Ms. January and said the photographer and Pleasant Pointe Teresa Bachtel ran the shoots like clockwork.
“It was fun, and they were very professional,” she said.
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Rakoci said she was pleased with the results for her and her fellow residents.
“I just think everybody looks beautiful,” she said. “This is like one big family.”
Rakoci posed at the Magical Theatre Company, her arms to either side of a sign that reads: “No Shirt. No Shoes. No Play.”
“I gave my son a calendar (and) when they looked at it, they said, ‘Mom? Is that really you?’ ”
Shoes and scholarships
The assisted living facility and nearby Pleasant View Health Care Center is a family-owned and operated business.
Teresa Morris, a licensed nursing home administrator, whose grandmother, Olive Allenbaugh, started the business around 1941, told the Beacon Journal in 2015 she had no idea the calendars back then were going to be so popular.
The calendars raised thousands of dollars for the Esther Ryan Shoe Fund, which provides shoes for children who attend Barberton schools. This time around, proceeds will be administered by the Barberton Community Foundation to fund scholarships for Barberton High School Class of 2023 seniors.
'A fun crowd'
Bachtel said residents at Pleasant Pointe like to keep active, with their interests shifting with new arrivals.
“It’s a fun crowd right now,” she said.
When not posing for calendars, residents gather to play euchre and Uno, take part in regular “happy hour” and ice cream social events, or watch movies at Pleasant Pointe’s in-house theater. Oldies but goodies draw the biggest crowds.
“‘An Affair to Remember’ packed the house,” Bachtel said. “…They love trivia, and they’re good at it and it’s good for the mind.”
The calendar models are already thinking about where they’d like to take their next photo shoot.
Jenet said she’d like to pose at the high school; Cox thinks his convertible might be the perfect location next time around.
The current calendar features almost half the Pleasant Pointe population of 46 residents, said Bachtel.
“Once the buzz got out, we had 22 residents in the calendar,” she said. “I had volunteers lining up to take their clothes off for a good cause.”
How to get a calendar:
Stop in at Pleasant Pointe Assisted Living, 220 3rd St SE, Barberton, and pick one up; the cost is $13.
Call Pleasant Pointe Assisted Living at 330-848-5028 and request to have one sent to you for $15.
Email Teresa Morris teresa@pleasantviewhealthcare.com and request to have one sent to you for $15.
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Leave a message for Alan Ashworth at 330-996-3859 or email him at aashworth@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @newsalanbeaconj.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Barberton seniors bare down to help city's high school seniors
