Community made Christmas merry for all

Published 12:33 pm Sunday, December 27, 2009

By By KEVIN SCOTT CUTLER
Lifestyles & Features Editor

Editor’s note: In the Christmas Eve edition of the Daily News, Bill Nelson reminisced about the half-century he’s spent “playing Santa” in Beaufort County. His story continues today.
Christmas celebrations were lean some years for many folks in the Washington area.
Bill Nelson and other local firemen, with the blessing of Chief Fred Potts, worked to make sure there were toys available for as many underprivileged children as they could.
“People would bring any damaged bikes, wagons or anything that could be repaired to the fire department,” Nelson said. “We worked on those things in our downtime and gave them to the Salvation Army when it came Christmas time. It was a lot of hard work, but it was worth it all when we saw what we ended up with.”
Downtown merchants would pitch in, too.
“Albert Jowdy told us to charge anything that we needed at Economy Auto, like paint, and he would pay for it,” Nelson recalled.
Nelson, who will turn 85 in May, was also often called upon to dress up in a red-velvet costume trimmed with white fur and give Santa a helping hand during the holiday season.
He appeared in Washington’s Christmas parade and was guest star on the local television program, “Carolina Today,” with Slim Short.
He had experiences that ranged from heart-rending to hilarious.
“I remember one party we were having for underprivileged children and I asked a boy what he wanted Santa to bring him,” Nelson said. “He looked at me and said, ‘I don’t know why you’re asking me, you didn’t bring me what I wanted last year.’ We took up a collection and got that little boy a bicycle.”
Even after he left the fire department and was employed by National Spinning, Nelson continued his holiday tradition. Former co-workers will still greet him with “Hi, Santa!” when they see him.
There was one iron-clad rule Nelson lived by while listening to youngsters’ wish lists.
“I never promised them anything, because a kid doesn’t forget,” he said. “I’d try to make eye contact with the parents to see if what the kid wanted was possible.”
Another year, while playing Santa at Pitt Plaza in Greenville, Nelson did his best to honor a parent’s request.
“A fellow came to me and said he just couldn’t get his son to potty train, and he asked Santa to talk to him,” Nelson said. “I told the little boy that when Rudolph was little I wouldn’t let him guide my sleigh until he quit wetting in his pants. The kid promised to stop wetting his pants.”
A few days later, Nelson got the surprise of his life.
“There was a long line of people waiting to see Santa, and I looked up and saw the same little boy walking toward me,” Nelson said with a laugh. “He called, ‘Santa, I pee-pee in my pants no more!’”
Another hapless father, his hands full with two energetic and devilish boys, appealed to Nelson — make that Santa — for help. Nelson had a talk with them.
“Their daddy later told me, ‘Bill, I don’t know what you said to them, but you made Christians out of them for about three days,’” Nelson recalled.
Nelson and his wife, Penny, have two children, Beth Dudley of Chocowinity and Mike Nelson, who now lives in Ohio. A humorous holiday story involves Beth’s visit to Santa.
“On Main Street, where Washington Jewelers is now, they set it up for children to have their pictures made with Santa. Vann’s Studio took the pictures,” Nelson said. “My wife took Beth, and she was scared to death of Santa. My wife tried several times to bring her down, and finally promised Beth that if she would sit on Santa’s lap, my wife would, too. Beth told her, ‘Mommy, me not tell Daddy that you sat on Santa’s knee.’”
Even the local police got in on the act.
“Phillip Paul, who was chief of police at the time, came in and got on Santa’s knee,” Nelson said. “They put the picture in the newspaper, and people joked that Phillip was trying to get raises for the boys in the police department.”
Nelson also made the rounds of local churches and helped spread Christmas cheer by visiting shut-ins in the community.
“It was just a joy doing that,” he said. “People just opened up their hearts. That’s what Christmas is all about. That’s not to take away from celebrating Jesus’ birthday. Ol’ Santa is the spirit of giving. As long as you believe there is a Santa, there will be a Santa.”