Area’s Father Christmas

PEA RIDGE RESIDENT TAKES ROLE AS SANTA SERIOUSLY

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

His Scottish brogue breaking through, blue eyes twinkling and white hair gleaming, Michael White personifies Santa Claus, a name he claims he carried legally the first 21 years of his life.

Whether his story is completely true or perhaps embellished to suit his character, his life makes a perfect tale of one who takes the work of St. Nick seriously.

It is a fact that White has portrayed Santa Claus nightly on the Fayettevillesquare. He was also Santa on the Children’s Christmas train in Springdale Dec. 7.

Children sitting on his lap ask him many questions, and White never hesitates to answer.

“Do you have reindeer?”

Yes, he had reindeer on land he owned in Manitoba, Canada, he says.

“Do you make toys?”

Yes, he says, he carves wooden toys.

He also says he’s visited homes in the Shetland Islands that are entered through the chimney, andhe’s worked with Eskimo toymakers who might be considered the size of elves.

White, of Pea Ridge, starts his story 81 years ago, when he was found on a doorstep of an orphanage in Stirling, Scotland, not long after Christmas Day. He had nothing to identify him, and the ladies at the orphanage, estimating he was born on Christmas Day, called him Santa Claus.

White says he fi rst played Santa when he was about 10, because a child younger thanhe at the orphanage did not receive a gift. He gave his toy to the boy.

That’s when he realized he enjoyed bringing smiles to others. White says he worked for 2 pounds 5 shillings a day as a youngster. Young people were hired because the men were away during World War II.

“I had a job on a chicken farm cutting hay and grass. During the winter months, I collected the eggs,” he says. He saved that money and used it to give gifts - presents, food and groceries -to a three-generation family living near the orphanage, he says.

“The next year I did it for three families and the next year for six. That Christmas endeavor has continued throughout all the years,” he says. “When I came to the States, I continued to do it.”

For the past five years, White has put on his red velvet, white-trimmed suit, made himself at home in a big chair near a reindeer on the back porch of Country Outfitters on the Fayetteville square and welcomed children as Santa Claus.

“Everybody loves him,” Ray Dodson, owner of Ozark Mountain Carriages, says. “He sings Christmas carols, carries a Kris Kringle ID card. …” Dodson says he played Santa Claus himself one year and realized he wasn’t cut out for the job. Then, he found White. And bought a reindeer.

“If Christmas was 365 days a year, he’d be the guy I’d want,” Dodson says.

And, while most recognizable in the red velvet suit, White looks so much like Santa Claus 365 days a yearthat neighbors do a doubletake.

“I have seen him and thought to myself, ‘He has to be the real Santa,’” Ronnie Shelton of Pea Ridge says.

White has three children, a daughter, Jennifer, living in Dallas, Ga., and sons Daniel and Jonathan, living in Springdale; seven grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. He says his children carry on the “Christmas endeavors,” giving to those in need.

“I couldn’t think of a better person to be Santa,” Daniel White, Michael’s son, says.“He loves children. He loves people. Through my troubled teen years, he was the one who guided me back to the truth.”

The younger White says he “couldn’t think of a more perfect person to be Santa because he has such a loving and giving heart. Now, I’m trying to be at least half the father he’s been to me.”

“When we were real young,” Daniel White says, “the other children asked us if our dad was the real Santa. I believed for years - now, I believe again.”

Life, Pages 7 on 12/25/2013