Last Updated 9/1/00 |
From the Durand (IL) Gazette, Thursday, July 23, 1981, page 1:
With Santa's stand-in
gone Christmas won't be the same
by Owen Phillips
DURAND - A little bit of
Durand died Tuesday morning...a lovely little bit of the town.
The man
who generations of youngsters knew as Santa Claus died at Rockford Memorial
Hospital after a long illness.
Adults
considered LaVerne Moore Moore "Santa's Helper," knowing Santa sometimes
had a little trouble getting clearance to land in Durand blizzards.
But for
hundreds of children in and around the community, he was their first and
favorite Santa.
He was
that and more to his own Moore Clan, which numbers 14 children, 44 grandchildren
and five great-grandchildren.
As the
family grew into several families, it outgrew anyone's room to host holiday
gatherings. Like Joseph and Mary in the original, religious version of
Christmas, LaVerne and his wife Rowena found "no room in the inn."
Their
Christmas family gatherings - a marvel of logistics - moved to the Masonic
Hall, where the entire family could be together.
Getting
together wasn't the easiest thing for the Moores, and not just because
of their family size. Community service has competed for their time together.
While
LaVerne shouldered Santa's duties in the Durand and Davis areas for weeks
up to and including Christmas Day, his wife tended the radio for the Durand
Volunteer Fire Dept.
She's
become a fixture there for firemen and newsmen roused from their sleep
by beepers and the big siren. Often, before they moved to a home on North
Street, she'd make it from her home ot the fire house before anyone else
could arrive on the scene.
That
made her housecoat a fixture of late night fire house vigils too. But after
raising her brood, she takes to the firemen like just so much more family...and
Mom always wears a housecoat when she's helping her children handle problems
in the night.
LaVerne
and Rowena's children have picked up the standard of public service from
their parents. Oldest son Bob is assistant chief of the volunteer fire
department and a village board member.
Kenneth
and Russell, who also lived in Durand, are members of the fire department,
and Stephen of Davis is regarded as one of the best umpires of youth games
in the region.
So even
though "Santa" is gone, his legacy lives on.
And with
it live some of the best memories of groiwng up in Durand and Davis.
A special gift
LaVerne Moore and Santa
Claus made Christmas so much more special for children throughout the area,
as scenes like these were repeated time and again for years in the Durand
and Davis areas. With LaVerne's help, Santa never missed an appointed round
- not even on Christmas Day.
Return
to LaVerne and Rowena Moore's family page
Genealogy of Stephen R.
Moore - Article on LaVerne Moore as Santa
© 2000 Stephen R. Moore, 8504 Enochs Dr., Lorton, VA 22079 |