On March 5th, I posted a story about meeting an honest-to-goodness Santa Claus in the waiting room before a radiation treatment. Even though he was in "off season" form, his very presence among the 5 or 6 of us there lifted our spirits as he told us how long ago and why he had become Santa Claus. Not acted as Santa, but became Santa--and addressing him by that name during the conversation was as natural as could be for all of us there.
Sad to report, but Terry came across an obit in the paper that Santa, Orman Lee Stanfill of Austell, GA, did not survive his fight with cancer and passed away on April 23rd. He was 72 years old, and survived by his wife of 49 years.
The obit included this statement: "One of his greatest joys was to see the excitement in a child's (or even an adult's) eyes when they saw him in a public place in the middle of the year. He would wait until parents had looked away and give a sly wink as the children were trying to figure out if they were truly seeing who they thought they were."
It was a privledge to meet Santa Stan and have that memory to counter all of the things I'd like to forget about this experience.
mike
Orman "Santa" Stanfill was my Dad. I've never been more proud of my Dad than during this fight with cancer.
ReplyDeleteAs sick as he became, he was always more concerned with the people he saw around him in the same fight ... than he was for himself ... especially when it came to children. "Santa" has a special place in his heart for kids, and Dad proved it til his last day with us.
Dad always said, "We're gonna keep fighting this cancer. I've still got too much to do and not enough time to it!"
Mike, that's my prayer for you and your family ... "keep fighting!"
Torre Stanfill
Pastor of Worship and Youth
Orange Hill Baptist Church
www.worshipsafari.blogspot.com
Everyone should be so lucky as to meet Santa whwen he has time to chat. Told ya, all you Virginias out there...Santa is too, real!
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