Frank C. Kilcoyne, CSSC
Volume 21 | December 2007

Christmas Spirit

As a father of four children with ages now ranging from 14 to 9, keeping the belief in Santa alive has been a tenuous proposition at best.  Year after year we have held our breath waiting for the older ones to spill the beans and wise up their younger siblings.  Well last year it finally happened, the oldest (a 13-year-old who knew everything) told my then 8-year-old son he was a dope for believing in the big guy in the red suit.   As you might expect, this brought the 8-year-old running to his parents, eyes brimming with tears and asking if there really was a Santa Claus.

His mother dried his tears and told him of course there is a Santa, we see him all the time.  Santa is there with us when we when we ring the bell for the Salvation Army in front of the grocery store or when we give the toys to the Marines.  At this point the youngest was looking at her like she was nuts and the oldest was saying, “See I told you”.  With this my exasperated wife said “Okay, I will prove to you that Santa exists, get your coats on”.  

Stevie Foyt is a fixture in our home town of Hornell, New York.  If you bring up his name at family gatherings, the stories of his antics can go on literally for hours.  I know because I did just that when I first moved here.  My wife Beeb and her many siblings regaled me with tale after tale of Stevie’s life going back to their own childhoods.  You see Stevie is a rather large, middle-aged man with the mind of a child.  He lives around the corner from us and you see him riding his bike every day, rain or shine.  Most every time he goes by our house you can hear him singing the song he made up about our dog “Kiera”, the Jack Russell terrier.  On summer mornings he rides by with a towel over his shoulders on the way to the town pool where he is famous for his song and dance act on the diving board just before doing a signature cannon ball.  At other times you see him just cruising the neighborhood on his bike looking for the mailman or taking his pet cats for a ride in the basket.  If you live in Hornell, seeing Stevie and his bike reminds you that you are home. 

One day around Thanksgiving last year, we noticed Stevie going by on his bike, but he was more sitting on it and pushing it along with one foot rather than pedaling it. One of the pedals had somehow broken off.  Nevertheless, he continued by every day, as happy as always one-footing his bike and singing about our dog.  Still, it was sad to see that he could not ride the bike in normal fashion.  This gave Beeb the perfect solution to her Santa problem.

She gathered up the kids—believers and non-believers—and drove across town to Bud’s Bikes.  This is a small bicycle repair shop that not only fixes bicycles, but buys and sells second-hand bikes.  When we got there, Beeb told the kids to go and find a bike that would suit Stevie’s needs.  They got rather excited about picking a bike for Stevie and started running and calling back and forth to each other how this one was good or no, that one was better.  Bud could not help hearing all the commotion and asked what we were doing.   When he learned of our mission he said that he had fixed Stevie’s old bike many times and that “he had just the bike we were looking for”.  And he did.

We brought that bike home and the kids took it into the garage immediately to clean, polish and decorate it.  They had it looking like new, all decked out with red ribbons and bows and a big card on the front saying ‘To Stevie; From Santa”.   Now all they needed to do was wait for the big night so they could deliver it.  There was some strategizing over how to deliver it under his tree or even how to get into his house, but their mother convinced them that putting it on the front porch on Christmas Eve would work just fine. 

So, on Christmas Eve just before they started getting ready for bed, the four of them quietly pushed the bike over to Stevie’s house and left it on the front porch with the card visible to whoever opened the door.    Having made their delivery, they returned home to Christmas dreams of their own and climbed into bed. 

Christmas morning brought with it the usual shrieks of joy and laughter and all were soon lost in mountains of wrapping paper, ribbons and new toys.  Later that afternoon when things had calmed down, we heard a familiar sound and the kids raced to the window.  Sure enough, it was Stevie riding by on his new bike, ribbons flying and belting out “Keira, the Jack Russell, K.E.I.R.A.”  Beeb turned to the kids and said “Now you go out and ask Stevie if there’s a Santa Clause.” 

I would like to thank all of you for making this another wonderful year and wish you and your families a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and a safe and Happy New Year.    

Frank C. Kilcoyne, CSSC.