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| Virgil, The real Santa and My Friend |
Chapters
Virgil
Martha’s bloomers
Santa Claus The gavel goes down. Thirty days to think about it.
Meeting up with Loretta again
Christmas party
Halloween at the cape
Virgil’s yearly Christmas parties
Virgils surprise Christmas gifts
His tricks our tricks
Sometimes when I tell the story about virgil being Santa Claus I feel like the man who played Chris Kringle in A miracle on 34th Street. But now that I am thinking of all the different stories with Virgil I am going to do this story by story. So the Santa story will come later. I want to begin A bit about Virgil.
Virgil Was a proud Marine and by the 50th Anniversary of the Korean
War. The name this man bears is legally
Santa Claus, but prior to, it was Virgil
Noel Almeida, US Marine Corps, who
served in Korea from 1950 to 1952, landing
at Inchon with the 1st Marine Div, 7th
Regiment. Virgil worked with me before I was appointer, after and outside on various POW/MIA issues. He also was determined that there would be a memorial for Korean War Veterans http://www.kwva.org/graybeards/gb_00/gb_0008_fin al.pdf
Virgil was a comedian. He had to be laughing. There were very few times that you saw him when he was not laughing. Let it be after a meeting or at parties or whenever..
He was always the life of the party. He played Santa Claus all of the many years he worked for the city, Which I think ended up to be something like 50 years.. He also was the President of the Union. When Virgil told you he would help you or be there when you needed him, he was there. He lived alone and he told me he had been married seven times. I never did find out if that was true or not. He surley is the Santa type guy. Gray hair that my husband used to color Just before Christmas just to get the grey to blend in color because he still had some black hair. Coloring grey hair is a chore. He always had the beard. a big beer belly as he loved to drink. He was a heavy guy with rosy cheeks. But no matter who meets Virgiil, they always remember him because of his laughter and sense of humor and how he was able to keep a persons attention with his stories. Putting that entire personality aside he was a friend. A true friend.
The day before I was appointed he sat with me and told me that we may be having conflicts with one another. But for me to remember, what takes place in a meeting stays in the meeting. When we walk out of the meeting we go and get a cup of coffee. Well, we did that and remained friends because of that. But the Union and Santa Claus was his life. So you had to understand where his loyalty was. So people understood that it had nothing to do with their friendship with him.
When I was appointed I had a challenge. I knew it was to be the biggest one in my life.I had origionaly taken my job as a joke until I saw fisrt hand the seriouness of what I had gotten myself involved in. I had a whole city to get cleaned. Slum landlords to haul to court. Two legged and four legged rats to deal with. Restaurants and property to inspect, ordinances to write and get passed in the council. Taxpayers complaints and city officials complaints/orders. Meetings to attend and public speaking and public forums. But I had one fear because, for almost ten years Virgil and I had been close friends. He was the President of the Union and I was now Administration. I was afraid that because of this I would loose his friendship. Regardless of what he had told me.
Virgil had me in a meeting the day after I was appointed. He wanted me off the field because he claimed I was taking a job away from someone else who could be on the field and he wanted me to sit in my office all day. Well I couldn’t do that. I had created this department. I had developed the workings of the department, and above all my name was on everything I was to do. So I had a responsibility in and out of the office. Well he and I and another union person hashed it out and I won with a firm “I won’t hear nothing of the kind So we are ending it here” and got up and left the room. I met Virgil at the snack bar and he said “good work” Boy was I shaking inside. I thought he would never talk to me again. But there we stood having a cup of coffee and a Danish. He had me pay for it. He told me that the winner always pays lol. But I am still trying to understand what he meant when he said “good job.” I never asked him because that meeting was over. It was left behind the city clerks doors. He taught me something that I take with me every day. Something I use everyday. When there is an argument I know when to end it and to not look back on it.
There are certain honors that a person experiences in their lives. Mine were many. But having Virgil as a friend was a great honor. As I said, He was a friend. And a true one.
Next chapter The Real Santa Claus
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Posted by kal on 2009-08-29 01:51:44 | Rating: | Views: 53
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