Santa for the ages: Napanee man recalls five decades of spreading joy

For nearly half a century, Rick Revelle has played the role of Santa Claus in one form or another.

It started in the mid-’70s when his sister asked him to play Santa for her two sons.

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“She rented me a cheap suit from LaSalle Sports. It wasn’t much of a suit.” Revelle said.

He enjoyed it so much that in 1978, he came up with the idea of delivering presents to his Northern Telecom coworkers’ children on Christmas Eve.

But the cheap suit had to go.

His sister had a friend, Vicky Laughton, a nurse and seamstress. She stitched together an authentic suit with real red velvet and white fur trim. He soon learned, though, that he’d better keep the suit dry.

“On one rainy Christmas Eve, I kept smelling fish. It kept following me everywhere I went. I kept asking, ‘What is th