Saginaw’s St. Nick is everything you’d expect Santa to be

Roland Moore’s introduction to the life of a shopping-mall Santa turned him into the real deal.

In December 1981, he agreed to stand in for a professional Santa who couldn’t make an appearance he’d booked. The first child to crawl onto Moore’s lap at a mall in North Richland Hills was a little boy who quietly asked “for some basic small toys,” Moore said.

The visit was brief, but what happened moments later so deeply affected Moore that he has not only portrayed the spirit of Christmas every year since, but also maintains a Santa-like appearance — all but the suit, of course — and demeanor year-round.

An Assembly of God minister and professional job coach with Eagle Mountain-Saginaw school district the rest of the year, Moore is the favorite Santa of several churches, charities and private parties from Saginaw to Dallas. And more often than not, he shows up for free, because he remembers what he promised that little boy.

“When I was done talking with him he climbed down,” Moore said. “But a few minutes later he was back. He said, ‘Santa are you sure you know where I live?’ I said, ‘Santa knows exactly where you live.’ He said, ‘Well, last year you must have forgotten where I live, because you didn’t come.”

Moore was struck speechless.

“He wasn’t mad or anything,” Moore said. “You could just see the hurt in his face.”

The boy — Moore guessed he was about 8 — turned and started walking away.

“I said, ‘Santa will try to remember where you live this year,’” Moore said.

Through eyes that started brimming with tears, Moore watched the boy keep walking without a backward glance.

“I never saw him again,” Moore said. “But I see his face in every kid I look at now, and I hear every child saying, ‘Well, last year you must have forgotten where I live.’”

‘A great Santa Claus’

These days Moore, 62, sees and hears children by the hundreds each Christmas season. He works with organizations that provide services throughout the year to low-income families and that have programs at Christmas to bring toys to children at distribution centers.

Karen Fuller, executive director of Community Link, a food bank in Saginaw, said Moore has been the charity’s Santa for a few years, and he’s a natural.

“He’s as jolly as Santa ought to be,” Fuller said. “He has that twinkle in his eyes. The children just flock to him because he has that aura about him of a giving, loving person. He’s a great Santa Claus.”

Fuller said she has watched Moore walk along the serving line as hundreds of families received plates full of Christmas cheer.

“He was talking with the adults as well as the kids, with that same twinkle in his eyes, trying to make their day better,” Fuller said. “He normalizes the experience for them. He makes them feel normal, not like charity cases.”

Clay Wallace, executive director of the Dallas Metro Dream Center — an outreach ministry to inner-city children of low-income families — said there’s only one Santa as far as he’s concerned: Roland Moore.

“Of course I believe in Santa Claus,” Wallace said. “He and his wife have become very good friends.”

‘Santa summers in Saginaw’

Portraying Mrs. Claus, Donna Moore, 60, a professional caterer who is also an Assembly of God minister, helps make sure that every kid who wants to gets to talk with her husband.

Wallace said that before he met the Moores more than 20 years ago “we actually paid a guy to be Santa. Once Roland took over, he said that would never happen again. That was around ’94 or ’95.”

Moore said he and his wife do accept donations from a few private-party appearances each year. But everything they make that way goes into toys for children, or to ensuring that they continue to look their parts. Pieces of Santa’s and Mrs. Claus’ ensembles tend to wear out over the years.

“We have a friend who’s a seamstress and she’ll make anything we want,” Moore said. “I’m wearing my eighth Santa suit this year. There will be a new one next year. I’m getting a little older so I’m going to design a long coat outfit more like Father Christmas.”

While his attire may vary, Moore never changes his silvery hair and beard. Even in the middle of summer, kids who encounter him believe they’ve found the most famous man in their young worlds.

“I love to go into stores in street clothes and hear kids yell that Santa is still here,” Moore said. “Yes, Santa summers in Saginaw.”

And, though Moore believes that love outweighs presents, on Christmas morning, there just has to be something under the Christmas trees. He added that as long as God allows it, he’ll keep delivering those presents.

“I guess I’ll be Santa until I take my last breath,” Moore said. “This is my life.”

This story was originally published December 23, 2015 at 2:04 PM with the headline "Saginaw’s St. Nick is everything you’d expect Santa to be."