Every Christmas for more than two decades, children climbed into Santa’s lap at Laurel Park Place in Livonia, posed for photographs and told the jolly old elf what they wanted to find under the tree on Christmas morning.
And during all those years, Santa had the same face: Jack Lawing, better known to local families as “Santa Jack.”
Now, after learning that Lawing, 85, has cancer and is in hospice care, those families are getting a chance to tell him what those Christmas memories meant to them.
A Facebook post sharing Lawing’s diagnosis and asking people to send him messages has prompted an outpouring of memories, well wishes and prayers from people who remember him as part of their own families’ holiday traditions.
“I was hoping Livonia would come through, but I’m overwhelmed by just how huge the response has been,” said an emotional Celeste Kraft of Livonia, who wrote the post with the permission of Lawing’s family.
Livonia family ‘grew up thinking grandpa was the real Santa’
Kraft’s daughter-in-law, Katie Kraft, is Lawing’s granddaughter. Lawing is actually her mother’s stepfather, she said, but that distinction has never been important to the family.
“He’s been my grandpa my whole life,” Katie said.
And having Santa for a grandfather made Christmas magical.
“My whole life, we grew up with a love of Christmas because he did Santa for as long as I can remember,” she said. “All the grandkids grew up thinking our grandpa was the real Santa. We really truly believed we were related to the real Santa.”
In a feature story shortly before he stopped suiting up for the mall every year, Lawling said he cherished his role as a holiday tradition for local families and loved talking to kids about their wish lists.
“It really is fun. I love the kids,” he told Hometown Life in 2022. “I even get goose bumps just thinking about the kids when they give their answers. They don’t question Santa; they just come up and give you their all.”
Lawling and his wife, Linda, lived in Livonia from 1986-2000. During that time, he worked a long career as a woodshop teacher and administrator for Farmington Public Schools.
Although the couple moved to Tennessee after his retirement, they returned to Michigan each year during the Christmas season while he worked as Santa at the mall.
His last year at Laurel Park Place was 2023, Katie said, but even as recently as this past Christmas, he donned the familiar red suit for the youngest members in Livonia.
Then, after a visit this summer, family members noticed he wasn’t feeling well.
“He was really tired, and we could tell something was going on,” Katie said, adding that the diagnosis came shortly afterward.
Facebook post prompts outpouring of love
Prompted by uncertainty, Celeste decided the community might want to say thank you. She’d seen people on social media during previous Christmas seasons, she said, asking why the familiar Santa wasn’t at Laurel Park and knew he had become special to many families.
“While it’s wonderful sending condolences and things like that after people pass away, I’ve always thought how much better would it be for us to be able to tell people directly what we think of them?” Celeste said.
She posted the news on Facebook, asking people to send prayers, notes, photographs and memories that can be shared with Lawing.
The response was more than the family hoped for.
“When she originally had the idea, I was excited at the thought of getting 20 or 30 letters for him,” Katie said. “But the amount of comments totally just blew me away.”
And while the number of responses thus far has been surprising, the things people are saying about her grandfather are not.
“All the kind words that people have to say, it’s like, yeah, that’s what we think about him,” she said. “So it’s just nice to know that other people love him as much as we do.”
How to contact Livonia’s ‘Santa Jack’
Katie hopes the messages will bring some comfort to Lawing, who is already reading comments and emails. The family has set up three ways to get in touch.
“To know that he’s touched so many lives over the course of his life,” Katie said. “To know what an impact he made, I think that is just going to really lift his spirits.”
A documentary created by son-in-law Kenny Pollack can be viewed on Vimeo.
Contact reporter Laura Colvin: lcolvin@hometownlife.com
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Livonia community sends love to ‘Santa Jack’ in hospice. You can, too.
Reporting by Laura Colvin, Hometownlife.com / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Laura Colvin, Hometownlife.com | USA TODAY Network
