The Real Santa of Miller & Rhoads: The Extraordinary Life of Bill Strother

By Donna Strother Deekens and Phillip L Wenz

After the turn of the twentieth century, young Bill Strother left the tobacco farms of North Carolina to make a living climbing buildings. He became known as the "Human Spider," scaling countless structures across the nation. Yet this was just a prelude to his true calling as the Santa Claus at Richmond's famed Miller & Rhoads department store. As department stores everywhere reached their golden age, Strother became one of the most beloved and sought-after Santas in the nation. Author and former Miller & Rhoads Snow Queen Donna Strother Deekens recounts the amazing history of the Real Santa.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Oct 28, 2019
• ISBN: 9781625852267

Donna Strother Deekens

Donna is the owner of Teapots, Treats & Traditions, a tea party business. She is author of Christmas at Miller & Rhoads: Memoirs of a Snow Queen and Santaland: A Miller & Rhoads Christmas. A graduate of the University of Richmond, she is married with two sons. Doug is a a retired Amtrak engineer, company photographer, author and columnist. His work has appeared in numerous Railroad publications and he is the author of From the Cab: Stories from a Locomotive Engineer. A Richmond native, broadcaster and journalist, Doug now makes his home in Ashland with his wife.

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Introduction

"I BELIEVE!"

I believe, I believe…It’s silly, but I believe!¹

—Miracle on 34th Street

I recall my very young days growing up as a girl in a small Hampton Roads community known as Cradock in Portsmouth, Virginia, in the early 1950s. It was a wonderful place to spend my formative years. I remember especially the sweet Christmases with our blue spruce tree decked out with the huge multicolored lights and the strands of silver tinsel that had to be hung tediously one by one, according to the instructions of my dad, Mike Strother. Of course, our dear mom, Evelyn Strother, would offer her suggestions for the tree as well, but her seasonal expertise was wrapping holiday packages and making the delicious Christmas goodies we savored. The finished tree symbol that my sister, Judy, and I had proudly helped decorate and that we thought was so lovely because it glistened was erected in the corner of our family room in our modest home on Dahlgren Avenue. Our house was not big by today’s standards, but it was the kind of house any child would be proud to call home, especially in the 1950s following the tumultuous years of World War II. It was a white, two-storied house with dark green shutters and a white picket fence. There were a few times at Christmas that I recall it snowed, unusual for the eastern section of Virginia, and looking back on those times today, they remind me of the snowy scenes in the classic holiday film It’s a Wonderful Life. Indeed, for me, it was a wonderful life! And Christmastime brought the visit from the Santa Claus—an event that was so special and so anticipated by me and my family.

Christmas for us was the celebration of the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and we knew that the true reason for the season was to honor him. Also, we knew that Santa Claus, sometimes known, too, as St. Nick or Father Christmas, visited good little girls’ and boys’ homes at this festive time of year, specifically on Christmas Eve. The excitement of his annual arrival created much enthusiasm and exuberance—bordering on frenzy in our household.

With the exception of Christmas Eve, the one merry holiday event that evoked pure glee from me and my sister and, later, our little brother, John, was the visit to Santaland at the downtown Miller & Rhoads department store in Richmond. The capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, located only one hundred miles or two hours from our Tidewater home, was a destination location for all folks seeking the Real Santa. Devoted followers in Virginia, if not all along the East Coast and even perhaps other parts of the United States, absolutely knew that this Santa Claus was the embodiment of all that is just, right and good. This Santa, our Santa, held court at the famous department store on 517 East Broad Street in the 1940s and 1950s. He had declared that Miller & Rhoads was his home away from the North Pole during Christmas, and he had endeared everyone to him since he took up residence at the popular retailer in the early 1940s.

This Santa Claus was the real deal. Since he first came down the chimney in Santaland in 1942 and made his grand entrance into Santaland on the seventh floor, he magically connected with his audience of jubilant children, happy adults and anyone who simply wanted to be a recipient of the joy he exuded. Besides his gregarious but mild-mannered disposition, his somewhat stocky build and his smiling eyes, one simple fact made him so convincing and believable—he addressed each child by name. We knew he must be the Real Santa. We, the children, knew he was the genuine St. Nicholas from our childhood stories. And, better still, he truly believed he was Santa Claus.

This man, Bill Strother, was not only the beloved Santa of my childhood, but we were also related. My father always said we were, but I did not know for certain until my sister traced our family lineage and discovered that our family and Bill Strother are from the same direct Jeremiah Strother line.²

Indeed, he was the Santa Claus in that era for a multitude of children. But there was much more to this man, this almost bigger-than-life individual. Before he donned the red suit and listened to the hearts’ desires of giddy little ones with his warm, infectious smile, he already had lived an amazing, out-of-the-ordinary life.

Nostalgic snow scene photo of the Francis M. Strother family home in Cradock, Portsmouth, Virginia, circa 1955. Ron and Judy Jones Private Collection.

Miller & Rhoads in downtown Richmond, Virginia, was the flagship store, and the exterior at Fifth and Grace Streets is pictured here circa 1940s. Photo by William Edwin Booth, courtesy Virginia Historical Society.

Francis Mike Strother, Evelyn Strother and their four-year-old daughter, Judith Strother (Jones) celebrate Christmas morning in Portsmouth, Virginia, in 1949. Ron and Judy Jones Private Collection.

This William Carey Strother, the man who would be Santa Claus, previously was known as the Human Spider, and in some instances, the Human Fly. From about 1914 to 1926, he climbed countless buildings throughout the United States and Canada. His death-defying feats earned him what would be described today as celebrity status. Strother became known as someone with nerves of steel and skill, with the ability to thrill thousands of spectators from North Carolina to California and even into Canada. Most of his early climbs helped fund the World War I Liberty Loan and Victory Loan drives, as well as charities such as the Salvation Army, the Elks Club and the Red Cross. These organizations benefited from his exciting yet harrowing exhibitions. Usually, a portion of the collected donations was split and shared between the Spider and the designated beneficiary. Bill discovered it was a lucrative, though perilous, way to make a living.

The Human Spider as he looked just before his successful climb of the Hibernia Bank Building in New Orleans, Louisiana, on April 22, 1919. Photo by John T. Mendes © The Historic New Orleans Collection, Gift of Waldemar S. Nelson, Acc. No. 2003.0182.194.

Bill Strother walks to a window on the seventh floor of the Hibernia Bank Building during his climb on April 22, 1919, in New Orleans. Photo by John T. Mendes © The Historic New Orleans Collection, Gift of Waldemar S. Nelson, Acc. No. 2003.0182.195.

Looking back on his scaling buildings as a vocation, truly he was amazing—another Houdini of his time. As the Jackson County Journal of Sylva, North Carolina, wrote on May 17, 1918, announcing an upcoming climbing appearance: THE HUMAN SPIDER, W.C. Strother, will be here and he will climb the Court House and will do many fancy stunts while on top. He will climb without the use of a ladder, rope or anything of the kind, just his hands and feet. HE IS ONE OF THE WORLD’S WONDERS!

His fame and remarkable skill got the attention of comedian/actor Harold Lloyd in 1922, and Bill became the inspiration for the silent classic film of 1923 Safety Last! Lloyd hired Bill to co-star in the movie as the Pal, Limpy Bill (his only cinematic role). He can be seen portraying this character while also doubling as Harold Lloyd’s character, the Boy. Dressed as Lloyd, several long shots of Bill were filmed, focusing on his climbing stunts.

Nevertheless, nothing remains constant, as the saying goes, and circumstances constitute change. My dear paternal grandmother, Ethel Allen Strother, always said, Life is a series of adjustments, and changes were in store for Bill Strother. No doubt his age and a bit more body weight made him rethink his career choice. He had experienced a few major falls, and he had commented that the accidents had blunted his focus somewhat; he was not as sharp as he felt he should be. One major fall following some exhibitions promoting Safety Last! left him with a serious injury, and he landed in a hospital near Los Angeles. His nurse, Ethel Grady Weems, originally from Tennessee, became his wife soon after his hospital stay. She encouraged him to change course. He became a salesman for dog food, but it became obvious he longed for something else.

Mr. and Mrs. Bill Strother decided to purchase a Queen Anne Victorian house in Petersburg, Virginia, in the late 1930s. The city that was a major battleground near the end of the War Between the States would present a new beginning for the couple. They purchased the property and opened it as the Strother House, a boardinghouse or tourist home. Bill became the designated cook, and both he and his wife enjoyed greeting guests, especially military personnel from the nearby Camp Lee during World War II.

But it seemed that Mrs. Strother sensed that something was missing for her charismatic husband. In 1942, she spotted a notice in the Richmond Times-Dispatch that the downtown Richmond flagship department store, Miller & Rhoads, was searching for a Santa Claus. She encouraged Bill to answer the advertisement. He did so and was hired by the enthusiastic store executives, who no doubt recognized his talents and attributes as a performer. In addition, they obviously identified him, too, as someone who loved children (he and Grady did not have any of their own).

Thanks to Strother’s theatrical prowess, he and Miller & Rhoads made certain the Santa Claus that would be presented to customers, and indeed to the public in general, would be genuine. His makeup was by Hollywood’s Max Factor Jr., and his Christmas red suit was made from the finest velvet with fur from Lyon, France. His boots and belt were Italian leather—no rubber boots for this St. Nick! Everyone agreed he was beautiful and the most genuine-looking and believable Santa in existence! Indeed, he was the Real Santa!

He still is the Santa to me, and yes, I still believe! As a young child in the 1950s, little did I know that I would later be employed as a Snow Queen at Miller & Rhoads. I worked as a major helper to the famous Santa from 1971 to 1989 (albeit Santa Bill’s replacement, Santa Arthur Chuck Hood, who carried on magically in his own right, with the tradition), until Miller & Rhoads closed and then briefly at Thalhimers until 1991. (Santa Hansford Rowe also occupied the chair in Santaland on a part-time basis from 1958 until the mid-1960s. His brother, Santa Dan Rowe, carried on the tradition from the 1960s on, as did Santa Charlie Nuckols and Santa Cullen Johnson in the 1980s until the store’s closing.)

Sisters Judith Strother (Jones) (left) and Donna Strother (Deekens) visit with the Real Santa, Bill Strother, at Miller & Rhoads in downtown Richmond, Virginia, in 1956. Bill and Donna Strother Deekens Private Collection.

The Santa Claus that Bill Strother created, embraced and, yes, became set the precedent for the tradition that was honored and offered to customers for the remainder of the store’s existence. And that tradition rippled throughout the country into the minds and hearts of those who persevered—and many still strive to do—to spread the spirit of giving year-round, just as Santa Bill had envisioned and hoped others would emulate. The essence of Bill Strother and the Real Santa lives on in the joy and dedication of those who continue in his footsteps. In today’s technologically advanced world, where amazement seems to be commonplace, visits to see Santa that produce excitement in children, as well as in the adults who seek to remain young at heart, continue to rank high on the annual Christmas holiday list. The traditional icon of Santa Claus continues to be enhanced by the love and devotion of those who choose to wear the red suit—no doubt, in many cases reverently, in tribute to Bill Strother—echoing a mantra in the Santa Claus international community that is a credit to his legacy: "God bless you and remember to keep the twinkle in your eyes and the spirit of Christmas in your