EN YEARS AGO a little girl in a ragged coat sat on
her mother single and with eight children  _between the age of 16 and 9 months  _stood wapling All day kids had asked for a Freemaker
at TVs, teddy bears
and video games.
his little girl was
different 'I want a
sell and a Christmas
she said.
later that night,
Freeman cried as he told
his daughter
Angela, of the
little girls who
wish out where
found her
Larry Freeman would give you the last dollar in his pocket and the shirt off his back. His a hardman
delivered a decorated Christmas tree and a bell. On Christmas Eve the Friensmen delivered one truck of gifts, but on Christmas Day they present a new TWENTY-one to remind them.
woman standing there crying with her 9-month old baby saying, "There really is a Santa Claus there really is a Santa Claus" that was "Santa Claus" Angela says. "That was Santa Claus."
--who owns a home
repair, business
mows lawns, runs a
warehouse and has
children.
His daughter has
never seen him
H6 with 44 with a paired
rosy cheeks and a warm chuckle.
He hints at his santa Claus.
"HIS PLAYING SANTA
MAKES HIM A BETTER
PERSON BECAUSE HE
THINKS AT ALL IT
YEAR LONG."
— ANGELA FREEMAN
LARRY FREEMAN'S
DAUGHTER
This time of year
08→ JAYPLAY 12.07.2006
sake Santa plague the moth and scare little children. In Lawrence we've got the real deal. Freemen more than do than a not vetted character, so don't get them.
grandfather's wire-immed glasses. He bids oldlinks to tears: Families travel from Kansas City to see him for Jena Flasher, president of Weaver's Department Store, still believe in Santa Claus.
called Freeman and asked him to
call Freeman and asked him to
her 3-year-old granddaughter.
Either who was sick with Listeriae,
couldn't have been happier when she
met her father.
Weaverian has played Santa Claus Weaver for more than 10 years and has been the star of the Lawrence Old-Fashioned Christmas parade since its inception in the 1950s. He was 40 years and says that if it were legal he would cloush him. "He's just by far the test you find anywhere. When you see him, you'll understand. Not only that, but he's got the heart and love of children that Santa has."
One December night in 1973 Freeman jumped into the jolly suit because no one else would do it. He been Santa ever since, and it's by far his favorite thing to do. "Oh, he was hooked!" he said.
Freeman's most difficult Santa visit was in 2002 when Pat Callahan
Children like Emily are the best part of Freemaw's jobs. He listens intently, is soft spoken and patient with each child. As Santa, he has
Today, Emily is 7, and whenever she sees another woman she will say, "Oh not that the real one," her mother Tricia Venters, a nurse.
Every Christmas since
SIT ON HIS LAP UNTIL CHRISTMAS EVE
Weaver's, 101 Massachusetts St.
Saturdays, noon - 4 p.m.
Sundays, noon - 4 p.m.
he met emily Freeman has visited her home. When her Lukewinkle went into immigration in 2004 he attended her celebration party. Though Freeman was wearing regular clothes, Emily still knew who she was. When he gave me his name he handed out for Christmas gift. "You said he had my heart since I sent you," he had my heart since I sent you.
makes, promises.
When kids ask for pories, you have to tell them. I tell them. I tell them that I have to ask their parents
When Freeman was growing up, Christmas was a big deal. It wasn't what you wanted, it was what you needed, he says if you needed T-shirts, socks or jeans, that what got his Dad went to a lot of trouble to make it seem like Santa made sleigh and tracked skis made sleigh and tracked skis in the front yard "I did the same for my kid." Freeman says "I always
I got a girl a pony, and she lived in an apartment."
Angela still can't figure out he Santa visited their house where the family was out to dinner in Christmas Eve when she was 12. It is me it is always, at 40 years of the magic of Christmas, 'she says.'
been fascinated with Christmas.
A few years ago a college student stopped downstream to pay Freeman a visit. The student asked if he can get a passing grade from the school, but I can't help if you haven't been living in Freeman's said the study said yes. Days later the same student stopped to buy, "way to Go Sant Joan."
This time of year, Sanna is a penny guy so his family wants celebrate Christmas later in the city. She said she is going to her spirit of Christmas is — leave
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