ALBION – When a group of Santas has an exhibition at the Elk’s Club, the Santas are going to try to make the space their own, even if that means putting a red nose on one of the elks mounted on the wall.

Santas used the Elk’s Club on West State Street as a meeting place and also a spot for selling Santa suits, boots, belts and other merchandise. Albion hosted the Charles W. Howard Legendary Santa Claus Conference from Thursday through Saturday.

This Santa wore a red hat with a “Believe”  pin on the back. He was at Fair Haven Treasures on Friday afternoon for the dedication of an International Peace Garden.

A member of Santa’s Drill Team stands in an honor guard on the front porch of Fair Haven Treasures as part of the garden dedication.

Santa’s Drill Team includes Santas from around Tampa, Florida. They recite American history and shared about the War of 1812 during the Peace Garden dedication.

Members of the Claus Clan, a group of Santas that celebrate their Scottish ancestry, stand at attention at the Peace Garden dedication while listening to Gaines Town Justice Bruce Schmidt, who was master of ceremonies for the event.

Vern Crawford, a Santa from Center Point, Texas, snaps a photo during the Peace Garden dedication.

While their reindeer rested at home, Santas made their way to Albion with vehicles decorated for the Christmas season.

This license plate was on a vehicle at the Elk’s Club parking lot.

Tom Myers, a Santa from Washington. D.C., sits on one of the portable chairs he was selling at the Elk’s. Myers said the chairs could easily be folded up and transported.

Tim Harrison of Hopewell Junction in New York gets fitted in a Santa suit by Gwen Kirkendall of Santa and Co. LLC. The business sells Santa suits in a similar design as those sold by Charles W. Howard when he operated his Santa School in Albion from 1937 until 1966.

These Santas walk past the Orleans County Jail on their way to courthouse steps for a bigger group picture on Saturday.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – The Santas who attended the Charles W. Howard Legendary Santa Claus Conference joined hands and recited the Santa Claus Oath during their ceremonies on Friday in the Albion Middle School Auditorium.

The oath was developed in 2010 by Phil Wenz, a Santa at the iconic Santa’s Village Theme Park in Dundee, Ill. He also was coordinator of the Santa Claus Conference this past week.

Wenz created the oath and dedicated it to two legendary Santas: Charlie Howard of Albion and Jim Yellig of Santa Claus, Ind. Howard started a popular Santa Claus School in Albion in 1937, which he ran until his death in 1966. Many of his principles for interacting with children and standards for dress for Santa continue today. Yellig portrayed Santa for 54 years and over 6,000 days. He died in 1984.

When Wenz created the oath, he had the grandsons of the two legendary Santas be the first to sign it. Howard’s grandson, Charles Bergeman, and Yellig’s grandson, Will Koch, signed it together in October 2008. They signed it in the Candy Castle in Santa Claus, Indiana, where Howard and Yellig had met 70 years prior.

More than 5,000 members of the Santa Claus community have now signed the document.

Some of the Santas and Mrs. Clauses hold hands and recite the Santa Claus Oath on Friday.

The Santa Claus Oath

I will seek knowledge to be well versed in the mysteries of bringing Christmas cheer and good will to all the people that I encounter in my journeys and travels.

I shall be dedicated to hearing the secret dreams of both children and adults.

I understand that the true and only gift I can give, as Santa, is myself.

I acknowledge that some of the requests I will hear will be difficult and sad. I know in these difficulties there lies an opportunity to bring a spirit of warmth, understanding and compassion.

I know the “real reason for the season” and know that I am blessed to be able to be a part of it.

I realize that I belong to a brotherhood and will be supportive, honest and show fellowship to my peers.

I promise to use “my” powers to create happiness, spread love and make fantasies come to life in the true and sincere tradition of the Santa Claus Legend.

I pledge myself to these principles as a descendant of Saint Nicholas the gift giver of Myra.

– Phillip L. Wenz

In addition to reciting the Santa Clause Oath, several of the Santas were “knighted” during the conference. As Knights of Saint Nicholas they are “called to a higher Santa Claus experience,” Wenz said.

The Santas were blessed with manna, a liquid they believe comes from the bones of St. Nicholas in Bari, Italy. The manna was mixed with holy water and put in a bottle. The Rev. Richard Csizmar, pastor of Holy Family Catholic Church, blessed the manna on Thursday during a mass in Albion at St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church.

“This is the closest thing you can get to the real St. Nicholas,” Wenz told about 200 Santas on Friday.

After the knighting ceremony on Friday, the empty bottle was given to Holy Family Parish so an artifact from St. Nicholas could stay in Charlie Howard’s hometown.

The knighting program isn’t a Catholic or Protestant effort, but a push “to keep Christ in Christmas,” Wenz said.

Phil Wenz, left, leads the knighting ceremony that includes Everett Johnson, a Santa from Knoxville, Tenn.

The Creed of the Knights of St. Nicholas

“I believe in the miracle of the manger and the message of the child who was born as the Messiah as God’s true gift to all mankind. I acknowledge the Passion and the sacrifice made as a paradigm that it is truly better to give than to receive.

“I understand the devotion of Nicholas of Myra and his conviction to God’s love for all mankind as an example to follow. I am a mere mortal who has no magical powers except the belief of loyalty to the tradition of the Advent Season that has been handed down from generation to generation to me by my family and friends.

“I acknowledge that the true basis for the celebration is the child of the manger and I promise to make all children happy to the best of my abilities in his name. I confirm these beliefs to myself and to the Spirit of Christmas as a Knight of St. Nicholas, a servant of people everywhere.”

Photo courtesy of Genter family – Betty Genter is pictured with her daughter Alexandra in this photo from 2010.

ALBION – Clark Shaffer believes his four years living with Betty and Adolf Genter may have saved his life, putting him on the right course.

Shaffer is one of six foster kids who lived with the Genters. Adolf and Betty also had a son Joseph and a daughter, Alexandra, who they adopted from Russia.

Shaffer stayed with the Genters from fourth through eighth grades. He remembers the first ride home with Mrs. Genter. They stopped at the store to buy him clothes.

“Without her, who knows what would have happened to me,” Shaffer said. “She’s been everything.”

Genter was 79 when she died on April 11 following a long illness. She was a prolific local author, writing about growing up on a muck farm in Clarendon, restoring cobblestone structures, and her experiences adopting Alexandra and providing a home for Eddie Stone, a local orphan who would become a colonel in the U.S. Army. He gave the keynote address at her funeral on Friday.

Shaffer said Genter had a big heart full of love.

“I did a lot of mess-ups when I was younger but she always stuck by me,” Shaffer said.

Genter attended a one-room schoolhouse in the Manning hamlet in Clarendon. She worked for Albion Central School for 34 years, first as an elementary teacher, then as reading coordinator, assistant superintendent and principal of two elementary schools.

“She was very popular with the students,” said Linda Spierdowis, a long-time friend and teacher. “She had a way with the kids, especially the wayward kids.”

She remembers Genter going to student’s homes to find out why they weren’t in school. Sometimes she would have a carload of kids and take them for ice cream.

She used her caring nature and sense of humor to win them over. Spierdowis remembers Genter dressing up as a fox, a wolf and robin to make learning more fun for the elementary students. She felt drawn to children struggling, perhaps due to a difficult home environment.

“She just wanted to give them a better life,” Spierdowis said. “She could sort out the ones who needed the extra attention. She saved a lot of them. Her goal was to get as many kids to succeed as possible.”

When Genter was a small child, doctors said she wouldn’t ever walk because she was missing a hip joint. One leg was much shorter than the other. She would walk, but did so with a limp and it became more difficult in recent years.

“She was very strong-willed,” her daughter Alex said. “Whatever she wanted to achieve, she did. I always admired her determination. She was the strongest woman I knew.”

Alex has cerebral palsy and she wasn’t walking when she was in the orphanage in Russia. Betty believed Alex would walk, and she felt drawn to a child that didn’t have a family.

Alex, now 27, learned to walk and would become a college graduate. She and her husband Kevin Andrews welcomed their first baby, Bowen, about 2 weeks ago.

Genter’s husband said his wife always wanted a big family. The Genters owned a farm house on Brown Road and Mrs. Genter thought it could be an oasis for children, filling them with love.

“She had a love for children,” Mr. Genter said. “She wanted to give them a home.”

The Genters’ son, Joseph, is now 42 and lives in the Tug Hill area of northern New York. He remembers his mother being very positive to the children when he was growing up.

“She always said, ‘You can do it,'” Joseph said.

His mother was committed to local community in many other ways, active at Holy Family Catholic Parish, as a 4-H leader, the Clarendon Historical Society, and human service agencies.

“She touched a lot of lives,” Joseph said. “For her, children always came first.”