Santa rides the rails in Jim Thorpe

All over the world Santa’s assistants have been busy taking requests from boys and girls so that the big guy in the red suit can focus on toy making at the North Pole.

Bob Eulo of Jim Thorpe is one of those helpers.

Whenever his identity as Santa Claus has been questioned or challenged, Eulo has relied on the spirit deep inside himself to get his doubters to believe in him.

And believe him they do.

Eulo’s road to the North Pole began when he moved from Clifton, New Jersey, to Jim Thorpe in the mid-80s. For 27 years he was a truck driver, the lead singer in a rock ’n’ roll band, and an amateur magician.

Becoming Santa Claus was never in his plan until one summer when he attended a camp for cancer kids in Blairstown, New Jersey.

“I decided to go to perform my magic act, and that’s where I asked if I could come back in December and play Santa Claus.”

“Someone then said to me, ‘Most of these kids won’t be alive until Christmas.’ ”

Eulo put on his Santa suit and held Christmas in July for the camp kids.

He put his suit away until six years ago, when a photographer for the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railroad company asked Eulo if he would consider playing Santa Claus during the Olde Time Christmas event in downtown Jim Thorpe.

“I had to audition for the part,” Eulo said. “I dressed in the lobby of the company’s main office in Port Clinton. I thought I’d get myself in the mood, so I went upstairs and did my Santa thing to all the workers who sat in their cubicles.”

Eulo went back downstairs and told the administrator he was ready for the audition.

“You already did it,” he said. “You got the job.”

The owner of the company asked Eulo how much he had paid for his red suit.

“I paid $400 for my suit that I bought back in the ’80s. The owner then offered to buy me another suit for $400 so I wouldn’t have to keep mine clean for every event.”

Eulo dons the suit to portray Santa inside the train station in Jim Thorpe, and he had to be sure he was on break whenever the Santa train came in to the station so as not to confuse the kids.

Now he is the Santa on the train and he is assisted by his elves, Tom Hudak and Marie Milkos. During the Olde Time Christmas, he makes 33 trips during an 11-day period. He has gathered some wonderful stories during his rolling adventures on the tracks.

One in particular occurred when a little girl named Maddie came up to him wearing a very sad face.

“I asked her if she was afraid of me and she said, ‘no.’ Then I asked her what was wrong and she told me her Pop Pop had just died.”

“You loved your Pop Pop, didn’t you?” I asked.

“Yes,” said Maddie.

“Well,” I said. “Every time you think of your Pop Pop, he will think of you as long as you keep him in your heart.”

“Maddie smiled and I gave her a candy cane. Then her mother saw me later and asked what I did to take away her sadness. I didn’t really think about what to say to Maddie. Those words just came out of me, and since then I’ve known how to deal with grief.

“Another time, a little boy walked up and stood at attention in front of me.” He said, “I just got the best Christmas present ever.”

“Oh and what was that?” I asked.

“I just got adopted,” he said.

“Then this is the first day of your life,” I said to him.

His doubters occasionally challenge Santa’s existence.

“I have no prepared plan to reply,” he said. “Again, the words come out of me. I guess the spirit moves me to always say the right words.”

Recently, he answered the question if he was real.

“My great-great-great-grandfather was Nicholas, who created me one Christmas Eve,” was his reply.

Bob Eulo will never call what he does a job. He is genuine not only to his Santa Claus character, but also to his own beliefs.

“Christmas is about the birth of Jesus. It’s about giving and being thankful. It’s about family and everyone taking care of the people they love.”

Where’s Santa?

Want to check Santa’s progress?

https://www.noradsanta.org