Armstrongs recall 30-plus years of 'Santa Clausing'

Bob Armstrong played Santa Claus in Lincoln for 30 years, and while he has been retired from that position since 2014, many still think of him as the face of Christmas in Lincoln.

Armstrong, who made a guest appearance in Lincoln as Santa in 2018, said this will be the first year since he started that he won't be a Santa at all.

"He does miss it," said Armstrong's wife, Trudy.

When asked how he got started, Armstrong said, "I think my build, probably more than anything. I was the only one in town that filled in the costume. The Senior Center, I guess, was who started me on it. Once I got going, I liked doing it. It was fun. I had little children that loved to come back each year."

"He didn't start Santa Clausing until we moved to Lincoln, and that was in 1983. I think he probably did his first year in about 1984," said Trudy.

Trudy said the suit came out of storage and was old and in need of repairs. "I told him, 'This is it. If you're going to do it, I'm going to make you a suit," she said. After that first year, she took apart the original suit and used it as a pattern to make Armstrong a new one that he used for the rest of his tenure as Santa.

Armstrong's daughter sent him a wig and beard that he used for the first few years, but after that he decided to grow his own hair out to fit the role.

"I think by the late '80s he had his own hair," Trudy said.

Trudy attended events with Armstrong, helping with crowd control and making sure students took turns. "He never went without me. I never wanted to be Mrs. Santa Claus. I had too much school teacher in me, I guess. Let's say, I was his agent."

While the Armstrongs focused mainly on Lincoln and Lincoln school events, they also traveled to different locations to be Santa, going nearly to Spokane one time to play Santa at a Christmas store.

"The Helena Fire Department had us several times. They would drive us through the streets and blow their horns. We had a lot of fun out in Helena," said Trudy. "We did travel to Seeley Lake several times. We were asked to come there and do it."

Besides playing Santa at the Senior Center, Armstrong would visit the school each year, make appearances at the Garlands store, and attend events at the Community Hall.

"He went to the Red Hat party. I think when the Kiwanis was going, he probably went to the Kiwanis party. Private families would have us to their homes," said Trudy. "Of course, we didn't charge. There was no charge ever. We didn't believe in that."

"Back in the days when Garlands was really going great, they would hire him to come and do Santa Claus," said Trudy, adding that Garlands would also hire a sleigh with two horses and the driver would take them and whoever else wanted to go up and down main street and down some of the back roads.

"We always had wonderful snow," Trudy said.