By NICOLE CARTRETTE
Staff Writer

Three generations of naughty and nice children have sat on his knee, his long white beard is real, and even he has something that most Santas don’t – eyes that dance.

“He’s always got a pocket full of suckers,” his son Ed says. “He is Santa every day.”

Dwight Burleson can’t go into a restaurant without someone telling him ‘you look like Santa’, but he wouldn’t have it any other way. “It gives him a chance to be around the kids,” Ed says. “He can really fill your ears full of stories.”

This May when he underwent triple bypass surgery, being Santa was a big part of his motivation to get well, Ed says. “If nothing else, he wanted to be Santa.”

“There were two things I want to do,” Burleson told his doctor. “I want to be in shape to do Santa Claus and ride the ambulance again in the front,” says Burleson, an emergency medical technician instructor and retired educator.

“I enjoy it,” he says. “The whole family enjoys it. It’s a family affair.”

A few hours in his house beside Farm Bureau and one soon realizes his popularity extends beyond the borders of Columbus County. Wednesday alone more than 100 visitors, young and old, paid him a visit.

They came from all walks of life. “I’ve met a lot of interesting people,” he points out, recalling the time a Wilmington reporter, the grandson of U.S. President Harry Truman, interviewed him.

“He came to interview me and I interviewed him,” Burleson laughs.

“It has opened a lot of doors; I have met a lot of nice people.”

Families have made a visit with him each year a Christmas tradition. “You can hear them talking – the excitement in their voices,” Santa says as the pitter patter of quick footsteps make their ways up the ramp at his cozy little house.

“We love to come and see him,” says Sabrina Ward, who sat on Santa’s knee when she was a child. Her daughter Brianna, 8, and son Blake, 5, are frequent visitors.

“If I reach in one pocket and pull out a five dollar bill and reach in the other pocket and pull out a five dollar bill, what have I got?” he asks Brianna.

“Ten dollars,” she declares.

“No. I’ve got on somebody else’s pants, cause I don’t have any money,” Santa cheers.

Santa has heard it all and is as entertained with the children as they are with him. Such was the case with Jael Jones, a 3-year-old with quite a personality.

“Have you been good?” Santa asks.

“I’ve been good. You been good?” Jael replies.

Gavin McPherson, 2, couldn’t resist sneaking a little tug on the beard. His little fingers were amazed with the soft white beard that Burleson has grown each year for 30 consecutive years.

Santa amazes. Those teetering on the fence of disbelief often find he knows far more than expected.

“What’s my address?” one child challenges him.

Santa knows this one, rattling off a street number and all.

The boy’s eyes widened. His mouth drops. “How did you know?” asks the boy.

Many of the children run to Santa without apprehension. There are exceptions and it is then one witnesses the genuine patience that only a real Santa could possess.

“It’s okay,” Santa tells anxious Mommies with shy little ones. “Come back tomorrow,” he urges them, always willing to share his time.

“Parents who force their kids to sit on Santa’s knee –that traumatizes them,” Burleson says. “There are older people who are afraid of Santa.”

Dwight Burleson was born in Stanley County on a cold and snowy Dec. 14.

“I came into the world wild and crazy,” he says. The only boy in his family with both an older and younger sister, Burleson says Christmas has always been special to him.

“I have fond memories of the people who played Santa to me (his uncles).

“I always loved Christmas, even though Christmas Eve was the longest day of the year and I couldn’t wait. I do not remember a single Christmas I was disappointed, although I did not always get everything I wanted.”

It is a reality he keeps in mind when children come to him, sometimes with long and expensive wish lists.

“I’ll make you one promise,” he tells them. “I’ll do the very best I can.”

Burleson’s move to Whiteville was an accident, he says. In 1969 he was confused with another Burleson who had family ties to the community.

Whiteville City Schools Superintendent C.W. Duggins set up an interview with Dwight Burleson, a social studies teacher, thinking he was setting up an interview with Phil Burleson, an agriculture teacher.

“When he found out I wasn’t Phil he said, ‘Well, are you a certified teacher?’” remembers Burleson, who retired after 30 years of teaching in the Whiteville City School System in 1999.

His Santa career began more than 30 years ago when he became known as the Whiteville Merchants Association’s Downtown Santa. It was 1971 and a company based in Chadbourn that manufactured small portable trailers built the Santa house that is still used today.

Various sponsors ranging from department stores, real estate agencies to his latest sponsor, Farm Bureau, have all played a part in fostering thousands of smiles and countless giggles over the years.

There were times sponsorships were uncertain, but Burleson’s Christmas Spirit was always there.

“I was told they were doing away with the Christmas house, so I bought it (for the cost of the storage fee),” Burleson said.

His second identity has always brought him in contact with good people, he says. Johnny Dyson has moved the Santa trailer several times out of the goodness of his heart and 15 volunteers built the ramp to the house.

“You really get to count your blessings,” says Burleson, who has visited nursing homes, needy children’s parties and handicapped children, in addition to making appearances at civic parties and parades.

“You don’t stop, you want to keep going,” Burleson says.