AUBURN — SANTA CLAUS ONCE LIVED IN AUBURN
His name was J. Roland Muhn.
Muhn lived a life of energy, generosity and dedication to the poor. For over 50 years, he acted as the community's very own Father Christmas, a role he assumed in the mid-1920s and held until his death in 1984.
Dressed in a big, red Santa suit and a custom-made long, white beard, he made the rounds in Auburn as Old Saint Nick. Most notably, he brought the spirit of Christmas to St. Vincent Villa orphanage in Fort Wayne for more than half a century.
It was at St. Vincent Villa where he began his career as Santa Claus in 1926. The roots of his dedication to the red suit and cap go back a little further, however.
He was born June 24, 1891, in Auburn. Working on his family's rented farm, he got behind in classwork and dropped out of school in seventh grade.
In a small pamphlet Muhn wrote about his life story, he describes himself as big and strong for his age, so at 13 he began working as a contractor, a profession he would hold for the rest of his life.
He got a job near Huntertown rebuilding a house that had burned down, earning 25 cents a day and working from dawn to dusk.
"At that time, it took almost a year to build a good house," he wrote, "and before we got the house done, the lady's husband died. She went to the St. Vincent Villa Orphan's Home and got a boy to stay with her for company and security."
That boy was a 12-year-old named Mack. He and Muhn became friends, and when Christmas came, the now-widow gave the boys candy and altered clothes from her deceased husband's wardrobe.
"She had no money after her husband's death to spend for others. She had to finish the house and pay the funeral expenses, and she too was desperate," Muhn wrote. "But Mack cried because he did not get any new Christmas presents, and that broke my heart."
So Mack and Muhn prayed together, promising God that once they grew up and had enough money, they would get the orphans at St. Vincent Villa "new Christmas toys or whatever they wanted."
They finished the house and lost track of one another as the years went on. Then World War I began, and eventually both were drafted. Mack died in the war.
Muhn, meanwhile, was deferred for a time due to housing contracts. By the time he was drafted, the war was nearly over.
"I always thought Mack gave more than I did," Muhn wrote. "When Christmas would come, I would always see Mack and myself on our knees promising God we would help the orphans to be happy at Christmas."
During the 1920s, Muhn found success in contracting. He took a job to build a dance hall, the Silver Moon, for Noah Yoder.
But Yoder couldn't pay for it, so Muhn took it over, and so successful was the establishment, the dime-a-dance hall paid for itself in three months, according to Muhn's grandson, Bob. Roland Muhn, with his wife Elizabeth, moved into an apartment above the dance hall.
Then, one night, a man was kicked out of the Silver Moon for bad behavior. That man returned to the hall and lit it on fire. Elizabeth Muhn died, and Roland Muhn was severely burned and blinded as he tried to rescue her.
Bob Muhn said his grandfather prayed, promising that if God gave him back his eyesight, he would devote his life and half of the money he earned to helping others.
His sight returned, and he made a full recovery. Muhn's nurse during his recovery, Ann, would later become his wife.
"He didn't have a scar on him," Bob Muhn said. "He had a 100 percent recovery. But I think that was because of his relationship to God."
It was at this time that Roland Muhn pledged that he would "live for God's people, not God's people's money," Bob Muhn said.
Bob Muhn said he thinks the memory of Mack, and Mack's distress over not getting new toys for Christmas, continued to haunt his grandfather.
So a couple of years after the fire, Roland Muhn made good on his promises — both on the one he made with Mack and the one he made for his own healing.
In 1926, he made his first visit to the orphans of St. Vincent Villa.
"I took some toys, candy and nuts down in two big, burlap sacks. I was dressed like a chore boy. I had a sheepskin coat, corduroy pants, and four-buckle rubbers," Muhn wrote. "When I came home, I felt so much better, because I had done part of the job Mack and I promised God we'd do."
He continued to make that visit, year after year, eventually donning a more elaborate costume: a tailored Santa suit and a wig and beard made from real hair by a Chicago wigmaker.
"The children loved old Santa, and Santa loved the children," Muhn wrote.
The operation got more involved. Muhn would send the children a Sears catalogue, and the children began writing letters to Muhn's Santa, telling him what they wanted.
Each nun at the orphanage got to pick a Christmas gift, too.
"They got the same treatment as the kids did," said Bob Muhn.
Ann Muhn assisted her husband in all this, and they recruited other people to donate time and money for the St. Vincent Villa orphans. Eventually, the visits from Santa turned into annual Christmas parties.
"No one after three years of helping with this party has ever failed to mail his or her check, only by death," Muhn wrote. "The folks that help to make this party possible, I think, like it as much as I do or they would not help or come each year. They are so faithful in helping."
And so the party grew bigger and better, according to Roland Muhn, and continued for 50 years.
Muhn's work as Santa went beyond Christmases with the orphans, according to his grandson. In or out of the suit, Roland Muhn's giving continued throughout the year.
Whether it was in the hundreds of Christmas and birthday cards he wrote each year, or the buckets of Dum-Dum suckers he handed out to every kid he saw on the street, or the gifts he would give to struggling families (he rarely gave money, distributing personalized gifts, instead), generosity was a way of life for Roland Muhn, his grandson said.
"He wanted everyone to live a good life," Bob Muhn said.
Bob Muhn described his grandfather as a "religious man who never went to church," and a hard worker, owning several businesses through the years besides his successful contracting firm. At its peak, the company employed 140 workers and was putting up 40 homes a year.
Bob Muhn speculated that because his grandfather worked so much, he didn't have time to spend money. So Roland Muhn gave it away.
"I really and truly think that my making a promise to God that I would help the orphans has changed my life — made me look at life better and enjoy it more since I have been with the orphans so many years," Muhn wrote in 1976. "Life can be so sweet when you are happy and contented and can help others to be happy and enjoy life.
"I have always told folks that my wealth was my friends and my health. I have always enjoyed giving to people — they have a different look on their face. It's not the value of the gift, but the love that they receive from the gift. …. It takes a lot of work to put on a Christmas party, but we have really enjoyed them all these years."
His name was J. Roland Muhn.
Muhn lived a life of energy, generosity and dedication to the poor. For over 50 years, he acted as the community's very own Father Christmas, a role he assumed in the mid-1920s and held until his death in 1984.
Dressed in a big, red Santa suit and a custom-made long, white beard, he made the rounds in Auburn as Old Saint Nick. Most notably, he brought the spirit of Christmas to St. Vincent Villa orphanage in Fort Wayne for more than half a century.
It was at St. Vincent Villa where he began his career as Santa Claus in 1926. The roots of his dedication to the red suit and cap go back a little further, however.
He was born June 24, 1891, in Auburn. Working on his family's rented farm, he got behind in classwork and dropped out of school in seventh grade.
In a small pamphlet Muhn wrote about his life story, he describes himself as big and strong for his age, so at 13 he began working as a contractor, a profession he would hold for the rest of his life.
He got a job near Huntertown rebuilding a house that had burned down, earning 25 cents a day and working from dawn to dusk.
"At that time, it took almost a year to build a good house," he wrote, "and before we got the house done, the lady's husband died. She went to the St. Vincent Villa Orphan's Home and got a boy to stay with her for company and security."
That boy was a 12-year-old named Mack. He and Muhn became friends, and when Christmas came, the now-widow gave the boys candy and altered clothes from her deceased husband's wardrobe.
"She had no money after her husband's death to spend for others. She had to finish the house and pay the funeral expenses, and she too was desperate," Muhn wrote. "But Mack cried because he did not get any new Christmas presents, and that broke my heart."
So Mack and Muhn prayed together, promising God that once they grew up and had enough money, they would get the orphans at St. Vincent Villa "new Christmas toys or whatever they wanted."
They finished the house and lost track of one another as the years went on. Then World War I began, and eventually both were drafted. Mack died in the war.
Muhn, meanwhile, was deferred for a time due to housing contracts. By the time he was drafted, the war was nearly over.
"I always thought Mack gave more than I did," Muhn wrote. "When Christmas would come, I would always see Mack and myself on our knees promising God we would help the orphans to be happy at Christmas."
During the 1920s, Muhn found success in contracting. He took a job to build a dance hall, the Silver Moon, for Noah Yoder.
But Yoder couldn't pay for it, so Muhn took it over, and so successful was the establishment, the dime-a-dance hall paid for itself in three months, according to Muhn's grandson, Bob. Roland Muhn, with his wife Elizabeth, moved into an apartment above the dance hall.
Then, one night, a man was kicked out of the Silver Moon for bad behavior. That man returned to the hall and lit it on fire. Elizabeth Muhn died, and Roland Muhn was severely burned and blinded as he tried to rescue her.
Bob Muhn said his grandfather prayed, promising that if God gave him back his eyesight, he would devote his life and half of the money he earned to helping others.
His sight returned, and he made a full recovery. Muhn's nurse during his recovery, Ann, would later become his wife.
"He didn't have a scar on him," Bob Muhn said. "He had a 100 percent recovery. But I think that was because of his relationship to God."
It was at this time that Roland Muhn pledged that he would "live for God's people, not God's people's money," Bob Muhn said.
Bob Muhn said he thinks the memory of Mack, and Mack's distress over not getting new toys for Christmas, continued to haunt his grandfather.
So a couple of years after the fire, Roland Muhn made good on his promises — both on the one he made with Mack and the one he made for his own healing.
In 1926, he made his first visit to the orphans of St. Vincent Villa.
"I took some toys, candy and nuts down in two big, burlap sacks. I was dressed like a chore boy. I had a sheepskin coat, corduroy pants, and four-buckle rubbers," Muhn wrote. "When I came home, I felt so much better, because I had done part of the job Mack and I promised God we'd do."
He continued to make that visit, year after year, eventually donning a more elaborate costume: a tailored Santa suit and a wig and beard made from real hair by a Chicago wigmaker.
"The children loved old Santa, and Santa loved the children," Muhn wrote.
The operation got more involved. Muhn would send the children a Sears catalogue, and the children began writing letters to Muhn's Santa, telling him what they wanted.
Each nun at the orphanage got to pick a Christmas gift, too.
"They got the same treatment as the kids did," said Bob Muhn.
Ann Muhn assisted her husband in all this, and they recruited other people to donate time and money for the St. Vincent Villa orphans. Eventually, the visits from Santa turned into annual Christmas parties.
"No one after three years of helping with this party has ever failed to mail his or her check, only by death," Muhn wrote. "The folks that help to make this party possible, I think, like it as much as I do or they would not help or come each year. They are so faithful in helping."
And so the party grew bigger and better, according to Roland Muhn, and continued for 50 years.
Muhn's work as Santa went beyond Christmases with the orphans, according to his grandson. In or out of the suit, Roland Muhn's giving continued throughout the year.
Whether it was in the hundreds of Christmas and birthday cards he wrote each year, or the buckets of Dum-Dum suckers he handed out to every kid he saw on the street, or the gifts he would give to struggling families (he rarely gave money, distributing personalized gifts, instead), generosity was a way of life for Roland Muhn, his grandson said.
"He wanted everyone to live a good life," Bob Muhn said.
Bob Muhn described his grandfather as a "religious man who never went to church," and a hard worker, owning several businesses through the years besides his successful contracting firm. At its peak, the company employed 140 workers and was putting up 40 homes a year.
Bob Muhn speculated that because his grandfather worked so much, he didn't have time to spend money. So Roland Muhn gave it away.
"I really and truly think that my making a promise to God that I would help the orphans has changed my life — made me look at life better and enjoy it more since I have been with the orphans so many years," Muhn wrote in 1976. "Life can be so sweet when you are happy and contented and can help others to be happy and enjoy life.
"I have always told folks that my wealth was my friends and my health. I have always enjoyed giving to people — they have a different look on their face. It's not the value of the gift, but the love that they receive from the gift. …. It takes a lot of work to put on a Christmas party, but we have really enjoyed them all these years."
AUBURN — SANTA CLAUS ONCE LIVED IN AUBURN
His name was J. Roland Muhn.
Muhn lived a life of energy, generosity and dedication to the poor. For over 50 years, he acted as the community's very own Father Christmas, a role he assumed in the mid-1920s and held until his death in 1984.
Dressed in a big, red Santa suit and a custom-made long, white beard, he made the rounds in Auburn as Old Saint Nick. Most notably, he brought the spirit of Christmas to St. Vincent Villa orphanage in Fort Wayne for more than half a century.
It was at St. Vincent Villa where he began his career as Santa Claus in 1926. The roots of his dedication to the red suit and cap go back a little further, however.
He was born June 24, 1891, in Auburn. Working on his family's rented farm, he got behind in classwork and dropped out of school in seventh grade.
In a small pamphlet Muhn wrote about his life story, he describes himself as big and strong for his age, so at 13 he began working as a contractor, a profession he would hold for the rest of his life.
He got a job near Huntertown rebuilding a house that had burned down, earning 25 cents a day and working from dawn to dusk.
"At that time, it took almost a year to build a good house," he wrote, "and before we got the house done, the lady's husband died. She went to the St. Vincent Villa Orphan's Home and got a boy to stay with her for company and security."
That boy was a 12-year-old named Mack. He and Muhn became friends, and when Christmas came, the now-widow gave the boys candy and altered clothes from her deceased husband's wardrobe.
"She had no money after her husband's death to spend for others. She had to finish the house and pay the funeral expenses, and she too was desperate," Muhn wrote. "But Mack cried because he did not get any new Christmas presents, and that broke my heart."
So Mack and Muhn prayed together, promising God that once they grew up and had enough money, they would get the orphans at St. Vincent Villa "new Christmas toys or whatever they wanted."
They finished the house and lost track of one another as the years went on. Then World War I began, and eventually both were drafted. Mack died in the war.
Muhn, meanwhile, was deferred for a time due to housing contracts. By the time he was drafted, the war was nearly over.
"I always thought Mack gave more than I did," Muhn wrote. "When Christmas would come, I would always see Mack and myself on our knees promising God we would help the orphans to be happy at Christmas."
During the 1920s, Muhn found success in contracting. He took a job to build a dance hall, the Silver Moon, for Noah Yoder.
But Yoder couldn't pay for it, so Muhn took it over, and so successful was the establishment, the dime-a-dance hall paid for itself in three months, according to Muhn's grandson, Bob. Roland Muhn, with his wife Elizabeth, moved into an apartment above the dance hall.
Then, one night, a man was kicked out of the Silver Moon for bad behavior. That man returned to the hall and lit it on fire. Elizabeth Muhn died, and Roland Muhn was severely burned and blinded as he tried to rescue her.
Bob Muhn said his grandfather prayed, promising that if God gave him back his eyesight, he would devote his life and half of the money he earned to helping others.
His sight returned, and he made a full recovery. Muhn's nurse during his recovery, Ann, would later become his wife.
"He didn't have a scar on him," Bob Muhn said. "He had a 100 percent recovery. But I think that was because of his relationship to God."
It was at this time that Roland Muhn pledged that he would "live for God's people, not God's people's money," Bob Muhn said.
Bob Muhn said he thinks the memory of Mack, and Mack's distress over not getting new toys for Christmas, continued to haunt his grandfather.
So a couple of years after the fire, Roland Muhn made good on his promises — both on the one he made with Mack and the one he made for his own healing.
In 1926, he made his first visit to the orphans of St. Vincent Villa.
"I took some toys, candy and nuts down in two big, burlap sacks. I was dressed like a chore boy. I had a sheepskin coat, corduroy pants, and four-buckle rubbers," Muhn wrote. "When I came home, I felt so much better, because I had done part of the job Mack and I promised God we'd do."
He continued to make that visit, year after year, eventually donning a more elaborate costume: a tailored Santa suit and a wig and beard made from real hair by a Chicago wigmaker.
"The children loved old Santa, and Santa loved the children," Muhn wrote.
The operation got more involved. Muhn would send the children a Sears catalogue, and the children began writing letters to Muhn's Santa, telling him what they wanted.
Each nun at the orphanage got to pick a Christmas gift, too.
"They got the same treatment as the kids did," said Bob Muhn.
Ann Muhn assisted her husband in all this, and they recruited other people to donate time and money for the St. Vincent Villa orphans. Eventually, the visits from Santa turned into annual Christmas parties.
"No one after three years of helping with this party has ever failed to mail his or her check, only by death," Muhn wrote. "The folks that help to make this party possible, I think, like it as much as I do or they would not help or come each year. They are so faithful in helping."
And so the party grew bigger and better, according to Roland Muhn, and continued for 50 years.
Muhn's work as Santa went beyond Christmases with the orphans, according to his grandson. In or out of the suit, Roland Muhn's giving continued throughout the year.
Whether it was in the hundreds of Christmas and birthday cards he wrote each year, or the buckets of Dum-Dum suckers he handed out to every kid he saw on the street, or the gifts he would give to struggling families (he rarely gave money, distributing personalized gifts, instead), generosity was a way of life for Roland Muhn, his grandson said.
"He wanted everyone to live a good life," Bob Muhn said.
Bob Muhn described his grandfather as a "religious man who never went to church," and a hard worker, owning several businesses through the years besides his successful contracting firm. At its peak, the company employed 140 workers and was putting up 40 homes a year.
Bob Muhn speculated that because his grandfather worked so much, he didn't have time to spend money. So Roland Muhn gave it away.
"I really and truly think that my making a promise to God that I would help the orphans has changed my life — made me look at life better and enjoy it more since I have been with the orphans so many years," Muhn wrote in 1976. "Life can be so sweet when you are happy and contented and can help others to be happy and enjoy life.
"I have always told folks that my wealth was my friends and my health. I have always enjoyed giving to people — they have a different look on their face. It's not the value of the gift, but the love that they receive from the gift. …. It takes a lot of work to put on a Christmas party, but we have really enjoyed them all these years."
His name was J. Roland Muhn.
Muhn lived a life of energy, generosity and dedication to the poor. For over 50 years, he acted as the community's very own Father Christmas, a role he assumed in the mid-1920s and held until his death in 1984.
Dressed in a big, red Santa suit and a custom-made long, white beard, he made the rounds in Auburn as Old Saint Nick. Most notably, he brought the spirit of Christmas to St. Vincent Villa orphanage in Fort Wayne for more than half a century.
It was at St. Vincent Villa where he began his career as Santa Claus in 1926. The roots of his dedication to the red suit and cap go back a little further, however.
He was born June 24, 1891, in Auburn. Working on his family's rented farm, he got behind in classwork and dropped out of school in seventh grade.
In a small pamphlet Muhn wrote about his life story, he describes himself as big and strong for his age, so at 13 he began working as a contractor, a profession he would hold for the rest of his life.
He got a job near Huntertown rebuilding a house that had burned down, earning 25 cents a day and working from dawn to dusk.
"At that time, it took almost a year to build a good house," he wrote, "and before we got the house done, the lady's husband died. She went to the St. Vincent Villa Orphan's Home and got a boy to stay with her for company and security."
That boy was a 12-year-old named Mack. He and Muhn became friends, and when Christmas came, the now-widow gave the boys candy and altered clothes from her deceased husband's wardrobe.
"She had no money after her husband's death to spend for others. She had to finish the house and pay the funeral expenses, and she too was desperate," Muhn wrote. "But Mack cried because he did not get any new Christmas presents, and that broke my heart."
So Mack and Muhn prayed together, promising God that once they grew up and had enough money, they would get the orphans at St. Vincent Villa "new Christmas toys or whatever they wanted."
They finished the house and lost track of one another as the years went on. Then World War I began, and eventually both were drafted. Mack died in the war.
Muhn, meanwhile, was deferred for a time due to housing contracts. By the time he was drafted, the war was nearly over.
"I always thought Mack gave more than I did," Muhn wrote. "When Christmas would come, I would always see Mack and myself on our knees promising God we would help the orphans to be happy at Christmas."
During the 1920s, Muhn found success in contracting. He took a job to build a dance hall, the Silver Moon, for Noah Yoder.
But Yoder couldn't pay for it, so Muhn took it over, and so successful was the establishment, the dime-a-dance hall paid for itself in three months, according to Muhn's grandson, Bob. Roland Muhn, with his wife Elizabeth, moved into an apartment above the dance hall.
Then, one night, a man was kicked out of the Silver Moon for bad behavior. That man returned to the hall and lit it on fire. Elizabeth Muhn died, and Roland Muhn was severely burned and blinded as he tried to rescue her.
Bob Muhn said his grandfather prayed, promising that if God gave him back his eyesight, he would devote his life and half of the money he earned to helping others.
His sight returned, and he made a full recovery. Muhn's nurse during his recovery, Ann, would later become his wife.
"He didn't have a scar on him," Bob Muhn said. "He had a 100 percent recovery. But I think that was because of his relationship to God."
It was at this time that Roland Muhn pledged that he would "live for God's people, not God's people's money," Bob Muhn said.
Bob Muhn said he thinks the memory of Mack, and Mack's distress over not getting new toys for Christmas, continued to haunt his grandfather.
So a couple of years after the fire, Roland Muhn made good on his promises — both on the one he made with Mack and the one he made for his own healing.
In 1926, he made his first visit to the orphans of St. Vincent Villa.
"I took some toys, candy and nuts down in two big, burlap sacks. I was dressed like a chore boy. I had a sheepskin coat, corduroy pants, and four-buckle rubbers," Muhn wrote. "When I came home, I felt so much better, because I had done part of the job Mack and I promised God we'd do."
He continued to make that visit, year after year, eventually donning a more elaborate costume: a tailored Santa suit and a wig and beard made from real hair by a Chicago wigmaker.
"The children loved old Santa, and Santa loved the children," Muhn wrote.
The operation got more involved. Muhn would send the children a Sears catalogue, and the children began writing letters to Muhn's Santa, telling him what they wanted.
Each nun at the orphanage got to pick a Christmas gift, too.
"They got the same treatment as the kids did," said Bob Muhn.
Ann Muhn assisted her husband in all this, and they recruited other people to donate time and money for the St. Vincent Villa orphans. Eventually, the visits from Santa turned into annual Christmas parties.
"No one after three years of helping with this party has ever failed to mail his or her check, only by death," Muhn wrote. "The folks that help to make this party possible, I think, like it as much as I do or they would not help or come each year. They are so faithful in helping."
And so the party grew bigger and better, according to Roland Muhn, and continued for 50 years.
Muhn's work as Santa went beyond Christmases with the orphans, according to his grandson. In or out of the suit, Roland Muhn's giving continued throughout the year.
Whether it was in the hundreds of Christmas and birthday cards he wrote each year, or the buckets of Dum-Dum suckers he handed out to every kid he saw on the street, or the gifts he would give to struggling families (he rarely gave money, distributing personalized gifts, instead), generosity was a way of life for Roland Muhn, his grandson said.
"He wanted everyone to live a good life," Bob Muhn said.
Bob Muhn described his grandfather as a "religious man who never went to church," and a hard worker, owning several businesses through the years besides his successful contracting firm. At its peak, the company employed 140 workers and was putting up 40 homes a year.
Bob Muhn speculated that because his grandfather worked so much, he didn't have time to spend money. So Roland Muhn gave it away.
"I really and truly think that my making a promise to God that I would help the orphans has changed my life — made me look at life better and enjoy it more since I have been with the orphans so many years," Muhn wrote in 1976. "Life can be so sweet when you are happy and contented and can help others to be happy and enjoy life.
"I have always told folks that my wealth was my friends and my health. I have always enjoyed giving to people — they have a different look on their face. It's not the value of the gift, but the love that they receive from the gift. …. It takes a lot of work to put on a Christmas party, but we have really enjoyed them all these years."
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