By Deb Brubaker
If his looks didn’t convince you, his personality would have. Donald E. Mull Sr., of Richfield, was born to portray Santa Claus.
Naturally, he became one of the legion of kind-hearted men who help out by playing the jolly old elf, including serving as the Santa at the Susquehanna Valley Mall, Hummels Wharf, for the last 11 years.
“Our family manages the Santa and Easter Bunny displays at the mall, so I kind of suckered Dad into being Santa,” said daughter Kelly Ortmyer, of Richfield. “The first year, he wore a fake beard, but after that he wanted to do it right, so he grew a beard.”
Diagnosed in October with lung cancer, Mr. Mull, 71, of Richfield, passed away April 16.
“What made Dad a perfect Santa, beyond his looks, was the way he had with children,” said his other daughter, Kim Kerstetter, of Richfield. “He took the extra time to let them talk and explain what they wanted or needed for Christmas. He never made any child feel less than extremely special.”
Kerstetter remembered special Santa requests such as children wanting a parent home from the military. “Dad, who served in the Army, had a way of explaining to the kids the importance of what their parent was doing and why they could not be with them for the holiday season.”
Janet (Shellenberger) Mull played Mrs. Claus to her husband’s Santa. “Being Santa was his life. Christmas was his favorite time of year,” she said.
“At times, Dad thought he was that jolly old elf himself,” Kerstetter added. “He took his Santa time as serious business, not just as a seasonal job.”
“You couldn’t find a nicer or gentler man,” said Sharon Leonard, the mall’s marketing director. “He was the true spirit of Santa and will really be missed.”
Mr. Mull also enjoyed hunting with his son, Donald “JR” Mull Jr. Joking that his father taught him everything he knew about hunting, JR said, “I was the better hunter, but Dad got the bigger deer.”
Janet remembers the day her husband shot his biggest deer. “I was putting on perfume when Don came in and accidentally got spritzed. Don thought for sure he’d never get a deer that day, only to come home with a 12-point buck. After that, they all wanted to be sprayed with perfume before hunting.”
Another of Mr. Mull’s favorite pastimes was metal detecting. “Although Dad never found enough to pay off the metal detector,” Ortmyer said with a laugh.
As a child, Don lived on the Isle of Que, where he enjoyed going down by the river looking for Indian artifacts.
“Pap and I would go looking for arrowheads and metal detecting,” said granddaughter Courtney Ortmyer, 18, of Richfield. “Because I was closer to the ground, he’d make me bend over and dig up the findings.”
Married for 47 years, Don and Janet met at the old Shell Diner along Routes 11-15. On Memorial Day weekend, before going to the Sunbury parade and after showing Janet’s mother the engagement ring, Don proposed.
After graduating from Selinsgrove High School, Mr. Mull enlisted in the Army, where he held the rank of specialist 4. He worked at the Selinsgrove Center and then at Consolidated Freightway, White Deer, retiring after 31 years.
Mr. Mull’s mother, Josephine “Teany” Mull, passed away from breast cancer a month before Mr. Mull’s diagnosis.
“He was with his mom 24/7,” his wife said. “The only time he left his mother’s side was to either take a shower or go get medication.”
Mr. Mull’s father was former Selinsgrove Police Chief Elmer H. “Bus” Mull, now deceased. He had one sister, Joyce Yeager, of Winfield. A brother, Gary, is deceased. He had one son, Donald “JR” Mull Jr., and two daughters, Kim and her husband, Jeff Kerstetter, and Kelly and her husband, George Ortmyer, and their two children, Courtney and Alan-Michael.
-- Passings is an interview with friends and family who recently lost a loved one. The tribute appears on Wednesdays in The Daily Item. For comments or to request an interview, call 850-5662 or e-mail dfbrubaker@hotmail.com.
