For 58 years, Grover C. Gouker, posing as Santa Claus, has answered Christmas letters from children across the nation and overseas.
Grover Gouker, who has been answering children's letters to Santa for 58 years, sits amid stacks of hi
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Grover Gouker in this 2001 photo displays two of the thousands of letters he received from children fr
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Now the 85-year-old man who may well be America's unofficial Santa is sharing some of his more than 100,000 Christmas letters in a new book titled "My Santamental Journey."
"Inside are letters that kids wrote to me," said Gouker, who lives not at the North Pole but in a Manheim Township home studded with dozens of Santa figurines. "People can see how I answered them and know that it's not some kind of form letter. They're all individually written."
Gouker has coupled his book of letters with a children's book, "I Don't Want No Soap!"
On July 26, Gouker will discuss his 58 years of being Santa and will sign copies of his books during "Christmas in July" at Willow Valley Conference Center. The event will run from 1 until 4 p.m.
The two self-published books cost $35 and are being sold as a holiday set, packaged in a red mesh bag with a red ribbon drawstring closure and a "To/From" card attached.
"It's a ready-made Christmas present," Gouker said.
The title "I Don't Want No Soap!" is the entire text of the shortest letter Gouker ever received from a child and was the inspiration for his becoming an author.
"I was just going to write a book called 'I Don't Want No Soap,' which I thought was a beautiful title, and incorporate everything into one," said Gouker.
However, a friend suggested he do two books and package them as a set. In "I Don't Want No Soap!" lavishly illustrated by artist J. Holly Clarkson, Gouker tells of the excitement experienced at the North Pole as the Christmas season's first letter arrives. Santa, Mrs. Claus, the reindeer and all of the Brownies (Gouker's term for elves) are eager to read it.
But when it is opened, it's just one sentence: "Dear Santa, I don't want no soap. From Scott."
This causes much consternation. Finally, Santa writes back, telling Scott of all the fun uses for soap. In the end, Scott writes back, saying, "Please send me soap. I do want soap."
In "My Santamental Journey," Gouker reprints many of his favorite letters from kids, along with his personal responses.
The book includes personal anecdotes and touching stories drawn from more than half a century of bringing joy to young and old alike.
"One chapter is called 'Oldsters Can Be Youngsters, Too,' and it's stories about people I met who I appreciated because they were dealing with difficulties," Gouker said.
"So it's not just letters and answers, but it's a good mixture of inspirational stories. That's why I call this a family pack."
Many children loyally wrote to Gouker year after year. Now grown, their own children, and even their grandchildren, write to him.
"Some of these families have written to me for three generations," Gouker said.
Gouker began his Santa duties while working at the post office in Hanover, where he watched workers throw away kids' letters to Santa "as fast as they came in."
"I thought, 'That's not right,'!\p" Gouker said. "These kids believe, and they deserve an answer."
He voiced his dismay to the postmaster, who agreed that from then on all letters to Santa would go to Gouker. Fifty-eight years later, they still do.
Initially, Gouker hand-wrote his responses. That lasted about two years before he changed to a typewriter. In 2000, he graduated to a computer.
The volume of letters has also increased. At first they came just from around Hanover, but word of mouth spread, and by 2000, they had arrived from 42 states.
In 2001, a story about Gouker in the Intelligencer Journal hit the national wire services, and letters began coming from all over the U.S. and abroad. The story brought a film crew to Gouker's home from the ABC show "Nightline," which aired a segment on Gouker that Christmas Eve.
Gouker had an invitation to fly to Los Angeles and appear on the "Tonight Show" with Jay Leno, but turned it down.
He would, however, like to get his books on Oprah Winfrey's show.
"She is very partial to children," Gouker said.
Today, the letters still come, especially as Christmas approaches. However, at 85, Gouker can no longer do it alone. Two years ago he lost the sight in his left eye, and he has macular degeneration in the right. His wife, Gloria, now reads the letters aloud and he dictates his replies.
"It slows things down," he admitted.
Still, he has no plans to stop.
"I call it my children's ministry," Gouker said.
"That's what it is to me, and nothing I ever did in my professional life gave me the same joy as this 58-year experience has."
Gouker's books may be ordered online at
www.santaanswers.com or by phone at 560-7922.
E-mail: lalexander@lnpnews.com
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