Retired founder of Elf Louise still plans to give.
Take flight with the Ghost of Christmas Past and witness the birth of Elf Louise, patron of San Antonio's children.
Go back 51 years, to the era of moon landings, protests and the turbulent Vietnam War. The spirit transports you to a Northeast Side home where Trinity University student Louise Locker watches “Tonight Show” host Johnny Carson read Christmas wish lists that tykes had written to Santa Claus.
As Carson read the letters, a feeling came over Locker — she could give a girl who never had a doll one from her collection.
Locker meets with a local postmaster, asking if she could look through children's letters for a girl likely not to have gifts on Christmas. Impressed by her enthusiasm, he agrees under one condition: He'd open the envelopes addressed to the North Pole. Tampering with letters sent to the U.S. Postal Service wasn't allowed.
A letter from a girl named Anna changed Locker's life. The girl said her family had never had gifts because she had never written a letter to Santa. She asked for a Christmas tree, a Bible for her mother and gifts for her and her siblings. Anna ended the letter with “Please don't get lost.”
Locker left with 13 letters of youngsters who had never had Christmas presents. Her mother, Anne Locker, and several friends joined her to find toys on the children's lists.
Two days before Christmas, Locker and a friend stopped at a Christmas tree lot to ask the proprietor to donate a tree for Anna.
The grumpy man said, “Which tree do you want to buy?”
Locker handed him Anna's letter. As he read the page, tears streamed down his face.
“Let me show you our most beautiful tree,” he said.
He gave them a stunning Scotch pine.
On Christmas Eve, a shy friend even slipped on a Santa Claus suit for Locker's cause. They traveled dark streets across San Antonio,
squinting to read a crumpled map by flashlight. Serenaded by barking dogs, they delivered gifts until after 2 a.m.
The pair delivered the last presents to Anna's home. The girl's mother was stunned by the arrival of Locker and the shy Santa. She had told her children that St. Nick didn't exist. Anna and her siblings, half-awake, reeled from the sight of the gifts.
Locker stood back and watched the wonder unfold.
Days later, she was amazed how every door they knocked on in the darkness of night was answered. They calculated they had delivered close to 200 gifts to 65 children.
The visit from the anonymous Santa helpers was the start of the Elf Louise Christmas Project, an all-volunteer group, which has delivered gifts to 1.5 million children over five decades.
“My hope and dream was that the project would belong to the community,” said Locker, now 71. “One of the most beautiful things as the years passed was that everyone would feel ownership
of the project. I'm just so thankful of all the people who volunteer and the people yet to come.”
This is the first year that Locker isn't at the helm of the nonprofit. In the fall, she stepped down as director, noting that the initiative, made up of 5,000 volunteers, is in good hands.
Each year, volunteers — San Antonio elves — take new, donated gifts to 20,000 children up to age 18.
At the start, Locker and her team of volunteers worked at her mother's home and her small apartment. As requests and groups of strangers inspired by her cause grew, they moved to donated spaces that included churches, a bank building and warehouses.
For the past seven years, the volunteers have set up at Port San Antonio in a space that resembles a toy shop and Santa's workshop. This year, because of coronavirus pandemic safety concerns, families will pick up the presents and wrap them at home.
“It's wonderful that it contin
ues on even during a time like this,” Locker said.
She's never been one for accolades and attention. If not for a newspaper reporter who long ago dubbed her “Elf Louise,” Locker would still be anonymous.
Executive director Bill Harrison, 81, said one of Locker's tenets was that the Santas would represent the community in an anonymous way. Harrison, a retired Air Force colonel, has volunteered with the nonprofit for 31 years.
“We have followed to the letter the project that she set up,” Harrison said. “She'll remain the soul of the project forever.”
During her time with the iconic operation, Locker, a licensed therapist, has had her own struggles to overcome. A breast cancer survivor, she found hope from supporters and adults who would recognize her and tearfully relate how she had brought them gifts when they were children.
“I feel like I'm talking to that younger person,” she said. “It's just amazing. To witness so much joy is so touching for me.”
She didn't retire because of a medical reason. The good Samaritan said that with the Elf Louise Project healthy and strong, this is a good time to step back and explore what nourishes her.
She loves being a grandmother, and the opportunity to spend more time with her family was appealing. This is her time to do simple things such as planting a vegetable garden and learning to navigate the virtual world. She's created meditations set to music for people struggling, and she may delve into writing stories about magic and love.
Her retirement gift to herself is a new address book. She plans to be more intentional with the people she loves.
“It's nice to slowly connect more with people who matter,” she said. “And take more time for that.”
And there are thoughts of collaborating with others, to help them see and strengthen their dreams, just like her mother encouraged her to do as a child.
Locker keeps her mother's legacy alive with the belief that anything is possible if it's wrapped in love. With great patience and perseverance, she said, anyone can make anything happen.
Even in retirement, she's not finished bestowing gifts on the city's children. Locker plans to join the gift-giving campaign with her family in the coming years.
But it will be without fanfare, an elf in the night preserving the miracle of Christmas with the goodwill she said lies in every one of us.