Semper Fi Santa will be checking his mail all year-round

It may still be sunny summertime, but a local Santa doesn’t mind being busy in the seasons leading up to Christmas.

A mailbox that welcomes children’s letters to Santa was recently put up on the front porch of the Gilmer Chamber’s Downtown Welcome Center at 10 Broad Street. It will be checked year-round by Jon and Michelle Vigue, the couple known to many local residents as Mr. and Mrs. Semper Fi Santa.

“The Chamber is so gracious to let us put it there temporarily. Right now, we’ll come by probably twice a month. If we start getting a lot of letters, it will probably be more like once a week,” said Michelle.

Jon, a retired U.S. Marine, and Michelle often appear as Santa and Mrs. Claus for local nonprofits and charities during the holiday season. Both are looking forward to their additional duties.

“It’s all about the kids. It’s for them,” Michelle said.

White-haired and bearded Jon started playing Santa for the grandkids while he and Michelle still lived in Florida. Things just grew from there, he said.

“Since he looks like Santa Claus, we’re pretty much Mr. and Mrs. Claus all year long,” Michelle said. “In the summer, we pass out bubbles when we see kids out and about or at restaurants.”

Semper Fi Santa, Jon’s special take on the jolly old elf, is both a to salute his military peers and a way to do something positive for children.

“I wanted to honor service members so I went with semper fi, which means always faithful. It’s a Marine Corps thing that we use to greet each other,” he said. “It kind of plays into who we are, too. We even have it engraved on our wedding bands, which say ‘always faithful’ on them.”

It’s not unusual for Semper Fi Santa to be seen sporting the type of wide-brimmed campaign cover worn by Marine Corp drill instructors, which Jon was during his decades of military service. This particular hat isn’t olive drab, though. Instead, it matches Santa’s bright red uniform.

For Michelle, Mrs. Claus’ hairstyle is often colored a shade or two lighter, but no less visible, in bright pink.

The two moved to the mountains of Gilmer County from the coastal NASA hub of Brevard County, Fla., almost five years ago. Since then, they’ve appeared for multiple local charities and nonprofits including the Gilmer Community Food Pantry, Shelter Dogs For Veterans, Friends of the Gilmer Animal Shelter and Toys for Tots.

“They’re very special people. They volunteer for pictures with Santa and other event fundraisers for all my charities every year,” said Ernie Taylor, who volunteers with several of the aforementioned nonprofits.

Semper Fi Santa always appears free of charge, Jon noted.

“We don’t ask for money. If (folks) want to make a donation, we put it into doing things like the Santa letters. The big thing is that we want to keep it under the tradition of St. Nicholas. The story of St. Nicholas is giving to people in need, which is what we try to do. That’s why we don’t take money. To me, that’s not being Santa Claus,” he added.

Semper Fi Santa’s many public appearances have resulted in him keeping a list, but not of who’s been naughty or nice. It’s a list of kids who will receive a personalized Santa letter. Michelle said she and Jon addressed 175 letters to children last year.

“It started out that we’d send personal Santa letters to each child if (their parents) told us the children’s names. This year, we decided to start doing it where they can write to us and we will write back to them,” she added.

Served around the world

Vigue said he served in the Marines Corps from 1976-2000, which found him stationed in Okinawa and Moscow, as well as serving in Operation Desert Storm and the U.S. invasion of Panama.

“I was stationed pretty much all over the world,” he said.
Vigue said he was stationed in Beirut, Lebanon on Oct. 23, 1983, when a suicide bomber drove a truck filled with explosives into the Marine barracks.

He was badly wounded in the attack, which killed 241 military service members, but eventually returned to Beirut as the U.S. withdrawal was underway.

“I was in the barracks when it was bombed and was one of the last survivors to be pulled out. The last person to be pulled out of the building was our chaplain,” he remembered.

Having suffered from PTSD, Vigue said Semper Fi Santa has been good therapy for him.

“Because I had such a hard time with PTSD, I wanted (those who also have it) to see that we can go beyond and do something that makes us happy,” he said.

Mailbox goes full circle

The newly decorated mailbox is for all kinds of letters to Santa, which can, but don’t always take the form of a wish list, Michelle noted.

“Sometimes we’ll receive questions for Santa like, ‘What do you do with the reindeer?’ Some letters are heartfelt, and some children don’t even ask for anything for themselves,” she said.

No postage is needed for the letters to Santa, but kids or parents should make sure there’s a return address somewhere on their letters so a response can be sent.

“Mom, dad or whoever’s helping them out needs to make sure it’s legible. Also, if there’s any (personal details) they want us to put in the letters, they can add that in, as well,” Michelle said.

The box that now accepts Semper Fi Santa’s incoming correspondences was once a decoration used during the annual Light Up Ellijay festivities, Michelle noted. It belonged to the H&R Block office formerly at 71 River Street.

As that building changed hands recently, the Vigues were gifted the mailbox that has since been painted and refurbished by their friends, Rob and Becky Adams.

The former H&R Block location is currently undergoing renovation and will soon reopen as the Gumdrop Fun Shop, a candy and toy store.

When that happens, Semper Fi Santa’s mailbox will return there, where it will be checked regularly, Michelle confirmed.

“This is like it making a full circle. We ended up owning it, and it will be going back to the same exact spot we inherited it from,” she said.