Mony bond» fcoch out ro the Ponon'» helper* at they
unlood iriKkloadt of food, clothe* ond preient* for
the children. (Peter Morris photot)
like teen-agers around a rock music
idol.
They pulled his beard and almost
tore his coat from his shoulders as he
ho-ho-hoed and tossed out handfuls
of candy and other goodies. They
laughed, they shouted, they went wild
as if. perhaps, they had never seen
Santa before.
As Santa retreated, a microphone
came to life with the words. "I’m a
hillbilly preacher from head to toe¬
nail." Rev. Keyes had called his flock
to order.
"Are you going to preach at us?"
one old woman asked. "I’ve got my
Bible, don’t I?" asked the parson.
With that he mounted a flatbed truck
and opened a crusade against the
forces of evil. Shouts of "Amen!" and
"Hallelujah!" filled the air with con¬
demnation against Satan.
The people sang old-time hymns and
tent revival favorites, prayed for the
sick and answered calls for salvation.
"God loves them. I hope the devil
don’t damn them and they live their
и
lives in joy." exclaimed Rev. Keyes as
he spoke of the saving grace of Jesus
and testimonies of many who accepted
the Lord and were delivered from
drugs, alcohol, or broken homes.
With spiritual needs ministered to.
the parson opened three truckloads of
toys, clothes and food for the physical
needs of the people.
Santa’s mob scene was again re¬
peated for the parson as hundreds of
arms reached toward him: an 80-ycar-
old woman pleaded for clothes for her
grandchildren: a father huddled and
shivered as he looked for a warm coat;
a child searched for socks for her bare
ankles.
The parson first distributed the toys
and food bags to holders of letters he
had sent weeks earlier to those who
had told him of their needs. Then
others who needed them got food and
clothing.
The parson’s helpers worked tire¬
lessly. They offered helping hands
in fitting clothes, seeing that those with
no coats had coats, that those without
food had food, and that those without
hope did not leave without hope.
"There is so much need, so very
much need." lamented one volunteer.
"We do all we can." said another,
"but it is not enough. It is never
enough."
A Rough Road
For Santa Claus
The unusual life work of Charles
Keyes has sometimes posed dangers
to life and limb.
By ROBERT L. WILLIAMS
The story of the Parson of the Hills is
a familiar one; virtually every adult in
Piedmont North Carolina has at least
heard of this man’s work, and thou¬
sands of Tar Heels can attest person¬
ally to the good that comes from the
yearly caravans into the deepest pov¬
erty pockets of Appalachia.
But relatively few people know the
story of how the Parson, as he is al¬
ways referred to by his friends (who
number in the countless thousands),
decided on this unusual life’s work and
the tribulations along the way. The
Rev. Mr. Charles Keyes, aka Parson of
the Hills, would be the very first to
admit that the Santa Claus identity is
not always a happy one; in fact, there
have been times that he was lucky to
escape with his life from some of the
crises he has faced.
How he got his start as the self-
appointed bringer of Christmas cheer
is one story; how he managed to stay
alive and healthy is quite another.
The Christmas Gifts
When Charles Keyes was a small
child in the North Carolina mountains,
he walked over the hill one morning to
show off his Christmas gifts; the mod¬
esty of his presents in no way detracted
from the happiness of the day. But
what he saw did.
On his walk he encountered a friend
who had received absolutely nothing in
his stocking, and the child was discon¬
solate: he said tearfully that he had
tried really hard to be a good boy all
year and he couldn’t understand why
he received nothing, not even a piece
of candy, for all his goodness.
Keyes the child had the same en¬
counter repeated too many times dur¬
ing the season of happiness, and at a
crucial point in his life — he was not
yet ten years old — he resolved to see
that such disappointments would not
happen if he could prevent them. So he
set out for the hills and began to gather
roots, bark, and anything else he could
sell to the local herb house, and when
he had finished his work, he received a
few pennies for his labors.
It was a small amount, but it was
enough to buy a few pieces of chewing
gum and candy to give to those friends
who were less fortunate than he. and it
was also enough to start him on a life¬
long crusade that would result in
enough gifts to mark him as one of the
most energetic and generous men in
the state.
Keyes estimates that if all the arti¬
cles of clothes alone were piled in one
THE STATE. December 1961
