Wanda Emde’s love for Santa is no secret — and it’s on display for the world to see.
The 85-year-old Searcy woman’s 1,658 Santas are displayed primarily at the Carmichael Community Center, 801 S. Elm St., as well as a local bank, the library and in her apartment.
“I always liked Santa when I was a kid; I guess he was my hero,” Emde said. “My sister and I were talking about it, and we were kind of poor when we were young. We’d get an orange, an apple, some ribbon candy and chocolate drops in our stocking. Santa brought those every Christmas Eve, and he just became my hero.”
Emde’s extensive collection was sparked by a Santa that her younger daughter, Joy Jernigan of Searcy, made in 1964 in Bald Knob Elementary School. Despite her name, no, Joy wasn’t born around Christmastime — she was a Halloween baby.
Nonetheless, she started her mother’s Santa obsession.
“She made one at school out of construction paper, and I don’t know why it touched me, but it did, so I started adding to it,” Emde said. “At first, I could only afford the little cheap ones.”
Those dime-store Santas added up, and friends and family began giving Santas to Emde.
“This couple would bring me a Santa Claus every Christmas. The last one [the husband] brought me, he was at Branson, and he [said he heard a Santa say] ‘Take me to Mrs. Emde!’”
Emde’s sister, Elva Harper, has lived with her since Emde’s husband, Billy Wayne, died 9 1/2 years ago, and helps Emde put out the Santas.
Emde said she would pack up her other “what knots” each November and unpack the Santas in her home in Bald Knob, where she lived for 60 years before moving to Harding Place in Searcy three years ago. Her husband’s job was to put in batteries for the Santas that sang, danced or the one that snores.
Emde didn’t keep count of the Santas for a while, but she had an open house in her home during the season, and she invited the neighborhood children to visit anytime, “and I let them guess how many I had. I started numbering them,” she said.
She said she displayed the Santas the children could play with on a glassed-in front porch, and they knew which ones they could touch.
There are one-of-a-kind Santas in her extensive collection. For example, Emde said, a woman made a Santa for her out of “four gourds I grew.”
Lawson said her mother’s oldest Santa might be one that dates to the ’30s or ’40s.
“He looks pretty rough, but he’s still a Santa underneath. He’s metal; his clothes kind of feel like felt or flannel. You can tell he’s really old,” Lawson said.
Emde also has a older Bing Crosby Santa that sings “White Christmas”; multiple snow-globe Santas; and many jolly Santas with a sack of toys.
“Out of all the Santas I had, every one of them had a smile except one. He was made out of straw. I bought him somewhere at a second-hand store,” Emde said.
Every one of her Santas makes Emde smile, but she can’t see her beloved collection anymore. She started losing her vision 20 years ago because of retinitis pigmentosa.
“You gradually lose your eyesight,” Emde said. “All I can see is white.”
Lawson said her mother still managed to help unpack and display the collection each year.
“When she was putting up the Santas still at home, she was doing it by feel. She knew them and could feel which one was which,” Lawson said.
Emde said she’s functioning, despite her vision loss.
”I’m doing all right,” Emde said. “Harding Place is a wonderful place to live.”
When Emde moved to Harding Place, she knew there wasn’t room for all her Santas, and she thought the city might be interested in her collection.
“I called the Main Street Searcy lady, Amy [Burton], and I talked to her,” Emde said. “She came to my house. She thought I had a few. She nearly lost her breath when she saw them all; they were all over my house.”
Burton recalled the first time she saw all those Santas at Emde’s home in Bald Knob.
“It was quite an impressive collection,” Burton said. “She had a lot of variety, but I was really impressed with how meticulously everything was set out. You could tell that over the years, she had perfected it; every Santa had its own nook or place to sit. It was amazing. She used to open her house and let people from the community come in and see her collection. You always hear about the spirit of Christmas, and that kind of sums it up.”
The Santas are stored by Main Street Searcy each year until the Christmas season, then Emde said she and her daughters “get a little crew, and we go put them out.”
Burton said it’s nice that Emde can still help put out the Santas, and the display is called Deck the Halls With Santa Claus.
The Santas are secure behind glass doors in a display case, Lawson said, adding that some of the interactive Santas are loaned to the The Sunshine School in Searcy and nursing homes during the Christmas season.
A portion of Emde’s Santa collection is also on display at the Searcy Public Library and Simmons Bank on Poplar Street, where information directs people to see more of the collection at the Carmichael Community Center, Lawson said.
Emde’s collection is even a destination in the Searcy’s Holiday Lights list of Christmas attractions.
The octogenarian’s Santa addiction doesn’t stop with figurines. She wears Santa socks every day, all year. During December, she has sweaters and vests and a purse with the Santa motif.
Asked if she’s gotten tired of her Santas, she sounded shocked.
“Nooo,” she said. “Do you get tired of your children?”
In fact, she really would like to add to her collection. Emde is intrigued by a story she read about a woman in Searcy who makes ceramic Santas.
“I want to go see hers,” Emde said. “And I’ve been wanting to go to Hobby Lobby.”
“Nobody will take her,” Lawson said, laughing.
But the Santas will probably find Emde — they always do.
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-5671 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.