East Lyme man with white beard, smiling eyes and glasses makes children stare
East Lyme — During the 13th Annual Holiday Stroll in East Lyme on Saturday, a young boy stared at Raymond Lillis, 69.
He’s had this happen before. He nodded silently at the child, put a finger to his lips and whispered, “Shhh.”
Lillis has a white mustache and full beard and a rosy complexion, and he wears wire-rimmed glasses. He taught in Eastchester, N.Y., for 25 years, retiring as a fifth-grade teacher about two years ago. He and his wife live in Black Point in Niantic.
“I was at Panera Bread about two years ago having lunch, and there was this little boy staring at me,” Lillis said Tuesday. “And his grandfather finally came over with him and he said, ‘My grandson thinks you’re Santa.’”
Lillis happened to have a small flip book in his back pocket that day, so he took it out and looked it over. The child's name was Billy, he recalls. Just for fun, when the boy was out of earshot, Lillis spoke to the grandfather.
“I said, ‘Oh yes, he’s in here,'" Lillis said. "'He gets the pony.'"
Lillis laughed heartily. "His reaction was great," he said.
Lillis played Santa for many years at his school in New York; usually in a holiday show for the senior citizens, he said. "I would give candy canes out to the senior citizens and then I would traipse around the school, including my own class, and sing 'You better watch out...,'" he said.
"The students would all come up to me the next day and say, 'We knew you were Santa,'" Lillis said. "And I'd say, 'That's my brother. He just looks just like me.'"
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