---

The day he left to become a Christian Brother, the girls in the neighborhood cried because he was so handsome and none of them would be lucky enough to marry him. He was 12-and-a-half years old.

Brother Gabriel Healy wasn't handsome to me. He was just "Unc" - my mom's brother and our "year-'round Santa."

He'd usually arrive for a visit with another Brother and a pie, bringing joy and laughter into our home. He'd help us cook dinner and clean the house before Mom got home from work. To keep us from getting in trouble, he'd brag about what great kids we were.

On Christmas Eve, he'd be up all hours of the night with my dad, trying to put "easy-to-assemble" toys together.

One year, Uncle borrowed a beautiful velvet and ermine Santa suit from a businessman who had recently had a holiday party for his employees. After recording himself singing, Uncle placed the tape player in our bathroom and locked the door.

He then suited up and proceeded to confound all of us as well as the neighborhood kids with his authentic, "Ho, ho, ho!" Santa sounded like Uncle, but how could it be? Uncle was singing in the bathroom!

As our year-'round Santa, he'd often take a bunch of us to the Brothers' camp to get us out of Mom's hair for a week. In later years, he started our annual extended family vacations by inviting all of us to one of the Brothers' residences. I will never forget his face as three families arrived with their dogs.

Today, Unc is in a nursing home in Lincroft, New Jersey. Although he is dealing with Parkinson's disease, he continues to bring hope and joy year-'round to all who are blessed to be in his company.

(Bernadette Bonanno lives in Colonie and attends St. Mary's parish in Albany.)

(12/23/10)[[In-content Ad]]

---