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Natural Heritage |  |
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Branson
• Profiles |
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| • Branson History • Branson Profiles • Branson News ____ Profiles Index • Pure Heart • The Horse Creek Band (an interview) • Going the Distance: Wayne Horsburgh • Cajun Passion: Cedric Benoit • A Deputy with Heart: Terry Wayne Sanders • Branson's Santa Claus: Greg Winters • A Jim-Dandy of a Gentleman: Jamie Haage |
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For a few lucky kids, Christmas comes early. For Greg and Karen Winters up on Compton Ridge, it's Christmas all year long.
Winters has been an honest-to-goodness Santa Claus since 1976 (even earlier if you count his high school experience). A member of the Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas, he truly loves his job. "Little kids will see me anytime of the year and recognize me. That's fun. That's a good feeling."
But look past Greg's "My Other Car Is A Sleigh" bumper sticker displayed on his red Ford Ranger, and you will see a true Branson success story still in the telling.
Their day job is that of innkeepers, having purchased Cardinal Hill Cottages in early 1999. That "was the result of my being downsized from a job I had for 20 years," notes Greg. "Back in the days when I enjoyed what I was doing, I didn't mind working for someone else. Now we work for ourselves and every day is a holiday.
"We've gone nine years and we still love it. Part of it is because so many of the people who come here are really nice people. And the fact that we have several families who come back three or four times a year for a week to 10 days at a time — that says we're doing something right."
(continued at right)
If being a successful innkeeper and Santa Claus wasn't enough to integrate the Winters into the Branson community in 1999, job number three for Greg definitely seals the deal.
Since 2000, Winters has played both the Shepherd and the Doctor in the time-honored Shepherd of the Hills outdoor theatrical drama located nearby.
"It just tickled me to death," Greg says, "The director invited me into the cast [after seeing Winters' performance in a local theater group] and I thought I would just be one of the cast members. Instead, he says, 'I want you to play the Shepherd.' I walked right into the title character."
Successful innkeepers. A regarded part of Shepherd of the Hills. Branson's very own Santa Claus. Greg and Karen Winters are indeed "doing something right."
October 22, 2007