Mall ‘Santa’ returns to spend his last days in Auburn

By Brittany Whitley

Published: June 27, 2008

Danny Gammill, better known to many Auburn natives as Santa, returned to Alabama on Tuesday night after 13 hours in an ambulance to spend his final days in the state he loves.

Gammill, 58, who resembles St. Nick with his white beard and hair, is dying of heart failure at Bethany House Hospice off University Drive.

The former mall Santa and EAMC ambulance service intermediate moved to Indianapolis seven years ago to be closer to his daughter.

The move back to Auburn has put him in good spirits.

“I’m just as happy as I can be,” he said. “I just take it one day at a time.”

One of his last requests was to comeback to Alabama where he spent most of his life.

“We’re in God’s country,” he said.

One of Gammill’s fondest memories is playing Santa Claus at the Auburn Mall for 12 years.

“I’ve done Santa Claus,” he said. “It’s a miracle. Very, very worth while.”

Gammill told his favorite “Santa” story while his daughter, Kim Stephens, grandson and nurses listened Friday.

“We picked up a little girl named Mallory,” he said, referring to his time working in the ambulance service.

“They flew her out that night by helicopter to Birmingham,” he said. “They said they thought she wouldn’t make it.”

After that, Gammill lost contact with the girl until years later at the mall.

“Twelve years later, she walked up to me at the mall,” he said. “I turned, I looked at her, I mean there was no doubt who she was. ... There was no doubt she was an angel.”

Tears just flew, he said.

Then he told another story.

Later in Indianapolis, a man walked up to him while at Golden Corral with a wad of cash in his hand and asked him if he had every played Santa.

Gammill told him yes. The man handed him the money and told him to give it to a girl in the restaurant.

“This was more money than I thought was there,” he said.

It was $125.

“I handed her the money, I thought her mom was going to pass out,” he said. 

It was Christmas time and the little girl’s father had just passed away. The mother told Gammill, “That’s every penny of money I got.”
Gammill looked up after telling the story.

“It comes from right here,” he said placing his hand on his chest over his heart. “When you deal with somebody in life, the dealing’s here,” his hand remained.

Lee County Commissioner Mathan Holt gave Gammill his start in the Santa business.

“It’s pretty simple. Back in 1980 or ’81, I got a contract with the mall to provide the Santa and the Easter bunny set. ... I felt like he would make a great Santa,” Holt said.

The move, although painful, was worth it, Gammill’s daughter said.

“He sounds better now that he’s down here, than he ever has up there,” she said.