In Memory Of An Only Son

Christmas Lights display at Jane Forrester Park, Belleville December 2016




Snow fell steadily the night of Christmas Eve in 1958. It was cold outside.
Inside a home in Belleville's east-end, a woman trembled violently while her husband, unable to withstand the shock of the news, collapsed onto the kitchen floor. Their only son was dead, they were told.
The nightmare of the car crash that killed their 19-year-old son, Billy, shook the late Don Foster and his wife, Rita, to the core of their being. They thought they would never be able to drag themselves out of the depths of their grief for their son.
Sheer will brought them out slowly in the following months and, as the Christmas season approached, an idea was born.
That year, the Fosters decided to start a special Christmas tradition in memory of their son to share with children and adults alike in the neighbourhood and the community.
The first year was a humble beginning when Billy's father dressed up as Santa and went out to meet and distribute candies to the neighbourhood children. The next year, the couple began an elaborate Christmas display, a tradition, which is day at the Alemite Park in Belleville.
The first contribution the Fosters received for their project was a gift of a decorative horse
and buggy or cutter from a nephew. Next came the wooden reindeer that were hitched to the cutter. Soon, the ground on Foster's Emily Street property came alive with electrically controlled elves and Santa's workshop amidst brightly-lit trees.
Foster himself used to climb up to the roof of their house dressed in Santa's outfit and holler to through a loudspeaker
much to the delight of the children who came to see the decorations.
Each year, the decorations on their lawn grew in number and variety and more and more people came to see the display as it became one of the must-see sights in the city at Christmas time.
Failing health caused the Fosters to give up their tradition and, in 1981, they handed it over to their close friends, Bruce and Marjorie Nickle who carried on the tradition at their home on Marsh Drive for many more years.
The lights, the display of elves, giant candy canes, snowmen, angels, choirboys amidst bright decorative lights sparkle and dazzle those who came by.
Again, failing health forced the Nickles to give up the display and they passed the entire operation over to the city of Belleville. Since 1994, the Billy Foster Memorial Christmas Display continues each year at the Alemite Park on Pine Street in Belleville.

You can reach Benzie Sangma at bsangma@cogeco.ca

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