Patrick Anthony Walsh

Patrick Anthony Walsh was born on July 20, 1948 in Wilmington, Delaware to James and Astrid Walsh.

Patrick served in the U.S. Navy from 1967 to 1973. The majority of his service was in Vietnam during the war. After leaving military service, he returned to his home of Santa Cruz, California where he obtained a position with the Santa Cruz Police Department. He served for 8 years and eventually became a motorcycle officer and was accepted to and completed the prestigious California Highway Patrol Academy. Unfortunately, a catastrophic vehicle accident ended his police service soon afterward.

Patrick became a fitness enthusiast in the process of his recovery from his accident. He moved to Grants Pass, Oregon, became a triathlete, and even competed in an IRONMAN. He also became proficient in sign language during his downtime. He began working with deaf children to teach them to swim. Soon after, he applied for a position with the YMCA in Grants Pass in Aquatics. He operated a swimming program called Y Skippers and included the deaf children he'd already been working with.

In 1991, Patrick was offered a position as Aquatics Director at the south YMCA in Abilene, Texas, which he accepted. Upon arrival in Abilene, he went to open a bank account and walked into United Bank & Trust and had a love at first sight moment. After a little persistence, Lydia Balanciere agreed to date Patrick and 6 months later they were wed on January 12, 1992.

A series of health problems from his time at war began to affect his active life. However, Patrick never lost his passion for service and helping others. From then he, somewhat naturally, morphed into the jolly figure we know and love as Santa Claus. For 25 years he brought joy and love to the lives of thousands each Christmas season in the Abilene area. Something he also never lost his love for was motorcycles. So, he was known as a Harley-riding Motorcycle Santa.

Over the most recent years, Patrick spent much of his time studying the Bible and working on being a good and faithful servant of the Lord. Now that he has made his heavenly transition, there is no doubt he was greeted into the Kingdom with “Well done, my son. Well done.”

Patrick was preceded in death by his parents. He is survived by his wife of 27 years, Lydia Walsh. She describes him as the man that loved and treated her better than anyone else in her life. He was also a wonderful step-father and step-grandfather to Lydia's son Christopher Balanciere and his son, Cinque Balanciere. Cinque called him “Poppie”. He is also survived by his BFF Val Durrington, who helped, supported, prayed with, and comforted him through these last hard years.

A graveside service with military honors will be held Monday January 14th, 2019 at 10:00 am in the Texas State Veteran Cemetery under the direction of Piersall Funeral Directors, 733 Butternut St.