For Pat Duffield, It Feels Like Christmas Every Day
By Annette Bernhard Nevins | Photos by Nan Dickson
Every day is Christmas for Pat Duffield. She puts up three Christmas trees and a sleigh in November, but many of her other holiday decorations stay up year-round.
After serving two decades playing the role of Santa’s helper at events in Bell County, she is expanding her responsibilities as Mrs. Claus by sewing stockings and filling them with goodies for children in the community.
“I love Christmas,” she says. “It makes me feel good to help others.”
She works at the side of her husband, Bell County Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace Ted Duffield, whose jolly personality and long white beard have made him a natural fit as Santa who brings Christmas cheer in the form of meals and toys for the less fortunate all over the state.
Dressed in a long red velvet skirt and white apron with painted reindeer, Pat sits at her kitchen table in Belton and examines the stitching on a Christmas stocking. A stuffed animated bear plays holiday jingles near a cedar chest filled with homemade stockings. Gold tinsel and Santa memorabilia are scattered among family portraits and candy canes under a big sign that reads “I BELIEVE.”
Her glasses rest just below the bridge of her nose and her blonde hair with gray highlights is pulled close to her head in tight braids. It’s a softer look for the new constable for Bell County Precinct 1, who might be better known for the starched khakis and holster she has worn for much of her 43 years in law enforcement.
“In uniform, I’m 16 feet tall and bulletproof,” she jokes. “Normally, I pretty much stay in the background.”
But what is evident to those who know her off duty is that she has a huge giving heart.
Spools of colorful thread surround two sewing machines in a spare bedroom where she presses a pedal with her foot to set the bobbing needle in action. This is the third year she is making stockings to be donated to underprivileged children after her husband, who plays Santa at local events, noticed that goodies were handed out in white paper bags. He asked his wife in October 2016 if she could make festive stockings for the kids instead. He needed 500 before Christmas.
“I thought, ‘No way!’ I wasn’t that good at sewing,” she recalls. “But somehow we made it work.”
She starts earlier now, cutting patterns in June, to make their goal of finishing 500 stockings each year. She and her husband pay for most of the material, looking for sales in the summer on cloth with images of candy canes, snowmen, reindeer and other Christmas themes. Businesses, like McDonald’s and Cracker Barrel, have donated crayons for the stockings. And last year, a local business made copies of drawings so that a friend, who borrowed a stapler from church, could assemble them into coloring books. They stock up on candy, toys and pencils, bringing them home and adding them to donations that are stacked in boxes throughout their house. “There is a lot of need in our community,” she explains. “And the community pulls together to help.”
Pat’s niece, Jennifer Adams, often helps with the Christmas-stocking assembly line. “They’re not perfect, but it puts a smile on the faces of kids who wouldn’t have anything else for Christmas,” Jennifer says. “That makes it worthwhile.”
So as not to confuse her role of Santa’s helper with that of constable in areas she serves, Pat doesn’t dress the part when she’s out and about, visiting children within the county’s borders. Instead, she wears overalls with snowflakes embroidered on the bib. It’s the same outfit she wears when she sews—cutting and pinning as she talks about her three sons and seven grandchildren.
“It’s a great way to catch up on family,” the 63-year-old constable says. “I let my niece do the difficult curvy seams on the boot. I sew the straight lines.
“In our line of work in law enforcement, we run into quite a few people who have given up on believing,” she says. “We want to show them there is hope.”
After serving with the military police for the U.S. Army at Fort Hood, Pat was a patrol captain for the Belton Police Department and a patrol operation lieutenant for the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. She was appointed and then elected the first woman constable in Bell County after Linnie McCall retired in August. When not serving warrants or civil papers, or protecting the court as a bailiff, she crafts stockings to the soft hum of her sewing machine.
“She is a servant-guardian with a caring heart,” says Belton Deputy Police Chief Jen Wesley, who worked alongside Pat during her 23 years with the force. “She would go without to make sure someone has what they need. Her whole life is about giving back to the community.”
Pat says her own experiences as a young, struggling single mother and patrol officer help her understand the needs of others. “There was a time when I had absolutely nothing but a jug of water and a box of instant rice for breakfast,” she remembers. “I will never forget how excited my boys were when someone brought them a box of Matchbox cars for Christmas.”
While on patrol, she recalls having to arrest a woman who stole meat so she could offer dinner to her mother-in-law who was coming to visit. “After she got out of jail, I drove by her house in my patrol car to check on her. She had nothing, yet she offered me cookies.”
Ted says he often depends on help from his wife while making rounds as Santa Claus, like when a child asked him to heal his sick grandmother. Another wanted his deployed father home for Christmas. “Mrs. Claus brings a strong presence and a kind heart to the room,” he explains, kissing Pat on the cheek. “She captures hearts with her sweet eyes and engaging smile.”
“God blesses those with less,” Pat says, smiling. “I have been blessed beyond belief in my experiences helping others.”
