MY TURN: A 'Most Memorable Christmas' indeed for legendary judge

Damon J. Keith, the trailblazing jurist who died last spring at age 96, was just 7 years old when his father taught him a timeless lesson. It is true story that he told in a column he wrote for The Detroit Free Press in December 1963, part of a “My Most Memorable Christmas” series published by the daily. The story deserves to be amplified this year as we consider how far we – as a nation – have veered from the truth.

“My father worked as a laborer at the Ford Motor Company and had taught us to expect only a few toys; some new, and some used,” Keith said, noting that times were particularly tough for his parents as they raised seven children. “On Christmas of 1928, my gift from Santa was a bright and shining green wagon. I was delighted and thrilled.”

A year later when the yuletide rolled around, “Our country was caught in a great depression, and my father joined the thousands of other men who were unemployed,” Keith vividly recalled. “Despite the fact that my dad was out of work during the Christmas of 1929, my brothers, sisters and I continued our ritual of asking Santa for the things we wanted most.”

In the meantime, that spanking new wagon of the year before was beginning to show its age.

“It was rusty and one of the wheels had come off,” Keith related. “In fact, for several months it stood unused on our back porch.”

On Christmas Eve 1929, father and son took a walk to a hardware store on Warren Avenue, some nine blocks from the family home. On the way, they talked about the true meaning of Christmas while admiring the window decorations in the neighborhood homes.

“When we arrived at the store, my father asked the clerk for a wheel, one that would fit my old wagon,” Keith said. “It was a brand new wheel. My dad paid 10 cents and turned to me and said: ‘Son, this is your Christmas present. This is all that your mother and dad can give you.’”

As they left the store, his father discussed what Christmas meant to him. It proved to be a profound lesson, one that still resonated with Judge Keith to his final days.

“He said that we as a family should be thankful to God for the food on our table, the roof over our heads,” Keith stated. “That God had allowed us to be together for another year without a link in our family chain being broken; and that He had blessed us with good health and we as a unit had the love that Christmas was all about.”

Now, some eight months after his passing, Judge Keith is still teaching us important life lessons, the kind framed by his strong faith, loving family, and an ever-growing circle of admirers.

“Each Christmas – and each day – I give thanks for all my blessings,” he said. “More importantly, I ask for God’s help in caring for the less fortunate, keeping their welfare uppermost in mind as we work to make this world a better place for all.”