‘Smiling down from heaven’: Town remembers Santa, Mrs. Claus who died from COVID-19

PAGELAND, S.C. — On Thursday night, downtown Pageland was glowing with festive holiday lights, live music, food trucks and carriage rides for the town’s Christmas open house.

However, the celebration was bittersweet for a family who recently lost loved ones to COVID-19.

David and Lora McManus were a big part of Christmas in Pageland.

They were the epitome of Christmas to many children and families. The couple played Santa and Mrs. Claus for years in Pageland. They dressed in their joyous costumes to delight children at churches, community events and in their own family.

“He just loved people. He’d talk to anybody,” said Cindy Suggs, David McManus’s sister.

Suggs said the couple contracted COVID-19 in August. They were admitted into a hospital and died days later.

They left behind their adopted 14-year-old daughter Sara.

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“They were both the best parents anyone could ever ask for,” Sara told Channel 9. “They died, like, seven hours apart from each other.”

Sara never got to see her parents after they were admitted to separate hospitals. Instead, she FaceTimed with them as often as she could and sang to them.

“I sang, ‘Jesus Loves Me,’” she said.

On Thursday afternoon, the McManus’s hometown was putting the final touches on weeks of work and turned the town into a giant Christmas card. Shops were decorated with holiday displays and there’s a breezeway with vintage decorations that hung over the town decades ago.

One shop has a special tribute to the McManuses and many others who took on the challenge of being Santa.

There were windows displaying original costumes, pictures and memorabilia.

There you’ll find a window for the McManuses where their costumes are, along with newspaper clippings of them.

Suggs said they would’ve loved it.

“I can see them smiling down from heaven at that window, because that was something that brought them so much joy,” she said. “And for them to be remembered, I know they’re so happy and that makes us happy.”

It was even more difficult for the McManus family following the deaths of the couple after more than two dozen people caught COVID-19 from the funeral.

Suggs was in the hospital for 15 days, seven of those days in intensive care.

“It was like I was sick, too,” Suggs said. “So, I didn’t have time to grieve and Thanksgiving was hard.”

Sara, who now lives with her aunt, remembers her parents for the love they gave her and to their town.

“I just try to stay positive. Think of the good things,” she said.

The family is happy to see the way David and Lora McManus are being remembered and celebrated.

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Cox Media Group