Someone San Diego Should Know: John Caterino

John Caterino, 68, has been an invited Santa Claus guest hundreds of times at locations ranging from Balboa Park to neighborhood gatherings. His natural long white beard and hair, warm smile and demeanor and his Santa outfit help children believe.

Caterino recalls one little boy did not initially believe. While sitting on Caterino’s knee, the child said, “You’re not a real Santa Claus. All the fake Santas’ beards come off.”

“The boy then pulled on my beard, but it did not come off,” Caterino recalls.

“I asked ‘now do you believe?’ and the boy said, ‘You are Santa’ and gave me a big hug.”

“I believe he is Santa Claus,” said Elias Velazquez, operations deputy/volunteer coordinator for Brother Benno’s Foundation in Oceanside, where Caterino has been volunteering for 14 years.

“Anyone who has the pleasure of meeting John believes. It’s not just the beard, but his spirit, generosity and kindness.”

Brother Benno’s Executive Director Paul McNamara, a retired Marine colonel, added, “I’m a believer, too.”

Caterino says he feels warmth, compassion and empathy for people and happiness from helping them.

But he was not always like that.

“Before volunteering at Brother Benno’s I was thick-skinned and lacked compassion,” he said. “I had never volunteered for anything, had never been Santa Claus, had stubble for a beard and short black hair.”

Caterino’s Santa Claus began after a car accident resulting in serious injuri...