Deck The Hall

For the first time in decades, Ruben Santos and his helpers will not decorate the Christmas tree in the Bill Daniel Student Center -- a campus holiday mainstay. The longtime director of the center retired in May, taking with him a scrapbook filled with pictures of those trees through the years.
Every season, the BDSC comes to life with the splendor of a grand Christmas tree that adorns the multistory foyer. The fresh-cut tree, usually a Blue Spruce, sports a new theme with matching decorations each year. As breathtaking as the finished product is, it is the work behind it that testifies to Santos' spirit and gift to the Baylor community.
For years, Santos, his wife, Barbara, and their children worked tirelessly to create their Christmas masterpieces with the help of a student crew that spent its Thanksgiving holidays hanging tinsel and stringing lights. Then, when the decorating was done, they all would sit down and share a Thanksgiving meal prepared by Barbara. The ritual quickly became a welcome tradition, giving Ruben an opportunity to listen to students and encourage them as they considered their futures.
"So many students have come to Baylor trying to fulfill the expectations of what some other person had for them," he says. "I've always just encouraged them to do the things they enjoy doing, and I felt that our job was to provide them with opportunities to develop the talents and interests they had."
Although Santos began at Baylor as a temporary replacement, over time he and the center became almost synonymous in people's minds. When he came to work at the University in 1967, the Vietnam War was raging. The assistant director of the Student Union had been drafted into the military, and the director, Marie Mathis, needed someone to fill in. She convinced Santos to sign on for a semester -- a semester that would turn into 35 years.
Santos' new position reunited him with a building he knew well. As a Baylor freshman in 1955, his first job was setting pins in the building's basement bowling alley. That job didn't last long. "I was quick on my feet," he says with a laugh, "but I wasn't that quick."
He then transferred to the first-floor cafeteria, where he worked in the serving line. By his second semester, he was promoted to the second floor to assist in the setup of banquets, luncheons and weekend movies. Finally, 12 years after dodging bowling balls, he had his own office on the third floor. Santos refers to the process as literally "working my way up from the bottom."
"I had wanted to be involved in student activities because my major had been religious education, and I had anticipated doing very much the same type of work in a church setting," Santos says of his career with students. 
"Five years after I came to Baylor, I reminded Mrs. Mathis that this was a temporary job. She gave me a raise, changed my title and the rest is history."
As director of student activities, Santos oversaw campus events such as All University Sing, Pigskin Revue, After Dark and Onstage. From the '60s through the '80s, he booked several guest speakers and concerts on campus including Elton John, Amy Grant, John Denver and the group Chicago. In addition, Santos has spent countless hours working with student committees to schedule special events in the Student Union, renamed the Bill Daniel Student Center in the early 1980s, and he's been in charge of the popular weekly Dr. Pepper hour.
Santos also has been active in community service and was Waco's mayor in 1985-86. Using his skills to benefit community organizations is part of what he looks forward to in his retirement, which began in May. "I feel that Baylor will continue to be a strong part of my life, but I look forward to re-establishing my family relationships and using some of the experiences I've had to help other organizations," he says. 
This November, someone new will open the boxes and decorate Baylor's tree. As for Santos and his wife, they will be spending Thanksgiving at an annual family reunion they've missed for more than three decades.
 

Thacker is a graduate student in journalism and an intern in the Office of Public Relations.