Remembering Mr. Christmas: How Shakespeare’s Restaurant & Pub in Ellwood City is honoring late host

ELLWOOD CITY, Pa. — Decking the halls of a castle is a lot of work.

“But we love it. We like doing it,” said Barbara Hood, Dining Room Manager at Shakespeare’s Restaurant and Pub.

The trimmed trees and glistening garland carry a special meaning this Christmas at the restaurant on the grounds of the at Olde Stonewall Golf Club in Ellwood City.

They decorations are all in memory of Mr. Christmas, Ron Geddes.

“People called him Mr. Christmas because he loved Christmas,” said his manager, Barb.

The snazzy-dressed host at Shakespeare’s was a fixture until he sadly passed away in August.

“He was a great host, he was a great friend to everyone who worked here,” said Barb, “and we miss him terribly. We miss his presence here a lot.”

But Barb says he’s here. Ron is with them through all the beautiful decorations. He loved and took pride in decorating the restaurant each holiday. He even hung a Christmas tree upside down from the ceiling one year!

So, in this first year of decorating for Christmas in his absence, Barb wanted to make sure the decorations looked as good as they did when he did them last year.

And this year, there are even more decorations at the restaurant. Ron’s daughter gave some of Ron’s thousands of decorations to Barb for Shakespeare’s her after he passed away.

“We were thrilled, and I kept saying, ‘Are you sure?’” recalled Barb. “She said ‘I have a room full of things already, these are all for you.’ She said he wanted them to be here so we took them.”

Three of Ron’s Christmas trees are up on the first floor. The swag above the credenza belonged to him and so did the pine on the host stand where customers came to love their interactions with Ron.

“He would sing happy birthday to them and would remember, ‘Oh you were here last year and it was your birthday,’” said Barb.

Upstairs, his favorite, what he called the poinsettia tree, is decorated with all four boxes of ornaments that he insisted Barb put on it. He also told her fruit was used to decorate castles back in the day so she made sure to put out all the fruit decorations she was given.

Ron’s one of those people you can’t replace, according to Barb. But with each poinsettia, ornament, and even piece of fruit, she’s keeping Ron’s memory alive at Shakespeare’s Restaurant and Pub.

“We just miss him and hope he likes our decorations,” said Barb.

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