Our Arklahoma Heritage: McCurtain County veteran, farmer, and bus driver became local "Secret Santa"

James Albert Dreher was born August 16, 1915, at the family home in Union Township, Sweet Home, Pulaski County, Arkansas, the youngest child of James Archie “Jim” Dreher (a tall, dark-complexioned man of Cherokee descent on his mother’s side and German on his father’s) and Pearl Edith Gibson Dreher (Choctaw-Chickasaw heritage).

His paternal grandfather, John George (Johann Georg) Dreher, immigrated from Germany (Hesse-Kassel) as a four-year-old in 1854 with his mother; his older half-brother died at sea.

George married Mary Frances Thomas (half-Cherokee), daughter of Henry “Bucksnort” Thomas. They farmed in the Ironton/Sweet Home area and raised a large family. On his mother’s side, the Gibsons came from Kentucky. Grandmother Catherine Octava Booth Gibson had family ties to the Choctaw Nation, including connections to traditional healers like Dr. Flying Cloud.

The Dreher family moved to McCurtain County in late 1915, where James grew up amid Choctaw Nation lands and extended Gibson, Thomas, Carter, and Bell kin.L

James grew up on sharecropped farms in the Idabel, Broken Bow, and Haworth areas. He attended school in Bokhoma and graduated from Haworth High School in 1937.

He overcame a severe stutter with help from a dedicated substitute teacher and retained a love for the Choctaw language and words throughout life.

He worked as a farmer, cattleman, and pipeline laborer. For over ten years, he served as a school janitor and bus driver in Foreman, Arkansas.

During World War II he served in the U.S. Navy, primarily as a cook at the Naval base in Honolulu, later aboard a repair ship bound for Japan. He was noted for feeding large crews and celebrated V-J Day with his shipmates. J

ames ran a beef cattle ranch (at one point with 400 mama cows) in Arkansas and Oklahoma, using working dogs as “hazers.” He also sold timberland and worked various jobs to support his family.

He was known for his self-reliance, hunting and fishing skills, cooking ability, and deep love of nature and children.

James’s stories captured early life in McCurtain County: coon hunting, encounters with wildlife, and Choctaw Nation history.

He recalled family tales of the Trail of Tears, a dramatic outhouse chicken incident with his strict Cherokee grandmother, and his father’s clever use of a bear trap to stop a corn thief.

A beloved local legend in Foreman, Arkansas, was his secret role as the “Unknown Santa.”

For years in the 1930s–1940s, he and his first wife Mela, quietly delivered Christmas boxes with gifts, groceries, candy, and new shoes to needy children on his school bus route. The children kept the secret for years.

He loved “funnin’,” told vivid stories (often with a twinkle in his blue eyes), and cherished his mixed Native American heritage while embracing practical American values passed down from his grandfather.

James Albert Dreher died January 9, 2004, at age 88 in De Queen, Arkansas.

He fell short of his goal of reaching 100, but lived a rich, generous life.

Graveside services were held January 12, 2004, at Tom Cemetery (formerly Bis Byrum Cemetery) in Tom, McCurtain County, Oklahoma.

He rests near his parents, several siblings, his infant son Billy Joe, and his wives Mela Cowling Dreher and Marie Franco Dreher. His life .