Legacy of Lights

A Couple’s Love for the Season
Celebrated by Neighborhood

By Lisa Gregory

The Christmas lights at the Harley home may have gone dark, but the legacy of a couple’s love for Christmas and their joy in decorating for it shines on—a house and a neighbor at a time.

For decades, Bobby and Nancy Harley, who resided on the corner of Hawthorne and Mountainview drives in the West Hills neighborhood, delighted family, friends and even strangers with their festive holiday display. There was the motion-activated Santa that sang, another Santa perched on the side of the chimney, the strand of lights draped around a towering 25-foot flagpole and even lights that outlined the pool in the backyard. 

“The entire property was covered,” says Colleen Nestor, who along with her husband, Matt, were long-time neighbors of the Harleys. Adds another neighbor, Gail Martin, “The front yard was filled with all of these snowmen and angels and Grinches. Everything you can possibly imagine. New decorations were added every year. It was never the same.”

The Harleys loved Christmas. “And not just the decorations but the spirit of the season,” says Sally Hoague, a teacher who worked with Nancy, a special education instructional assistant at Walkersville High School.

Bobby, say neighbors, would begin working on decorations the day after Halloween at the behest of his wife. “She would start talking about the decorations weeks and weeks and weeks before Christmas,” Hoague says. 

Bobby never wavered in his task. “He was well into his 80s and still climbing the roof to put up the decorations for the missus,” says Nancy Golay, another neighbor. “He would do anything to make her happy,” says Nestor.

Those who knew the Harleys agree it was Nancy who bought the decorations and that Bobby put them up. “Bobby had to build an additional shed because Nancy got so many decorations,” says Nestor. 

By Thanksgiving evening all would be in place and lit up. “Thanksgiving wasn’t complete until our family walked up the street to see what Bobby had done,” says Frederick resident Nancy Whitmore. 

“They just enjoyed the fact that people enjoyed it,” says Nestor. 

No matter the cost. “People would say to her, ‘But isn’t your electric bill high?’” says Hoague. “She didn’t care. People stopped asking because they knew it didn’t matter to her. She was always so proud to have others enjoy the spirit of Christmas.”

Nancy brought Christmas to her job as well, wearing holiday sweaters in festive colors and some even jingling with bells. “You knew she was coming before you saw her,” says Hoague with a chuckle. 

Throughout the years, those who lived near the Harleys felt the pressure to step up with their own decorating efforts. “I call it positive peer pressure,” says Nestor. 

“He was the gold standard for the neighborhood for many, many years,” adds David Hyden, who lives nearby. “People who knew of the house that didn’t even live in the area would drive by it just because they are like, ‘You got to see this house!’ It became a folklore kind of thing.” 

Other area houses and yards became decorated elaborately, as well, becoming what is sometimes referred to today as Christmas Row. The word got out over the years and lines of cars now  make their way through the neighborhood each Christmas. “You can barely get down our street,” says Nestor. 

Martin has long embraced the crowds despite the inconvenience it might pose for residents. “I like seeing all those cars coming through our neighborhood and the kids hanging out the windows and yelling and oohing and aahing,” says Martin.

For newcomers moving into the neighborhood, there is a gentle reminder of expectations. “You are starting the conversation with, ‘Have you been here at Christmas? Do you know what we do?’” Nestor says with a smile. 

If they don’t, they soon will. “We moved here in 1997 on Yellow Springs Road which is just around the corner from Hawthorne and Christmas Row,” says Hyden. “I remember looking out our back window on Thanksgiving evening that first year and seeing the Christmas lights. Mr. Harley went crazy with his Christmas lights. It was like, ‘Wow.’ We didn’t realize then that Mr. Harley had started up a grassroots activity which began with his house and crept out into the entire neighborhood.”

Sadly, Bobby died in July 2020. Given the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic at the time, neighbors couldn’t pay their respects in person. But he was not forgotten. After his passing, “Some of us put out a single Christmas decoration in our front yard,” says Nestor. Truly a Christmas in July. Bobby, no doubt, would have appreciated that. Even his obituary mentioned the Christmas lights and decorations the couple displayed every year.

Nancy passed away the following year, having to endure one holiday season without her beloved Bobby there to put up the decorations.

“That last year, when there were no lights there, I know she was looking out the window watching the cars come by,” says Martin. “Nobody outside of the neighborhood knew that Mr. Harley had passed away and that the lights wouldn’t be there, so they still came in droves.” 

Now, neighbors not only decorate but do so in honor and remembrance of Bobby and Nancy. Some even place signs in their yard that note the Harleys’ memory. “We’re going on year three putting out the signs,” says Nestor. “It is a tradition for me now,” says Martin. 

Among the decorations displayed in the neighborhood are ones that once belonged to the Harleys and given to neighbors by the family. The Nestors have the singing Santa and continue to display it proudly. “Which is pretty awesome,” says Colleen Nestor. 

It’s all part of keeping the Christmas spirit of Bobby and Nancy alive. 

“They would’ve been thrilled to tears to know that the magnificent tradition they started still goes on,” says Martin. “One that my own grandchildren and great-grandchildren look forward to every year.”