William Sterling amid the Christmas light display in honor of his late grandfather, Dick Forrester (Photo by Jay Paul)
Thirty years ago, when Kevin and Rachen Sterling were first dating, he recalls visiting her parents’ West End home for the first time in December. “This was before Google Maps,” he says, “and basically she said, ‘Turn on Forest off Patterson Avenue and look for the house with all of the Christmas lights.’ ”
Rachen’s father, Richard Hynson “Dick” Forrester Jr., loved Christmas and was known for his light display and decorations before tacky light tours were a thing. “He was 30 years ahead of his time,” Kevin says.
Today, the tradition continues, with the couple’s 12-year-old son, William, leading the effort. The Sterlings can now provide nearly the same directions to their own West End home: Turn off Patterson Avenue onto Sweetbriar Road and look for the house with all of the lights (7610 Sweetbriar).
William, a sixth grader at St. Christopher’s School, loves Christmas and shared a special bond with his grandfather, who died in March. “His yard was decorated for all holidays, as was he,” Dick’s obituary read. “He was Uncle Sam, Santa Claus for twenty-five years and always in costume at Halloween.”
Forrester as Santa circa the 1990s (Photo courtesy Rachen Sterling)
To honor his grandfather, and to inject some much-needed cheer into 2020, William wanted to “kick it up a notch this year,” adding lights and decorations to the family’s yearly display and dedicating it to his grandfather with a small sign that reads: “In Memory of Dick Forrester — ‘BigDad.’ ”
William and his father began decorating in late October and first illuminated their display in early November, right after Halloween. Every weekend since, they have added lights and decorations, visiting home improvement stores together on Saturday mornings to see what decorations are on sale.
“My dad would love that these two have been spending time doing this together and talking about him,” Rachen says. “It’s been good to have a purpose, especially right now, to kind of feel like you have something to do.”
William and his parents, Kevin and Rachen Sterling (Photo by Jay Paul)
The family has rented a storage unit for all of the decorations and this year added three outdoor electrical boxes to handle the power needs of the display. William estimates he has spent 70-80 hours stringing lights and setting up the display with help from his father and from a friend, who helped him decorate two trees with whimsical lights. He hoped to be named as a stop on a local tacky light tour but did not make the official list — he says he will try again next year. Instead, his mother and a friend posted the house to their social media accounts, inviting people to enjoy the display.
“Neighbors have been stopping and saying, ‘This is so great, thank you for doing this, especially right now, it gives us so much joy to see the lights,’ ” Rachen says. One neighbor shared that she liked to bring her grandson by to see the lights and that the display has inspired her to add an inflatable decoration to her own yard.
The display has also brought joy to Dick’s widow, Charlotte, who suffers from ALS and has been isolated from family during the pandemic in a skilled nursing facility. “She was not in the Christmas spirit until [William] decided he wanted to do this,” Rachen says. “It’s given us something to talk about. … It’s just been so hard. She can’t leave, so we’ve been taking pictures and sending them to her, and she loves that.”
Photo by Jay Paul
When his grandmother learned about the display, she instructed her son to bring her husband’s Santa suit to William. Dick would show up as Santa to holiday parties every year and had memorized “The Night Before Christmas,” reciting it to his grandchildren every Christmas Eve. While unpacking their Christmas decorations, the Sterlings unexpectedly found an old recording of him reciting the poem, Rachen says. “If you knew my dad, you knew he loved Christmas. [William] is quickly following in his footsteps.”
William enjoys visiting other decorated homes around Richmond to pick up ideas for his own yard. He’s learned some important lessons — always test the lights before you put them out — and has mastered setting up all of the timers that are required to illuminate the display. William’s siblings, 18-year-old twins Mary Charlotte and Forrester, know not to park their cars in front of the house during the holiday season.
He loves watching people drive or walk by to enjoy the lights and invites neighborhood kids to walk through the display. “I hope that it just makes people feel better,” he says, “and that they always keep coming back because we’ll always get better.”
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