Charles Ashbee: Ridgefield's Santa for three decades by Jack Sanders FacebookTwitterEmail Charley Ashbee played Santa Claus to children in Rigefield for three decades, from the Great Depression into the start of 1960s.Contributed photo When Charley Ashbee died in 1962, the front page of the May 31 Ridgefield Press announced: “C.F. Ashbee, Santa Claus, Dies at 89.” By then the retired insurance executive had become a local legend. “Mr. Ashbee spent nearly as much of his long life portraying Santa Claus and delighting the children of this town as he devoted to the insurance business,” t...