THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Sunday, December 3, 1995               TAG: 9512020132
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON    PAGE: 08   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY GARY EDWARDS, CORRESPONDENT 
                                             LENGTH: Medium:   57 lines

TRADITION OF THE ANGEL TREE CONTINUES LINN HOWARD IS TAKING OVER WHERE HER MOTHER, THE ARTIST LORETTA HINES HOWARD, LEFT OFF.

For the second year, Linn Howard is taking over where her mother left off. Howard will appear at the Virginia Beach Center for the Arts Wednesday to present a slide show and lecture about The Angel Tree.

In doing so, Howard will continue a Christmas tradition begun by her mother, the late Loretta Hines Howard, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

A well-known artist, the elder Howard created a tree decorated with angels and started sharing it with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1957. It became an annual display.

Linn Howard appeared at the New York museum last week for the Grand Illumination and the raising of The Angel Tree. The 150-piece collection of 18th century Neapolitan angels and creche figures, depicting the Nativity, adorn the tree during the holiday season.

``The New York tree is magnificent. It must be 40 feet tall,'' said Jane Lechler, president of the Virginia Beach Republican Women's Club and Howard's host for the Beach presentation.

``The slide presentation and lecture is not like seeing the tree in person, but offers a taste of the experience,'' said Lechler, who has seen the actual tree in New York.

In 1994, Linn Howard published a book, ``The Angel Tree,'' about her mother's creation and the annual holiday event when the tree is illuminated.

Here, the Virginia Beach Center for the Arts' Christmas Celebration will begin with a social hour featuring a cash bar at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. A buffet dinner catered by Le Chambord Restaurant at 7:30 will be followed by Howard's segment. She will sign copies of the book after the show. The cost for the evening is $60 per person, and the proceeds will benefit educational programs at the arts center.

The programs include scholarships for the summer session and are administered by the newly formed Friends of the Virginia Beach Center for the Arts.

``Loretta Hines Howard gave one of her beautiful creche figures to Jacqueline Onassis,'' said Lechler. Most of the pieces displayed on the New York tree were once part of the famous Eugenio Catello collection in Naples, Italy. Loretta Hines Howard collected the pieces over a period of 30 years. MEMO: For more information, call the Virginia Beach Center for the Arts at

425-0000.

ILLUSTRATION: In 1994, Linn Howard published a book, ``The Angel Tree,'' about

her mother's creation and the annual holiday event when the tree is

illuminated.

by CNB