THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 8, 1996 TAG: 9602080029
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TONI WHITT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
TED LASPE was furious when his Baby Jesus disappeared.
Ted loved Christmas. He wore Christmas outfits. He baked. He entertained extensively and he put up decorations in his St. Louis yard and left them out into January.
But in January 1994, when he got around to taking down the nativity scene, Baby Jesus was gone. In its place was a computer-printed message: ``I'm taking a vacation, I'll see you on my birthday.''
However, Ted Laspe wasn't going to accept the taking of Baby Jesus as a mere prank. He interrogated his neighbors. He accused friends and relatives.
Six weeks later, the Laspe family received the first of many post cards from the Baby Jesus.
The cards and pictures came from all over the country: Colorado, Salt Lake, Las Vegas, Alaska. There were also notes from cruise ships.
The handwriting was always different.
The trip became legendary in St. Louis.
Ted was a great storyteller, according to his wife, Elizabeth.
He told his tale to the elderly folks with whom he volunteered. They passed the latest reports to their families. The story of the traveling Jesus made it to Honduras, France and England.
Meanwhile, cards and pictures kept coming, sometimes featuring pilots and flight attendants. There was one of Baby Jesus with a statue of the Virgin Mary in Bute, Mont., with a note saying that he was visiting Mom.
Ted set up an elaborate plan to catch the kidnappers when they returned the statue. He planned to have video cameras covering his entire yard on Christmas Eve.
But Ted, a diabetic, died in the fall when his heart and kidneys failed after surgery for a broken leg. He received his last post card while in the hospital. The pictures and post cards quit coming for a while. But just before Christmas, Ted's wife, Elizabeth, said she got a post card from the Baby Jesus.
``Hi Liz,'' it said. ``I took some time off to make sure Ted got settled in. He's doing fine.''
There were some pictures of the Baby Jesus at Padre Island, Texas.
``When I got that postcard there was a big weight lifted off of me,'' Elizabeth said this week. ``I got that and said, `Yeah, it's OK.' ''
Baby Jesus returned in a Black and White cab at 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve. Many of the neighbors were awaiting his arrival.
The cab driver, Elizabeth said, could have been a Christmas elf. ``He was about 5-foot-5 and roly-poly.'' The cabbie brought Elizabeth to the car and sitting on the back seat was Baby Jesus and a pink suitcase covered in bunnies and teddy bears.
Inside the case were souvenirs of His journey. There were T-shirts, post cards, salt from Great Salt Lake, match books and shampoos and soaps from hotels across the country. And there was a box full of tiny replicas of Baby Jesus. Inside the box was a note that Elizabeth cherishes.
Part of it read:
``In his way, Ted had the true spirit of Christmas in his heart and his helping others. . . . Please accept these symbols of love and share them with those who need to feel the spirit of Christmas. This will keep the love I've shared forever in their hearts, as well as remembering the wonderfulness of Ted. Love Jesus.'' by CNB