10:40 AM EDT on Monday, October 11, 2004

Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Portsmouth native Lucrece Hudgins Beale, who wrote a fanciful Christmas column for The Associated Press for many years in the mid-20th century, has died in her Washington home. She was 90.

Her son, David Beale of New Hope, Pennsylvania, says Mrs. Beale died of complications from lymphoma.

Known as Lu, Mrs. Beale was the widow of William Beale Junior, who was news editor of the A.P.'s Washington bureau when she arrived in 1941. Williams Beale served as chief of bureau from 1949 until his retirement 20 years later. He died in 2002.

Beale began her journalism career in Massachusetts as a feature writer with the Boston Sunday Post in 1937. She joined the A.P. at its New York headquarters, and from there she moved to Washington.

She published her first Christmas story on December seventh, 1942. Each story moved in 17 chapters, from December seventh through December 24th, and became a 27-year tradition.

The stories generally involved problems that faced Santa Claus as he tried to meet his Christmas Eve deadline.

(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)