Because this thread is still getting many visits, I am inserting an announcement we posted on Ted's site on October 30, 2011:

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Announcement, October 30, 2012

After years of acting, performing music, and collecting and writing about his favorite Christmas traditions, "Papa" Ted Althof has succumbed to illness, on October 29, 2012. A Celebration of his life and work is planned, although we have no details yet.

When he realized his was ill, Ted worked with CardboardChristmas.com to establish this archive of his "Putz house" site, which will, hopefully, continue to inform, encourage, and bless other lovers of Christmas tradition for years to come. In the coming weeks, we will be making necessary adjustments (such as changing the contact information), but our primary goal is to keep the information on this site as useful and available as Ted always intended it to be.

In the meantime we appreciate Ted's diligence, his generousity, and his love of Christmas traditions. We also pray for those close to him who showed so much support in his last months.

If you need to contact us before we get everything switched over, please use the Cardboard Christmas contact page.

To paraphrase Dickens, Ted was a man who:

honored Christmas in his heart, and tried to keep it all the year.

I don't think there is a more fitting tribute than to follow his example.

Paul Race, Howard Lamey, Maria Cudequest, Nan Corby, Jack Ahearn, and the rest of the CardboardChristmas.com family.


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Someone close to Ted has written:



Please keep Ted's family in your prayers, as this has taken a toll on those around him as well. There will not be a public viewing and funeral; rather there are plans for a "celebration" of Ted's life and contributions some weeks (at least) from now.

If you have any memories or photographs of Ted that you'd like to pass on, please post them here or use our Contact page. We'll make certain they get to the family.

Thanks again, Papa Ted, for your generousity and diligence, which have inspired many others to cherish our Christmas memories as you have.

And in that spirit, "God bless us every one."

Paul

I am preparing an announcement to go into our archive of Papa Ted's web site. I would like it to include the names of any CardboardChristmas.com contributors who have especially appreciated Ted's hard work cataloguing and chronicling the history of putz houses. I confess, I have already taken the liberty of plugging two other people's names into the announcement, but I wanted everyone here to have a chance to add their names as well.

The draft (which has not gone "live" yet) is at:
http://cardboardchristmas.com/papateds/ ... _2012.html

Please let me know if you'd like your name to be added.

God bless all,

Paul

I am so sorry to hear that Papa Ted has died. The Christmas putz information he shared has been invaluable in helping me appreciate, understand, restore, and even reproduce some of these marvelous creations. When I first heard about his cancer, I wrote him to give him some resources (I, too, have had lung cancer for 3-1/2 years now) and hoped he would also have my good survival fortune. He expressed appreciation for the information, and he shared some of the cuts of his acting career with me and his philosophy of acting. We emailed back and forth about our cancers and his acting up until his movie came out in September. I guess what we putzers all have in common, and what Papa Ted had in abundance, was a willingness to share. I will miss him.
Yes, you may include my name in your list of those who are so very grateful to him.
Nan Corby

Paul..thank you for your help in putting together the words and feelings I and so many other have at this time. I would appreciate and feel it an honor to have my name placed as you suggest. Jack Ahearn...boxcar jack.

Paul, please add my name. The research and groundwork that Ted did has brought me so many hours of pleasure in sharing, collecting and restoring our cardboard Christmas houses. He will be missed. Thank you. Linda Starek

I've added Jack, Linda, and Nan:

http://cardboardchristmas.com/papateds/index.htm

Note: This isn't on the "real" site, only on my archive. But it's a start.

Thanks for the kind words, all,

Paul

Due to Hurricane Sandy, I only got this news a short while ago when phone, lights and internet service were finally restored.

This is such sad news on so many levels it defies words. Had it not been for Ted, I would have never had a word - "putz" - to describe those little cardboard houses I remembered so fondly from my childhood.

p.s. Here's Ted's favorite head shot http://everythingcroton.blogspot.com/20 ... pdate.html

Paul, please add my name as well. When I ordered my doors and windows I always enjoyed the notes we shared. I spent countless hours on his site and enjoyed every minute of it. Thank you

Ted is one who inspired me to begin collecting vintage cardboard houses. (He practically forced me to collect them by creating his wonderful, charming, wistful Christmas site.) I've just gone to his website to re-read his explanation of the word "putz" and how the concept came to America from Germany; Ted includes a link to an account of the putzes his mother created when he was a child. Treat yourself to some heartfelt, thoughtful and, yes, sweetly melancholy writing about what it means to be a child filled with wonder at Christmastime. No one does it better than Papa Ted. We'll miss you, Ted. http://papatedsplace.com/putz.html
Antoinette

Words cannot express my heart felt sorrow at Papa Teds passing yet I know Heaven is rejoicing
at Papa Teds arrival.