Family heirloom showcased at revue

The silk wedding dress hung on her small frame, its elegant skirt coming to rest on the floor around her. Roberta Haynes picked up the skirt in front of her as she made her way to the front of the crowd of people. She was wearing her great-great grandmother’s wedding dress, modeling it at the historic fashion revue on June 25, which was organized by the Anna Miller Museum. 
The dress belonged to Ellen Catherine (Nellie) Brennan, Ann McColley’s grandmother, and was worn on her wedding day on April 15, 1899, when she married Joseph Francis Landrigan. 
The idea to showcase the historic dress in the fashion revue was born when McColley purchased tickets at the museum and also inquired about her grandmother’s wedding dress, which was part of the museum’s collection. Cindy Dysart, museum director, then thought it would be special to surprise McColley with a family member wearing the dress, which ended up being McColley’s granddaughter Roberta Haynes. 
Dysart and Maggie Makousky, who works at the museum, used a picture of the wedding to aid in their search for the dress in the attic of the museum. Dysart said it was in the back of the attic in an archival box. They also found that Kathleen Tavegie, McColley’s sister, had donated the dress to the museum in 1996, where it had been on display for a number of years. 
“It was important to have a family heirloom at the fashion show for several reasons.  … The museum is full of Weston County history, which represents the community, and the museum district (can) share a little golden nugget of history with the community. It was
a beautiful dress modeled by
a beautiful young girl,”
Dysart said. 
It meant a lot to McColley to see her granddaughter wearing an old family heirloom. While she doesn’t remember much about her grandmother, McColley said it’s important to her to preserve history. 
“It was wonderful,” she said. “And especially to have my granddaughter wearing it (dress).” 
Roberta enjoyed the unique experience of wearing such an antique, she said, and it made her feel very special. The wedding dress was well preserved and in good condition. 
“Now Roberta has that memory that she was able to wear a great-great grandmother’s dress, that’s pretty amazing, I think,” McColley said. 
Erin Haynes, Roberta’s mother, also feels that the experience was beneficial to Roberta, because most kids have a hard time understanding their ancestry, she said. 
Perhaps what meant the most to McColley, however, was that the wedding dress was a tangible artifact of the Landrigan family roots that run deep in Weston County because her family has lived in the area for over a century. 
“We go back a long ways — the Landrigan family,” she said, noting that not many local families date back to Cambria days. There’s even a stained-glass window in the chapel at the Flying V, north of Newcastle, with the Landrigan name on it, McColley said. 

According to “The First 100 Years” book of Weston County, Joseph Landrigan was born Aug. 2, 1872, in Illinois, and Nellie Brennan was born Sept. 24, 1872, in Nebraska. Joseph came to Alliance, Nebraska, to work for the Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad, and the Brennans came to Weston County with the railroad. 
The couple was married in the Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Newcastle, after which they moved to Cambria. Joseph worked as tipple foreman for the Kilpatrick Brothers and the Cambria Fuel Co. According to Wikipedia, a tipple is a “structure used at a mine to load the extracted product (e.g., coal, ores) for transport, typically into railroad hopper cars.” After the Cambria coal mines closed in 1928, Joseph was also awarded the contract to dismantle all the machinery and equipment. 
“While living in Cambria, Joe and Nellie lived in a small wood-framed white house and became the parents of three children: Cora Cecilia Landrigan born March 11, 1900, Edward Joseph Landrigan born January 5, 1902, and Mary Ellen Landrigan born April 18, 1903,” the book states.
The three Landrigan children graduated from high school in Cambria. The Landrigans eventually moved to Newcastle, where Joseph served as a city councilman and county commissioner. He died in 1951. 
Edward, McColley’s father, also worked at the Cambria coal mines before they closed, but enrolled in the School of Dentistry at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1922. He graduated in 1925 with his doctor of dental science and then began practicing in Newcastle. 
On Nov. 25, 1939, Edward married Roberta Summers, one of his patients who was from Moorcroft. Edward and Roberta had three daughters, Kathleen, Marcia and Ann. 
According to the book, Roberta was a “housewife and mother” to the three girls but returned to work after Edward’s death in 1962. Nellie also died the same year. Later in 1962 Roberta became the Weston County clerk, remaining in that office until her 1978 retirement. 
These family roots that run deep in Weston County have kept McColley firmly planted in the area, she said. Her sister, Kathleen Tavegie, also stayed in the area, but passed away in 2019. Her other sister, Marcia Willadson, lives in Torrington. 
“I love Newcastle.  … This was our choice to bring our children up in a small town,” McColley said. Even her husband, Rick, grew up in Newcastle, and it just seemed natural to raise their own
children here. 
The couple raised three children in Newcastle, Molly McColley, Roberta Haynes and Joseph McColley. Haynes chose to stay in the area to raise her family. Haynes feels like there’s always someone watching out for her and her family because of the local familiarity, she said, and she appreciates that aspect of a small town. 
“It’s a nice feeling because … I feel like I have eyes that will look over my children here. If my daughter rides her bike downtown, I know someone knows her,” Haynes said, noting that there’s also always family around as a support system. 
In addition, honoring their family and ancestry means a lot to the family. Both of Haynes’ daughters have family names. Roberta is named after McColley’s mom, and her youngest daughter, Lena, is named after McColley’s maternal grandmother. In fact, all three of her children have named their children after someone in the family.