Photo by Eric Ayres Patty Willming and her daughter, Donna Nau, pose by the antique family Nativity set that this year underwent a meticulous restoration.

WHEELING – A long lost family treasure rediscovered more than a decade ago was recently restored to its original splendor for this holiday season – assuring that the iconic symbols of Christmas’s true meaning will be admired by future generations to come.

Patty Willming of Wheeling has proudly displayed the antique Nativity set inside her Elm Grove home each holiday since the set came into her possession. This year, the display has an even more striking appearance as the family took steps to have the pieces professionally restored.

The holiday figures – a family heirloom of sorts – came to Willming around eight years ago after her brother, Bill O’Leary, passed away.

“When he died in 2016, his two boys started going through everything,” said Willming’s daughter, Donna Nau. “My mom had said ‘I don’t care if I get anything at all, but I’d really like to have Aunt Hannah’s Nativity set.'”

Just a few years before O’Leary’s passing, that long-lost Nativity set made an unexpected splash in the family … and in the local community. While rummaging through his attic looking for Christmas decorations, O’Leary came across an old box that had been in storage and basically forgotten for decades.

“It showed up at my uncle Bill’s house in his attic,” Donna said. “He was looking for something, and he came across this box that said ‘Hannah’s Crib’ on it.”

Inside was a full set of large Nativity figures – Christmas decorations that O’Leary and Willming both remembered from their childhood. The collectibles had belonged to their Aunt Hannah O’Leary, who lived on Kenney Street in North Wheeling and passed away in 1975.

This nativity set, a family treasure believed to be at least 100 years old, was recently restored for its owner in Elm Grove by the same liturgical arts conservator that refurbishes artifacts for the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston. The nativity had been a long lost Christmas display for a family that rediscovered it in 2012 after it had been packed away and forgotten for nearly four decades. (Photos by Eric Ayres

The set had not been seen since then – until it was rediscovered in an old box tucked away in the attic. The rediscovered treasure nearly brought them to tears, as the fragile plaster figurines were all still very much intact – as were the fond memories of the nearly forgotten Nativity.

In January 2013, The Intelligencer and Wheeling News-Register published a feature story about the rediscovery of the family heirloom, highlighting the fact that new generations of the family got to behold the antique figures that they remembered seeing during the holidays many years before.

O’Leary was quoted in the article as remembering the Nativity set from his childhood when Aunt Hannah displayed the set from Thanksgiving through Epiphany, when the Magi brought Baby Jesus their gifts:

“As Epiphany approached, she would bring the kings closer each day,” he said. “None of our grandchildren had seen it. It will go up every year now.”

This old family photo, believed to be taken sometime in the late 1940s, shows young Bill O’Leary and Aunt Hannah O’Leary in her home on Kenney Street in North Wheeling, overlooking her nativity set that was always on display during the holidays. (Photos by Eric Ayres)

They were even able to find old family photos dating back to the 1950s and ’60s with the Nativity set in the background.

Willming, today at age 92, said the set has to be at least 100 years old.

“I remember it since grade school,” Patty said of the antique Nativity. “Aunt Hannah had put that up for years, I remember. It was up every Christmas. And she used to put mountains on paper in back of it. It was really beautiful. I was really young. I know I was in grade school back then. That went up the first thing before Christmas.”

The figures made of ceramic-like material once had green felt on the bottom, Willming recalled.

Ever since Willming inherited the Nativity set, Nau has helped her put the classic scene of Jesus’s birth on display inside Willming’s home each Christmas season.

They make it a point to handle each delicate piece with care.

“We wrap them all in bubble wrap when we put them away,” Willming noted.

Three Wise Men of the Epiphany bring gifts to celebrate the birth of Baby Jesus. (Photos by Eric Ayres)

Although the figures of the Virgin Mary, Baby Jesus, the Three Wise Men and other Biblical characters were all in good shape for their age, there were some blemishes and wear beginning to show. This past summer, they reached out to Trinity Artisans of Mountain Top, Pennsylvania, which specializes in liturgical arts conservation.

Nau’s son-in-law, Jon-Erik Gilot, works for the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, and he helped them find someone at Trinity Artisans with the expertise to refurbish the antique Nativity set.

“This lady does all of the restoration of the statues at the churches in the Diocese,” Willming noted. “It didn’t look bad – but they were nicked. I was a little leery about letting her take it to have her paint it, you know. I said ‘I don’t know about this.'”

Family members had to convince Willming to trust the conservator, who picked up the set, repaired the cracks and blemishes in the chalkware and repainted each piece by hand with shading, even adding gold leaf accents.

“It’s beautiful,” Willming said. “She did a wonderful job. She did every one of them, too.”

Trinity Artisans gave great attention to detail while restoring the nativity, matching the original colors, adding gold leaf accents and providing enhanced shading when hand painting the figurines. (Photos by Eric Ayres)

The original colors were maintained in the repainted figurines.

“She did an amazing job painting it,” Nau said. “Her work was just unbelievable.”

The conservator had the set back within a couple of months, and they are back on display at Willming’s house – looking better than ever – just in time for the Christmas holiday.

Willming’s son, Robert Willming, built a stable for the display, which now houses the manger scene. An angel that is part of the original set hangs at the top of the stable, and the family placed a lighted star in the window above the display.

“It looks really pretty at night,” Nau said. “I think you just don’t see things like this anymore. It’s something that needs to stay in the family. Not very many people can say they have something that is 100 years old and still displayed every year.”

One of the endearing aspects of the holidays is the fact that families pass down traditions and memories, and for those who celebrate the true meaning of Christmas, there’s no better gift.

“This is what it’s all about,” Nau said. “This is a very devout Irish-Catholic family.”

An angel positioned at the top of the stable in the antique nativity display boast the hymn of the angels “Gloria in Excelsis Deo” announcing the birth of Christ to the shepherds. (Photos by Eric Ayres)

And future generations will be able to continue to enjoy the family treasure.

“When I go, this goes to her,” Willming said with a nod to Nau.

(Staff Writer Shelley Hanson contributed to this story – she wrote the original article about the discovery of the antique Nativity set, which was published in The Intelligencer and Wheeling News-Register on Jan. 5, 2013)

Figures of Joseph and Mary look over Baby Jesus in the manger of Patty Willming’s antique nativity display. (Photos by Eric Ayres)

Trinity Artisans gave great attention to detail while restoring the nativity, matching the original colors, adding gold leaf accents and providing enhanced shading when hand painting the figurines. (Photos by Eric Ayres)

Donna Nau and her mother, Patty Willming, had the family’s antique nativity display restored this year before putting it on display in Willming’s Elm Grove residence for the holiday season. (Photos by Eric Ayres)

The nativity’s Baby Jesus boasts cherub-like facial features common among dolls and figurines made in the early 1900s. (Photos by Eric Ayres)