Featured Victorian Lady

www.recollections.biz

1-800-452-5925

Editor’s note – We are pleased to feature another one of our very interesting  customers, Lenore McKelvey Puhek from Helena, Montana.  Lenore, also known as Libby Meagher,  travels around the country as “Libby”, the first lady of Montana Territory.  Lenore  got her inspiration to step out on this character adventure from Susan O’Connell, our first featured Victorian Lady.   She now travels across the country as Libby along with her sister, Ellen, who plays the part of Katie, an Irish maid.   -  Sharon

Lenore Puhek is

Mrs. Thomas Francis (Libby) Meagher  

I am a professional writer whose husband died unexpectedly in 2002  and my only child passed away from an accident.   So I decided it was time to write the “All American Novel” that I dreamed of doing since high school days.  I followed my dream and it took two years of solid research and dedication to the process of writing about The River’s Edge: Thomas Francis Meagher and Libby Townsend Meagher, Their Love Story.   This is a true story.

When the book came out, I put some of my marketing skills together and came up with the idea of giving talks at luncheons, libraries or anywhere I could hold a book signing.  My thought was “Why not do it in costume and really represent Libby?” 

While at  a Victorian Tea Party, I saw a flyer advertising your company and I sent for my first dress.  It was a green, off-the shoulder cotton ballgown with a hoop.  It was very “Gone with the Wind” looking but I still wear it a lot.

The first time I wore the dress for a dinner speaking engagement, people were very surprised.  But when I started speaking in first person Libby, I knew it was the way for me to present my book, the history of Montana territory, and to finally give Libby Meagher some praise and attention that she did not receive while being the very first lady of Montana territory, 1865-1867.

The book sells well even today.  I go everywhere in my various dresses made be Recollections, just for me.  The prices are always what I can afford and look like a million bucks.     

I recently was invited to speak at a memorial type, tombstone setting dedication of Libby’s husband, Thomas Francis Meagher.  To this very day, he has never had a tombstone because his body has never been found.  What an honor for me to speak at this dedication and tell the gathered crowd, (some of his relatives even came from Ireland) about Thomas.  I knew I had done a good job when, all through the rest of the day, people kept asking me questions by calling me “Libby”.  So, I stayed in character for the whole day and just had a ball.  I held a book signing  and the Greenwood Cemetery Association set out a beautiful reception for me.

Did re-inventing myself change my life?  Absolutely!  I have learned about public speaking, theatre and costuming in correct period.  Being a private person, I had to make myself become more outward going and aware of people. 

Would my book sell as well without my public speaking?  If the bookstores handled it exclusively, they would not be pushing it for sale.  I worked too hard to let it die on the shelves in six months.  Will I continue to promote my book?  Absolutely!  I love being Libby Meagher, and I am proud of the book.  It was pure joy for me to write it.  The book has introduced me to a Pulitzer Prize winner, to many authors of great fame, allowed me to travel to Ireland as well, and opened so many new avenues of life.  I always feel so special in my costumes from Recollections and they go overboard for me even when I put time constraints on them.

I am working on another novel about a black slave born in 1833 who lived her life as a maid and cook.  She cooked for General Custer and stayed in Montana with a homestead near Helena, where I live.  Ladies at Recollections, I’ll be needing costumes . . .

Lenore a.k.a. “Libby”

Recollections, Inc.  7956 County Road 451 Hawks, Michigan  49743

©2001-2008 Recollections, Inc