Widows pay tribute to victims of AC accident

John Curran

Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2004 | 9:24 a.m.

ATLANTIC CITY -- It was a study in contrast: On one side of the Tropicana Casino and Resort's collapsed parking garage, police officers were preparing to open a stretch of Pacific Avenue that had been closed since the accident.

On the other, the widows of two men killed in the Oct. 30 collapse huddled near a chain-link fence bedecked with flowers, a heart-shaped "I love you" balloon and a painting depicting the men.

"It's three months now and we just want people to remember our husbands," said Nancy Wittland, 55, of Pleasantville, wife of ironworker Michael Wittland. "Today's just to make sure people don't forget what happened."

Surrounded by some 30 family members and friends, Nancy Wittland and fellow widow Joleen Bigelow, 23, paid tribute to all four men killed in the accident with a brief memorial service last week.

"Father God, we miss them and we ask you to be with the families," said Nancy Wittland's brother, Tom McGrath, who led the family members and ironworkers in prayer. "Above all, Father God, we pray that nothing like this will ever happen again."

Wittland, James Bigelow, 29, of Egg Harbor Township, Scott Pietrosante, 25, of Milmay, and Robert A. Tartaglio, 42, of Galloway Township, were killed when the top five floors of the 10-story structure collapsed as concrete was being poured on the top floor.

The cause remains unknown.

Workmen have said they believe the job was being rushed to meet a March opening and that poured concrete was not given time to set, but the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has yet to issue a report on the cause.

Demolition work is slated to begin next month on the damaged portion of the garage, part of a $245 million Tropicana expansion themed after Havana and dubbed "The Quarter."

The two-block stretch of the Pacific Avenue casino strip, closed as a precaution after the accident, reopened just after noon, with police directing traffic past the site and Tropicana workers shoveling snow that had gathered on the unused sidewalks.

The outdoor memorial service was arranged by the widows of Wittland and Bigelow. Tartaglio's wife was emotionally unprepared to attend, Nancy Wittland said. It wasn't clear if members of Pietrosante's family had been invited. He was not married.

Joleen Bigelow shivered in the cold as she held James Bigelow Jr., 1, and talked with co-workers who survived the collapse.

"For three months, my life has been horrible," she said, wiping away tears. "I got fired from my job, I have no one to talk to, I have no one to hug. It's horrible."

Her toddler doesn't understand that Bigelow died, but when he sees his father's photograph around the house, he smiles and laughs and says "Daddy," she said.

"I want people to know that my husband was a wonderful man who went to work every day to support his family, and one day he didn't come home," she said.

Leaning against the fence, amid the balloon and several bouquets of flowers, was a 3-by-4-foot painting done by a family friend. In it, one man was welding at the gates of heaven while another looked over his shoulder.

The welder signified Bigelow, who had just finished his apprentice program with Iron Workers Local 350; the other man signified Wittland.

"That's what they were doing when the collapse happened," Nancy Wittland said.