Honoring Andrew Looney With a Special Brand

Honoring Andrew Looney With a Special Brand

By Leonard Shapiro

There is a small but growing herd of Angus cattle out in the Nebraska hinterlands with a rather unique brand seared into their hind quarters. It has an upside down capital A over a diamond right underneath. They call it “The Diamond in the Sky” herd, with a terribly poignant and profound meaningful connection to so many in the Middleburg area

The Diamond in the Sky herd.

Andrew Looney and Tati Jones.

A special brand.

The “A” stands for Andrew, the late Andrew Looney and 22-year-old son of Mary and Gregg Looney. So sadly, he was killed tragically in a single vehicle accident in April, 2021 not far from where he was working at the 50,000-acre Rocking J Ranch near Cody, one of Nebraska’s largest cattle operations in the northwest corner of the state.

Andrew grew up in Unison, was a graduate of The Hill School and Middleburg Academy and had completed the final 24 credits in his agri-business major he needed to graduate from Delaware Valley University in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. He finished his studies remotely while also working full time at the ranch and was scheduled to graduate with his class last May, only two weeks after the accident.

He’d been an enthusiast of the great outdoors and all things horse and cow growing up in a Middleburg area that afforded plenty of opportunities to pursue his passions. He was a fine rider and enthusiastic fox chaser who also worked with the cattle at Whitestone Farm near Aldie while still in high school and college. He had gone out to Nebraska as an intern on the ranch to see if the work and the lifestyle suited him.

Did it ever.

About a month into that internship, Andrew was offered a full time job at Rocking J. It included a place to stay, a horse of his own and plenty of opportunities to learn as much as he could about the cattle business. He had even purchased a few cows.

He also had met a special girl, Tatiana (Tati) Jones, now a senior at the University of Nebraska who lived nearby and came from a family also involved in the cattle industry. She loved it as much as Andrew did and after his death, she continued to stay in touch with the Looneys back in Virginia.

Earlier this year, Gregg and Mary reached out to Tati with an intriguing idea.

They knew she and Andrew had talked about possibly starting their own herd, so the Looneys told her they wanted to help her do that, and also register the Diamond in the Sky brand. The Looneys purchased 14 Angus heifers, and Tati would be responsible for the herd’s care and maintenance.

“She was all on board to do it,” Gregg said. “We got them, and all of them have calved, so the herd has already doubled.’’

“Andrew’s dream was to have his own ranch, his own cattle,” Mary said. “He was in the process of applying for his own brand. We ended up finishing the application and Andrew’s brother Henry, Gregg and I did the design. We think it’s really special.”

Any profits from the herd will go to Tati and Henry, a senior at the University of Colorado. The Looneys have also started what they call the “Passion and Dreams Scholarship” in Andrew’s memory for students in grade school through high school, including a scholarship at Cody-Kilgore High School, and have contributed to scholarship funds in his name at Hill and at Andrew’s Delaware Valley alma mater.

The Looneys obviously consider Tati part of their family, and hope she’ll keep working with the herd as long as she likes.

“As long as she wants to participate, it’s there for her,” Gregg said. “But cattle are liquid. We told her that if her life goes a different way, if she goes in a different direction, we totally understand.”

Andrew’s younger brother Henry also will be involved. He’s trying to round up some of his fraternity brothers for a trip to the ranch this fall to help with the branding of the Diamond in the Sky herd. Henry already has some experience with that brand. It’s tattooed, right above his heart.