‘Obligation at last fulfilled’

By Jessica Legge
Times West Virginian

MONONGAH October 04, 2007 02:25 am

— The Monongah Heroine Statue preserves history and honors the women affected by the coal mining tragedy of 100 years ago.
Gov. Joe Manchin and Antonio Borrello, vice president of the region of Calabria in Italy, unveiled the Monongah Heroine Statue Wednesday morning during a dedication ceremony. Italian dignitaries, local officials, residents, and third- and fourth-graders from Monongah Elementary School gathered at the site of the monument for the event.
The marble statue sits next to the Monongah Town Hall and is symbolic of the wives and mothers who lost their loved ones in the 1907 Monongah Coal Mine disaster.
On Dec. 6, 1907, an explosion at the Monongah mine killed more than 360 men and boys, and 170 of those were Italian. Many of the Italians who died were from Calabria and the southern part of Italy. This is considered the worst mine disaster in the nation’s history.
The Monongah Heroine Committee started work on the $75,000 statue project four years ago. The Italian government has underwritten the major cost of the monument, and the state of West Virginia has also participated in the funding. Cook Brothers Building Co. donated the land for the statue, and Petrucci Brothers Contracting built the monument. Stewart Granite Works was also involved in the project.
“The completion of the Heroine is an obligation at last fulfilled,” Joe Fucello, chairman of the Monongah Heroine Committee, said. “It has been a four-year journey of love. This has indeed been a noble endeavor.”
Fucello asked everyone to remember the Rev. Everett Francis Briggs, “whose idea and leadership led to the initiation and completion of the statue.”
Briggs passed away last year.
“We listened to Father Briggs because we knew that it was a dream he had, and it was a dream we Calabrians had,” Vice President Borrello said, as translated by an official from Calabria. “Father Briggs will be in our heart, and he is in our heart today.”
Russell Bonasso, Monongah Heroine Committee member and mining historian, said the project became a reality thanks to the generosity of everyone involved. He said he knows of no other statue in the country that is dedicated to the coal mining women.
“It was a tough life, especially the work the women did,” Bonasso said. “It’s just almost unbearable how they did it, but they just stuck it out and never complained.”
Manchin said the Monongah Mine disaster and other tragedies in the mining industry have brought about changes in safety practices, but West Virginia isn’t waiting for the next disaster to make more improvements. The state is working on safety measures now, he said.
A 6-foot tall bell will soon stand adjacent to the Monongah Heroine Statue. This bell, made by Marinelli Pontifical Foundry and Agnone, is a gift to Monongah from the Molise region in Italy.
“I’ve never seen the town look so good, and the folks are so proud of it,” state Sen. Roman Prezioso, chairman of the Monongah Mine Disaster Centennial Remembrance Committee, said.
The Monongah Heroine Committee organized Wednesday’s dedication ceremony as part of the 100-year remembrance of the tragedy. The Monongah Mine Disaster Centennial Remembrance Committee is also planning a ceremony for Dec. 6.
E-mail Jessica Legge at jlegge@timeswv.com.

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