Published: August 16, 2007 11:49 pm      

‘A solemn ceremony’

Dinner weekend’s first event being held in remembrance of Monongah Mine Disaster of Dec. 6, 1907

FAIRMONT — Thursday’s Monongah Mine Disaster Centennial Remembrance Dinner kicked off this weekend’s events in remembrance of the 1907 Monongah Mine Disaster.

December marks the 100th anniversary of the tragedy.

On Dec. 6, 1907, an explosion at the Monongah mine killed more than 360 people, and 170 of those were Italian. This is considered the worst mine disaster in the nation’s history.

Gov. Joe Manchin, who was scheduled to address the crowd at Westchester Village as the guest speaker, was unable to attend due to poor weather conditions in Charleston.

Following dinner, attendees viewed a slide show of photographs that came from the U.S. Department of Labor archives. These 100-year-old pictures documented the disaster, while State Sen. Roman Prezioso read an account of the events of that day in 1907.

“This was a solemn ceremony,” Prezioso said.

Nicola Trombetta, president of the Federation of Association of the Campania region in Italy, expressed his appreciation for the work everyone has done to commemorate the disaster.

He presented Prezioso, Monongah Cemetery Committee’s Cora Fazio, Mayor Roger Huffman of Monongah, and Jim Pitrolo, representing the governor, each with a stone from Campania.

Prezioso announced that the Molise region in Italy will present Monongah with a gift, a bell made by Marinelli Pontifical Foundry and Agnone. The bell, which is coming to the town in November, will stand more than 6 feet tall adjacent to the Monongah Heroine Statue.

During the Monongah Mine Disaster Centennial Remembrance Ceremony on Dec. 6, Prezioso hopes to ring the bell for each miner who died in the tragedy.

Irene Vingle Mozurek, the direct descendant of the only survivor of the Monongah Mine Disaster, was present at the dinner. Her grandfather, Peter Urban, was the only miner who made it out of the disaster alive.

Prezioso thanked the members of the various committees who worked diligently to plan activities “to document and archive this historic event.” Prezioso is chairman of the Monongah Mine Disaster Centennial Remembrance Committee, which was in charge of organizing the 100-year commemoration.

The Monongah Heroine Committee, chaired by Joe Fucello; the MonongahFest Committee, chaired by Debbie Vandetta; and the Monongah Cemetery Committee, chaired by Cora Fazio, were also involved in the planning.

“There were so many people that were involved in making this possible,” Prezioso said. “Those folks worked so hard together.”

The Convention & Visitors Bureau of Marion County helped organize the dinner, and around 180 people attended. Prezioso said marking the disaster with events like this is one way to get the word out about what happened “in tragic December 100 years ago.”

“This story needs to be told,” he said. “It needs to be documented. It needs to be archived.”

E-mail Jessica Legge at jlegge@timeswv.com.