Some projects dash; others crawl very slowly.

Kathleen Grattan Dukate, who is a Fairmont West graduate but lives in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania and is leading the campaign to find a home for the mosaic that once was on the front of Sts. Peter and Paul School, has learned that lesson.

Her project began more than a year ago.

Kathy’s latest update:

“Sorry for the long time between posts. Our next step is to present a formal sketch or drawing to the diocese for approval. They would like to see a rendering of the area and mosaic monument we are proposing.

“I have a very good friend who has agreed to meet with me and do a professional computerized drawing.

“However, I wanted to ask of any of you are talented in this field and would like to do it. I would provide photos that I've taken of the area and some rough sketches.”

Kathy is the Care Transitions Coordinator at Amedisys Home Health. She is a Duquesne University Nursing School graduate married to Brian Dukate.

Adam Michna, whose aunts Sister Rose and Sister Dolores were among Auxiliaries of the Apostolate nuns at the school, joined Kathy in the project.

The mosaic was removed when the school was demolished in 2011. I think it found a temporary home at the Knights of Columbus in Fairmont, where the Monongah High Alumni Reunion is held every year.

We can look for it when we attend the Reunion on May 27. The banquet begins at 6:30 p.m. and the dance at 8:30 with music by Stepping Stone.

Print and fill out the form in this blog to send in your dinner-dance reservation to Alumni Association treasurer Donna Davis.

The Peter & Paul mosaic monument will be an eternal show of appreciation for what the nuns did for the children of Monongah’s coal miners, including me and my sister, Jackie Olesky Straight, Class of 1955, who lives in Rivesville.

And it took more than three years from announcement to official opening of the Family Dollar Store in Monongah on Camden Avenue (U.S. 19) at Walnut Street on property formerly occupied by the Huntington Bank, so the mosaic project may be a little quicker.

The Pulice, Fiori and Gumont families took turns living on the Walnut Street property before the home was torn down to make way for the Huntington Bank.