Thursday, November 06, 2003

By Cooper Munroe

Gretchen Anderson describes herself as a fanatic for the dinosaur sculptures that appeared throughout the Pittsburgh area from May through September.

"Every time we would see a dinosaur, I would stop, no matter where we were, and take a picture," Anderson said.

She told her fiance, Dan Monahan, to mark his calendar for Oct. 19, When the finale for DinoMite Days -- the Carnegie Museum of Natural History program that scattered the sculptures through the region -- was to be held at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown.

"There was no way I was going to miss that," Anderson said.

About 8,000 attended, and Monahan found himself looking for somewhere to get away from the crowd.

"I saw they were selling raffle tickets for a dinosaur, so I went over and I bought two. I just figured I was donating $20 to the museum," Monahan said.

On Oct. 21 he got a call: He had won a multicolored sculpture of a Torosaurus titled "Imagine That."

The beast was decorated by artist Alexander Overby to be raffled at the close of the program and was placed at various locations throughout the summer.

"I thought to myself, 'What am I going to do with a 9-foot-long dinosaur?' " Monahan said. "I live in a townhouse."

It didn't take long for him to answer that question, though.

He called Anderson at work -- she teaches kindergarten at Avalon Elementary School on California Ave. Would the school perhaps want a 9-foot multicolored Torosuarus?

"They are all so nice there, I figured they would find good use for it," Monahan said.

Monahan said Anderson "went crazy," she was so excited about Monahan winning a dinosaur.

Anderson asked Richard Stuempges, Avalon Elementary's principal, if Monahan could donate a dinosaur to the school.

Stuempges said he was happy to accept.

"Everyone is just thrilled to have the dinosaur. It is such a fun thing to have in the building, and it is also a great teaching tool," Stuempges said.

The dinosaur, which will be on permanent display inside Avalon school's main entrance, was delivered last Wednesday. The school plans to hold a celebration to officially welcome the dinosaur at 2 p.m. next Wednesday.

"All the kids are making either dinosaur hats or dinosaur masks for the celebration. We are going to sing songs," Anderson said. "Dan is coming and the kids will get to thank him."

Anderson thinks Monahan deserved his luck because on the day Anderson and Monahan attended the DinoMite Days Family Day, they also went to a bridal show at Heinz Field.

"He got rewarded for doing all those good deeds for me that day," she said with a laugh.

Anderson said she initially wanted to have a Steelers theme for her wedding to Monahan in October 2004, but now she said she is leaning more toward dinosaurs.

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