Heidi Pierce, Jane Vignovic and guide dog Elaine. Click photo for larger image.

A McKeesport woman and a North Carolina college coed have a mutual friend named Elaine, and both recently attended Elaine's recent graduation ceremony in Yorktown, N.Y.

Elaine is a black Labrador, a guide dog who graduated in mid-February from a program at Guiding Eyes for the Blind, where she was trained to assist Heidi Pierce of McKeesport, who recently became legally blind.

Jane Vignovic, 27, who attends North Carolina State University, raised Elaine for a year and then gave her to Guiding Eyes for further training.

Before attending the ceremony, Ms. Vignovic discovered that Elaine's new master had undertaken training at Blind and Vision Rehabilitation Services of Pittsburgh, located in Homestead. The organization was formerly called Pittsburgh Vision Services.

Ms. Vignovic's uncle, Jack Lydic, is director of rehabilitation services there.

The women said they got the strange feeling you get when you uncover unexpected links among people, as shown in the movie "Six Degrees of Separation." The movie title has become a kind of pop culture explanation of such links.

Ms. Vignovic immediately phoned her uncle, who had last seen his niece and the dog when they visited Pittsburgh for the Christmas holidays. He also was surprised and excited.

"There was a woman from Israel needing a dog. Elaine could have just as easily wound up across the world," Ms. Vignovic said.

Ms. Vignovic was raised in Ben Avon Heights, and her family moved to Cleveland when she was a girl. "I'm still a Steelers fan," she said. She was pleased her dog was going to live in Pittsburgh.

She chose to raise a guide dog because it seemed like a worthwhile project and picked Guiding Eyes after doing research on the Internet.

She had to take Elaine, whom she described as tiny and energetic, to places where a blind person would go, like grocery stores and restaurants.

Ms. Vignovic has a bachelor's degree in animal science from Virginia Tech and had an internship working with dolphins in Mexico. Later she worked as an office manager for a San Diego veterinary clinic.

Mrs. Pierce, 39, works as a substitute teacher for the South Allegheny School District. Her eyes were damaged during her premature birth. She lost sight in one eye when she was 18 and in the other one last July.

It was tough for her to accept lack of vision. "I always knew there was a chance it might happen. But you think you'll be able to deal with it."

Support from her family -- husband David, 39, and children, Heather, 17, Kaitlin, 13, and David, 12 -- helped enormously.

She took Elaine to visit the school where she substitutes and had her navigate around and go to a classroom and an elevator.

Her husband is a mailman. In spite of the cartoon cliches about mailmen and dogs, he enjoys the company of canines. "Elaine is very well behaved," he said.