When a 9-foot-tall bronze statue of a coal miner was unveiled May 12 in Harmar, townspeople loved his resolute facial expression and rugged beauty.

"I think it's the expression on the miner's face that people relate to," said Jeanne Cecil, who coordinated the community's efforts to raise money to pay for the memorial.

And she learned a valuable lesson when it was unveiled.

"You can pay for a piece of art that is commissioned, but you couldn't buy the kind of respect that people display for the miners," Ms. Cecil said.

The statue, created by artist Stephen Paulovich, stands at Freeport Road and Herron Avenue on land owned by Harmar Volunteer Fire Co. 1.

Mr. Paulovich grew up in New Kensington and lives in Louisville, Ky. He created the bronze artwork to honor his grandfathers, both of whom mined coal for a living.

His maternal grandfather, Michael Siplive, worked at Harmar Coal Co. in Harmarville. His paternal grandfather, Steve Paulovich, worked in New Kensington at the Barking Coal Co.

"There's so much respect for the miners in this community," Ms. Cecil said. "We raised over $70,000. ... More than half was from large donors. Almost half came from our community."

Some of the funds will be used for modest scholarships for students studying labor history at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

"We want to engage students in interpreting the statue and capturing some of the history," Ms. Cecil said.

Besides her connection with the project, Ms. Cecil has a link to the sculptor through her family.

"My mother grew up in one of the company houses. My grandfather, Mike Bosnich, and Stephen's [Paulovich] grandfather, Mike Siplive, lived two doors away from each other. They both worked mostly in the Harmar mine."

Don Carlucci, of Carlucci Construction, of Cheswick, offered to build the base for the statue, and three of his employees were there last week to install it. One of the workers, Dusty Large, of Natrona Heights, who drives an enormous forklift while smoking a cigar, got choked up during the installation, Ms. Cecil said.

Mr. Carlucci paid the cost for the labor out of his own pocket, she added.

The statue will be formally dedicated in September.

Mr. Paulovich, who did 30 sketches before casting the bronze, was inspired to do the statue after reading a collection of miners' oral histories and stories in a book written by Jeanne Cecil and her mother, Dorothy Bosnich Svitesic. The book is called "Harmarville PA: Our Coal Mining Community Heritage."

In the statue, the miner rises out of a pile of coal with his pick ax raised.

"He's half coal, half human," Mr. Paulovich said. "These guys were the innovators. Without the coal, you wouldn't have the steel. When they came out of the mine at the end of the day, they built that community."

Mr. Paulovich said he celebrated the statue's installation by eating chicken wings and drinking Iron City beer at the Creighton Hotel, owned by his boyhood friend, Cary Rigatti.

The names of coal miners are engraved on brick pavers on a wall on each side of the statue. Newly purchased pavers will be placed at the foot of the statue. People can still buy engraved pavers at the memorial. The smaller paver costs $50 and a larger one costs $100. To buy one, call Donna "Cookie" Porter at 412-828-1228.