By Terry Karkos,Staff Writer

MEXICO – Veronica Dennis had the Virgin Mary image cut from a wall and by Friday night, she was considering selling it.

The Mexico resident had planned to frame it and keep it as a personal shrine when her fire-damaged house was rebuilt.

“If someone wants it, why not share it?” she asked.

Dennis said that even though she is considering selling the image, it won’t be on the Internet auction site eBay.

She added that she wants to talk with a priest on Saturday to “see if I can get a little insight on what (the likeness) is supposed to mean, and, do I sell it or not sell it?

“I wouldn’t even begin to know how to preserve that thing,” Dennis said. Prospective buyers may phone her at 364-3851.

“That thing,” however, had lost its original luster, was smudged near the bottom of the paneling, and missing some of the smoke dust that clearly revealed a figure.

Additionally, it did not glow whitish blue like it did Tuesday when direct sunlight streaming in from a shattered bedroom window lit it up on a fire-blackened kitchen wall.

Dennis attributed the change of heart to “a little soul searching all day long” Friday.

“Maybe the fog has cleared in my brain. I still have the best photos, and plan to have them professionally reproduced,” she added.

While waiting for an insurance adjuster to arrive Friday morning at her 4 Burton St. home, Dennis said she had the panel cut out and removed, believing that if it was gone, people wouldn’t flock there and damage her house or try to steal the Madonna.

“I had to with all the hubbub,” she said of media attention since the startling likeness appeared after fire gutted the first floor Sunday morning.

Dennis said she was also very upset about what she claimed were newspapers trying to profit from the Catholic icon by selling photographs of it.

Dennis, who is two semesters shy of finishing nursing school and getting her degree, said she wanted to preserve what she labeled a miracle.

“It appeared when I needed it to. Instantly, I felt relief. I had a calming feeling. We got out safe, we’re all fine, and nobody got hurt in the fire. That’s my miracle,” she said.

With the image gone from the house, Dennis said she sought a return to normalcy.

That process started to gel Friday morning when the adjuster, Michael E. Allain of Allain Adjustment Co. in New Bedford, Mass., arrived.

After explaining to Dennis what she could expect as settlement from her house insurance policy, Allain said the fire caused an estimated $100,000 damage to Dennis’s house. It is valued at $150,000.

According to Mexico assessor Rob Stevens, the building was constructed in the early 1930s. Dennis bought it 11 years ago and had been remodeling the interior until the fire.

Allain said Dennis could now hire a contractor, and, within a month or two, start rebuilding her house. Within four to six months, he expected her to be able to move back in. That was good news for Dennis.

“I’m still looking for a place to go to to get my family together, instead of us all spread out. It’s taken a toll on us. I’m not looking for miracles to appear. I just want my life back,” she said.