Oak Forest High School senior Emily Dalberti rolls a coat of primer onto the concrete base under the Nike Hercules missile on display outside of the Oak Forest Park District building on Central Avenue. (Bill Jones / Daily Southtown)

The Nike Hercules missile in front of the Oak Forest Park District building is primed and ready — for a new coat of paint.

More specifically, the concrete base that holds the missile in front of the building at 15601 Central Ave., is getting a makeover. Two seniors from Oak Forest High School added a coat of primer Tuesday, with plans to paint it white on Friday before creating and applying a red, white and blue pattern as the final step.

“I’m all about community,” said Cindy Grannan, director of the Park District. “I like when we all work together to do projects. I think it makes our community stronger.”

Joe Pilch, from left, Cindy Grannan, Zachary Clark, Dan Chambers, Emily Dalberti and Tom Ceska next to the base of the Nike Hercules missile display. (Bill Jones / Daily Southtown)

All the better that this particular project involves an icon for the Park District.

“This is our landmark,” Grannan said. “We tell people: Look for the missile; that’s our building.”

The U.S. Army surface-to-air missile was originally assigned to Alsip/Palos Heights Site C-51 along the Calumet Sag Channel while in service from 1956-1975, according to a plaque atop the concrete base. It has been displayed in Oak Forest since 1976 to honor members of the United States armed services.

After a portion of the rocket booster at the bottom began to deteriorate, it was taken down in 2017, refurbished by The Veterans Garage in Posen and returned to Oak Forest in 2019. Missing components were replaced and the remainder of the missile was repainted and hand lettered.

Oak Forest High School senior Zachary Clark cleans a roller Tuesday while adding a coat of primer to the concrete base of the Nike Hercules missile displayed on Central Avenue. (Bill Jones / Daily Southtown)

The missile now rests atop a pedestal on a concrete base, with a plaque from The Veterans Garage. Tom Ceska, who runs The Sign Group in Oak Forest, was asked to paint the base with a star-spangled theme, but he thought doing it himself would be a missed opportunity to connect the Park District, city and school.

So he asked Dan Chambers, an Advanced Placement studio art teacher at Oak Forest High School, for two of his best artists. Chambers recruited seniors Emily Dalberti and Zachary Clark, both part of the school’s art club, for a rare opportunity to learn traditional sign painting techniques from Ceska.

“It means a lot to a lot of people, so I’m taking it seriously,” Dalberti said. “I’m happy to be doing it. I’m pretty excited to see how it turns out.”

Chambers said the students are getting real-world experience in the art field.

Oak Forest High School senior Zachary Clark and Advanced Placement studio art teacher Dan Chambers discuss painting technique Tuesday while priming the concrete base of the Nike Hercules missile display on Central Avenue. (Bill Jones / Daily Southtown)

“I like that they are participating in something that involves other aspects of the community,” he said. “They get to put their mark on their hometown. They get to drive by in future years and say, ‘Hey, I had a hand in painting that.’”

During the students’ first meeting with Ceska, they learned how important the monument is to veterans. On Tuesday, they added primer, sealing the porous cement at the base. After adding the white paint coat Friday, the students will meet at Ceska’s shop. There, they will learn how to make a pounce pattern by hand that will wrap around the base, so they can chalk the pattern with black charcoal before finally painting it.

“They’re going old school here,” Ceska said. “It’s pretty interesting, something new for the kids.”

Ceska teaches online, so working with students on art is nothing new. But this project is personal to Ceska, who did the original hand-painted lettering on the missile. Members of his family helped put up the rocket in the 1970s. Many of the students at the high school have seen it there since they were young.

The project is expected to be completed in roughly two weeks, according to Ceska.

Bill Jones is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.