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Our Lady of the Angels (OLA) School Fire, December 1, 1958
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Personal Experiences with Our Lady of the Angels School Fire

If you have a personal experience, recollection or opinion about the December 1, 1958 Our Lady of the Angels school fire, whether you were present at the fire or not, you can relate it here. Any story or information is welcome as long as it relates to Our Lady of the Angels school fire.
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Posted by: Tina On: 8/27/2003 ID: 111
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Addison & Austin
To this day, I remember the fire that engulfed the school & often think of a little girl who was admitted to Garfield Park Hospital as a result of that tragic event.
On that day, my mother and I listened to the radio along with my 1 year son and 3 year old daughter and cried as the tragedy unfolded. Shortly afterward, my mother was admitted to Garfield Park Hospital as a result of her struggle with cancer. When I visited my mom daily, I would never find her in her room. She would always be across the hall visiting with a little girl that attended OLA and her mother. The little girl's mother was there day and night and would tell my mother and I, that they were planning to move to New York to seek specialized treatment for their daughter. My mother lost her life shortly after that but I knew she brought comfort in visting with this little girl and her mother. I will never forget that tragic day and pray that all the survivors were able to recover and live as normal a life as possible.


Posted by: Peggy Caputo On: 8/23/2003 ID: 110
Enrolled on 12/1/58? Present on 12/1/58? Injured? Age Grade Classroom Teacher
Yes No No 9 4 ? ?
It's funny that now, so many years later, I'm seeing all this happen to help survivors. Back then, back in the late 50's, our neighborhood seemed so alone in its grief. It was the era of repression...the gift of the older generation to us. Repress your anger, repress your grief, repress your sorrow - don't let it show. Offer it up as a sacrifice, as sacrifices, in the end, will save you and gain you a higher level in heaven. Afterall, the good Lord took these children as his new angels, handpicked for their goodness. This is how it was back then. I was in 4th grade. I am a survivor. I lost a cousin who was in 5th grade - 10 years old. I grew up with her. She lived down the street from me on St. Louis and Iowa. She was my best friend. I remember that day and will carry the scent of it to my grave with me. I had been home sick with a sore throat for several days. I remember getting up that morning and my mom saying that I could stay home again because she had heard that the furnace at the school was not working right and she was worried that it would be cold at school and that I would get even sicker. I remember that around 1, my mom said that when my cousin got home from school, we could make some cookies. So, I waited. Then next thing I remember is my grampa coming down from his upstairs apartment yelling that the school was on fire - then neighborhood mother's running down the alley with coats yelling to everyone that the school was on fire and to hurry and bring coats for the children! My mom rushed out and I wanted to follow but she ordered me to stay home with my grandpa. I cried and stood at the back window and watched the smoke from the fire rise above the buildings. We lived directly east of the school about six blocks. I remember not sleeping and waiting for my mom and dad to come home. I waited and waited. I don't remember who was with me waiting. When they finally came home, they were with my Uncle and Aunt and everyone was crying and crying and saying that my cousin Nancy was dead. I didn't understand. My Dad grabbed me and held me and cried. What happened after that I don't remember. In fact, try as I may, I don't remember anything for about the next year and 1/2. The next memory I have is going to the new school when I was in 6th grade. I don't remember taking the bus to Cameron or to Our Lady Help of Christians. From what my mom used to tell me, I didn't sleep well and would not even go to bed without the light on. I thought I saw Nancy everywhere, especially at church on Sunday. I would feel her watching me and I would turn around and would swear that I saw her standing next to one of the huge pillars in our church. But we didn't talk about things like that back then. We were told not to. So, we held it in and it brewed and stirred inside of us and affected each and every one of us in different and strange ways. Things are so very different now and as they should be. In times of crisis, people, especially children, are encouraged and coaxed into talking about their ordeal. This is good. This is progress that has come from knowledge and education. Looking back, many lessons were learned from this horrible tragedy. Hard lessons. My Aunt is still alive today and still missing her daughter. I love her and admire her for her courage and will stay close to her forever. I have three children of my own and my greatest fear has always been outliving them. I believe that God is pure good and He did not do this. This was part of life...part of the world...the good and the bad that happens...and we are sometimes left to watch and listen and learn and hopefully grow into better human beings. God love you all!


Posted by: Angie Passarelli On: 8/12/2003 ID: 109
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No After n/a
I was only 5 yrs old at the time, but I remember the fire. We came home from school that day & my ma & grandmother were crying. We watche dthe news all night. Very tragic. A dear friend of mine Dr. Dominck Candolero is planning on writing a documentary on this tragic fire. It is something no one can forget. I am glad I found this web site. Makes you think how lucky you are every day.


Posted by: Ed R. On: 8/10/2003 ID: 108
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before 122nd and South Halsted
I want to preface my remarks with a few words of gratitude.

Thanks to David Cowan and John Kuenster for writing a memorable account of the OLA fire. You have performed a service of greater value than you might know.

Thanks to the webmaster for putting this site up. May it continue to foster healing, provide information and unite those whose lives bear the scars of the OLA fire.

And heartfelt thanks to those who have written here, especially the survivors as well as the family and friends of those who perished. It is living testament to the victims of the OLA fire.

On the day of the fire, I was a 2nd grader at S. S. Peter and Paul school at 123rd and Emerald on Chicago’s far south side. Though I remember nothing of that particular day, I have been haunted by its events to this day. I don’t remember being anything of a collector, but for some reason, I began to put together a scrapbook of articles and pictures from the OLA fire. My family thought it was a morbid activity. Being just 7, I guess I couldn’t explain why it affected me so deeply.

I think that there are two explanations. I have lived in Minnesota for over thirty years, but I can’t seem to get across to folks here what it was like to attend Catholic schools in Chicago and be a part of that Catholic community. Though it may sound simplistic, all of us were truly one big family. We had the common experiences of the teaching nuns, the New World newspaper, the Cardinal and all the other things that made us an insular unit, albeit a very large one. In some ways, that insular community fostered a bit of an “us and them” perspective. I have never experienced that oneness with any other organization since. Maybe it was because so many of us were immigrants or immigrants’ children and the Catholic Church was our beacon in the hardscrabble lives many led. On December 1, 1958, that community was grievously wounded. Word of the fire spread to all neighborhoods and parishes with electric speed. All of us, young and old, devout or not, wept with horror at the tragedy and at the loss to our family.

I am on my second reading of "To Sleep With the Angels," having recently picked up another copy in a local bookstore. After all these years, I think I understand why the OLA fire haunted me so. As some other writers have written, their school buildings had some commonalities with OLA. My school, S. S. Peter and Paul, may not have been identical to OLA, but it was darned close.

Before a new church was built in 1959, the church was in the bottom half of a building that looked like a twin to the OLA north wing. A brick and concrete addition had been added on to the side of the original building. Classrooms were upstairs. These were the same classrooms that my father attended school in. Brick on the outside, but all wood on the inside. Dark and narrow hallways hung with winter coats. One staircase at the front of the building. Transoms over the doors. Huge classroom windows, more than twenty feet above the ground. High windowsills with radiators in front. Flat, tarred roof. I have gooseflesh as I write this. I was in one of those rooms. My young mind knew that if a fire happened in my second floor classroom, the outcome would be strikingly similar to the tragedy at OLA.

I didn’t put this together until now. Perhaps I can now lay the OLA tragedy to rest too.


Posted by: Misty Hay On: 8/8/2003 ID: 107
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Wabash, Indiana
I was around nine years old when this horrible fire happened and even though I didn't live in the same state, I have always remembered the pictures and people talking about people jumping out of windows. Being a young girl it had a real effect on me and I would dream about it. I am so sorry for those that lost their lives and for the survivors, my prayers and hope for some sort of peace throughout their lives.


Posted by: ROBERT D. KERRIGAN On: 8/3/2003 ID: 106
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Sacred Heart Parish, 70th & May Sts.
At the time, I was a senior at Quigley Seminary. Classes were disrupted and we were told about the fire, as many priests began to leave to help those in need. Our choir group, the "Schola Cantorum" was informed that we were to sing at the funeral Mass at the Armory. We were taken by bus to the service. Singing was difficult, as we kept looking at the grieving families during the Mass. The priest who led us in singing had to keep reminding us not to look, that we were there to sing, but trying to concentrate was so hard. I can still clearly remember those poor Families, in the midst of their horrible loss. I say a prayer each day for the poor little souls who had to die in sich a painful and tragic way. God Bless the children and their Families! Bob Kerrigan.


Posted by: Linda Reames Fox On: 7/28/2003 ID: 105
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Clark Street, Rogers Park Area
I was eight years old at the time of the fire, attending Field Elementary School in Rogers Park. So far as I know I never met or knew any of the children who attended OLA, but the images I must have seen have been etched into my memory for all these years.

I know that age eight is about the time when you become aware of death and what it is, but it is usually later in life before you realize that someone your age can die. I knew and I remember being afraid for my friends even when I was an adolescent and we were all supposedly immortal.

I don't have nightmares about being in the fire, but for some reason the subject occurs often in my dreams. It has made a very deep mark on me and has probably embedded itself in my subconscious as a symbol of all the worst uncertainties of life.

I grieve for the families and for the survivors who are still in pain and hope that they find healing, if not in this life, then in the next.


Posted by: Nina Caruso Maciag On: 7/21/2003 ID: 104
Enrolled on 12/1/58? Present on 12/1/58? Injured? Age Grade Classroom Teacher
Yes Yes No 12 6 Cheesebox Sister Geraldita
I will never forget that day. We were in class diagramming sentences. It was close to dismissal an I was thinking about going to the bathroom, but changed my mind because it was so close to dismissal. Ten minutes or so after that the smoke started pouring under the classroom door. Sister opened the door and it just fanned whatever was in the hall. Our room was called the "Cheesebox" because it was the smallest room in the school. I think there were about 30 to 40 of us in that room. There were only two windows. Sister wanted us to pray, but the smoke was choking us. I believe two classmates climbed out the window on to the fire escape to get help. The rectory was right next store. I remember all of us pushing for the window. Sister either did not have the keys for the other door which was kept locked, and used as a closet for cleaning stuff, or she dropped them and because the smoke was so thick could not find them. I really thought it was he end, the smoke was so hot and I couldn't breathe. Suddenly the locked door was opened and we managed to get out on the fire escape.Thank God Father Hund was home sick that day. Father Hund and our janitor got the door open just in time. I looked up after getting out and our room was in flames. They tried to get us all to the church and we were there for awhile, but I left to go look for my sister and brother I was worried about them. My lungs were hurting and lost my voice. I walked home and I found my sister and brother there safe with my mother who had run to the school to look for us. She was told that my room did not get out and she wept with joy when I walked in the house.

My father Dr. Michael Rainiero was in the emergency room at Franklin Blvd. Hospital and he never did have time to call home and see if we were alright. Too many injured children were brought there.

For a long time all I could think about was what would have happened if I did go to the bathroom earlier. Maybe I could have helped avoid this tragedy by warning people sooner. I still live with that thought.

We went to Our Lady Help of Christians first and then to John Cameron School.

We were bussed to John Cameron School and I used to hide in the back of the church until the bus left because I was afraid to go to school. I would walk home and my mom would take me back to the rectory where Father McDonald talked with me and escorted me to the bus to make sure I got on. I also will never forget how Sister Geraldita had a breakdown in front of us. She put her head on the desk and asked to be taken to God. I still can't stand elevators and plane rides and locked doors.

We were the first graduating class from the new school in 1961. I remember bricks and steel and how much light the new school had because of all the windows. Sister Mary Paul Ellen was my eighth grade teacher. I kept in touch with her for many years after that. She really helped me get through some rough spots. Sometimes in my life now I forget little things, but I will never forget that day.


Posted by: princess On: 7/18/2003 ID: 103
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No After n/a
I first want to say to all the survivors, I can never understand how it feels but I can pray for you and for the people who died.

I first heard about the OLA fire when I was in fisrt grade. My school had to have fire drills once a month, and I hated them. My teacher told me they were for us to be safe, and she told me about a school that kids had to jump out of a window to survive.

I haven't stopped hating fire drills, but I apperciate them more because of OLA. I have read "To Sleep With the Angels", and it was hard for me to do so because I know somebody who was in it. My heart goes out to all those who helped on that day and who put up this website. It is a great tribute.


Posted by: laura On: 7/17/2003 ID: 102
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before downers grove
I was just 4 years old on December 1, 1958, but remember watching the news about the fire on television that evening. My mother taught 2nd grade at Our Lady of Charity in Cicero and picked me up at my grandmother's house nearby. She told me about the fire in an effort to prepare me for what I would see later. The pictures of the children and nuns in the newspaper, some of the little girls in their first communion veils is still imprinted in my memory. I attended catholic grade school in an old building and recall the frequent fire drills. Of course on the anniversary of the fire, we would pray for the victims, being told that God chose them. He could have picked a kinder, more gentle way. In part because of the fire and the nonsensical indoctrination inflicted by nuns in the early 1960's, I renounced catholicism in 3rd grade. I still at the age of 48 can not begin to comprehend what those families endured.