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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: Susan On: 12/21/2003 ID: 138
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Zion, Illlinois
I went to a Catholic school north of Chicago from 1962-1970. The nuns often talked about a terrible fire in a Chicago Catholic grade school where the children sat at their desks with hands folded and prayed while the school burned. We had monthly fire drills which were taken very seriously, no talking, marching out quickly in straight rows and waiting outside for what seemed like an eternity, even in the bitter winter cold in our uniforms with thin cardigan sweaters. Those fire drills scared me, because of the nuns' attitude towards them. Now that I know the full tragedy of that day at Our Lady of the Angels, I understand how our nuns must have felt about it and the possibility it could happen to us.
For the survivors, and the families and friends of victims and survivors, I hope that you can find some peace and healing. The code of silence you had to endure must have been very difficult. Thankfully, today repression is out and grief counselling is in.


Posted by: matt jameson On: 12/19/2003 ID: 137
Enrolled on 12/1/58? Present on 12/1/58? Injured? Age Grade Classroom Teacher
Yes Yes No 6 1 annex
In response to Nancy H.'s post.

I was in the first grade classroom on the first floor and remember your mother, in a panicky voice, stating that the school was on fire, as she ran into our room and up the stairs. That was our first hint that something was wrong. I can still picture the incident.

If I recall correctly we ended school shortly after that and headed home.


Posted by: Kelley B. On: 12/11/2003 ID: 136
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 born about eighteen years after the fire at OLA. My father however, was a fifth grade student at nearby Saint Agatha's at the time of the fire. My mother was in the fourth grade at Saint Columbanus on the south side. My father remembers hearing about the fire when he got home that day. He says that he also remembers hearing the sirens and seeing the fire trucks race down the street towards the school. Both of my parents remember the changes that took place not long after the fire. Saint Agatha's and Saint Columbanus were both two story, brick but very old buildings, probably built around the same time as Our Lady of the Angels. Monthly fire drills became routine for them as well as brand new sprinkler systems.

I myself attended a parochial school in the south suburbs, but it was a much newer building, and it was also a single story structure. I do remember, my principal, Sister Mary Marcella, explaining to us why we had fire drills. She mentioned often, a school on the north side that caught fire and most of the children had died. It was often among the hushed stories told by my nuns. They never mentioned the name of Our Lady of the Angels, nor did they ever mention that the building was structurally unsafe. We didn't have fire drills during the winter months, probably because during the 1980s, the winters in Chicago were bitterly cold and snowy. During the fall and spring months, fire drills were a regular routine, especially during the infamous Fire Prevention Week in October, when we could not only count on a visit from the local firemen to host an assembly on fire safety, but we could also count on, like clockwork, a fire drill every day during that week. Now that I am grown up, I believe that Sister Marcella made us have those regular fire drills because she might've been afraid that what happened at OLA might happen to us.

One memory that is vivid in my mind, that sounds a lot like the Cheesebox classroom, is that when I was in third grade, we had a special fire exit. Unlike the Cheesebox though, it was held shut by simple bolts that could be lifted out in seconds. When the fire bell rang, instead of going into the main hallway with the other grades, we went into our coatroom and climbed up four wooden stairs to a door, walked across a concrete landing, and down six steps to another door that led to the outside. So if anything did happen, we could very easily escape. One thing that I do want to mention is that what happened at OLA could've very easily happened at my father's school, or at my mother's. I thank God each and every day that He kept my mom and dad safe when they were attending these still "unsafe" schools. For those that perished though, I do pray for their souls and for their families that were left behind, that they find peace with what happened. Honestly, I believe that the tragedy at OLA occured so that it wouldn't happen to other children. I believe that God allows bad things to happen to teach us valuable lessons. I have a saying, "Out of tragedy comes triumph." And I believe in this situation it did. No one ever took fire safety for granted again. Because of those ninety two beautiful little angels and those three brave nuns, it shouldn't have to happen again.

I also wanted to say this in defense of the nuns that were in those six classrooms that day. I read the book "To Sleep with the Angels" several times, and I have heard the rumors that the nuns had the students pray rather than try to escape. From what the authors of the book describe, by the time they were aware of the fire, the hallway was filled with so much smoke and flames that escape through it was impossible. Most of the time, it is the smoke, not the fire, that kills you. In this case however, the fire and the smoke worked together to make a deadly inferno that nobody, not even a fireman wearing protective equipment could've walked through and come out alive. If the teachers had tried to lead their children through the hallway, chances are that a lot more than ninety two children would've died. The second that they hit that door, they would have been asphyixiated before anyone could blink. It sounds to me like they were praying to try and keep some control and calm in an awful situation. I believe that they did the best that they could, given the circumstances. For the nuns who died, they did what any mother would've done, sacrifice her own safety for that of her children. That to me, is a true act of selfless love...

To the survivors, God bless you and keep you always in perfect peace.To those that lost their lives, may God bring you eternal rest and ressurect you to the place that He has called you.

Amen


Posted by: Darlene On: 12/11/2003 ID: 135
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No After n/a
(Entry removed - please confine messages and discussions to the Message Board)


Posted by: Vanguard friend On: 12/1/2003 ID: 134
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Lakeview neighborhood (near Belmont/Damen)
I was only four years old when the fire struck and have no personal recollection of the tragic event. However, both of my parents know exactly what they were doing when the story of the fire broke. Within a year of the fire, my family moved to Des Plaines. About eight years later, my brother and I joined the Des Plaines Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps. It was there that we became acquainted with a beautiful young lady in the corps who my mom told me was a survivor of the fire. I think I remember that she had a scar on one of her arms. I still didn't know the depth of the tragedy until a couple of months ago when I came home from a night class I am taking and found the program about the fire on Channel 11. I was stunned by the depth of the tragedy and have kept you all in my prayers since then. I have been visiting this website frequently. Yesterday in my church bulletin, (St. Matthew in Glendale Heights) was an invitation to your mass tonight. So the word is getting out about the tragedy. As you reflect on the events of 45 years ago, I pray that you find peace. God bless you all.


Posted by: Nancy H. On: 11/29/2003 ID: 133
Enrolled on 12/1/58? Present on 12/1/58? Injured? Age Grade Classroom Teacher
Yes Yes No 6 1 hamlin ave Sr. Serena
Our first grade classroom was housed in the annex on Hamlin. Although not directly in the fire, it still affected me. My family were Italian immigrants and my mother spoke barely any English. That cold wintery day, she was coming to school to pick me up and do some grocery shopping on Chicago Ave. But as she approached the school, she noticed the black smoke and the fire equipment that was beginning to arrive at the main school. She ran up the stairs to my second floor classroom screaming "Sister, Sister, the school is on fire". The nun tried to convince my mother that all was well, not knowing what was happening outside. She let my mother take me and I remember the sky covered with black smoke. We ran home to Avers only to find out what was happening. My heart will always go out to those fellow students who were killed, hurt and emotionally scarred.
I remember not talking about it and being out of school for a while...No counseling or acknowledgment of what we little survivors were going through...going to Help of Christians and having a half day of school with a free lunch...then going to John Hay Public School until we moved to the new school in third grade.


Posted by: Mary On: 11/24/2003 ID: 132
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Chicago (Roseland neighborhood)
I was just a preschooler when tragedy struck OLA, so I don't have personal memories of the day.

When I grew up, I became a teacher, and one of my fellow teachers was an OLA survivor. We would use his experience as a reason why our kids had to be quiet, pay attention, and know how to escape in case of fire in their school.

Like the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, it took a horrible event to tighten up safety standards. We can never fully eliminate the possibility of fire in homes, schools, stores, or workplaces, but perhaps now we collectively have a better chance of escaping death than the poor OLA kids did.

My prayers are with the survivors and anyone who lost a loved one.


Posted by: Rick DiPompeo On: 11/14/2003 ID: 131
Enrolled on 12/1/58? Present on 12/1/58? Injured? Age Grade Classroom Teacher
Yes Yes No 5 K Mary Hall Sister Mary St. Denise(?)
I was in kindergarten in Mary Hall down the block on Hamlin Ave. I was also in the morning class, so I was home for awhile when the fire broke out. My sister, Lois, was in 3rd grade and was in the fire. She survived. The 8th grader that used to walk her to school, didn't make it out, though. We lived on Christiana just south of Chicago Ave. I remember hearing and seeing the fire trucks, with their sirens whaling, going west on Chicago Ave. I thought I had seen alot of fire equipment at my young age but I remember seeing fire trucks that I never, ever saw before. I thought, "There must be a big fire somewhere!" It wasn't until my sister came home, without her coat on, that I learned that "The big fire" was at OLA. I don't remeber much after that. What I do remember is that my mom & dad had saved all of the newspaper articles and pictures about it. It seemed that about once a year, for a awhile, we would pull them out and look at them.My dad has since passed away and every time I go to the cemetery, I am reminded of the fire because he is buried at Queen of Heaven and they have a special section for kids who died in the fire there, right across from where he is buried. I truely do believe that God got 98 angels that sorrowful day, 01 December 1958.

Currently, I am a police officer with the Oakbrook Terrace Police Dept. I hold the rank of Det. Sergeant. Since I became a police officer in November of 1974, I always responded at a quicker pace to fire alarms at schools.


Posted by: JG On: 11/14/2003 ID: 130
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No After n/a
About six months ago, I was taking an Elem. Edu class and we had to do a teach a 30 minute lesson. This class is for beginning students whom are going to be our future teachers. Now with a clasroom of future teachers I thought this would be a great time to teach some history and point out some of these safety features that all their classrooms should have in place. I started the lesson out with everyone getting up out of their chair,pushing it under their desk, and quickly getting into line adn had them follow me a few steps to safety. I immediatley got them seated and started the lesson with the tragic fire and alot of students stated to get teary eyed. I then went on by explaining all these nifty safety precuations we have in place and how they were not around back then. I finished up by answering questions and explained to them to teach their students about these fire drills. Teach the students about history, safety and how they all relate to each other. I asked when the get out in the world to teach, that they take the time to know the FIRE EXITS and how they were going to respond in an emergency.
I know I gave them alot of information that was whizzing by them, but in my mind I know I passed on some knowledge to at least 25+ future teachers of our children. Let's keep our children safe.


Posted by: Rose L. On: 11/6/2003 ID: 129
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Chicago Ridge, IL
My father was an officer on the Chicago Fire Dept. and one of the first to respond to the fire alarm. I remember his anger and grief about how hard it was to rescue the children. His company could only raise ladders on the alley side of the school because there was no access to the side where the children were. On the side where his company was located there wasn't much they could do. Many of the children were already dead or the rooms were so completely involved in flame rescue was impossible. He would rant about how unprepared the nuns were in dealing with a fire. He raved that they, the nuns, didn't do enough to save themselves and the children. He was haunted for many years with what he saw that day. His wife said that he had nightmares for a long time. This was a man that had been on the fire department for almost 20 years and had also been in battle in Europe during WW2. He had a lot of experience but this fire was the worst of all his years on the fire department.
At the time I was a young mother and I just sat and cried while watching the TV. My husband who was with the Fire Insurance Patrol at the time but not working that day, sat there and just kept saying "Oh no, oh no".
For many years you could not talk to my father about this fire without him getting angry all over again at the Catholic school system, the church and the nuns who decided to pray rather than get their children out of danger.
In our house we always had an emergency system worked out in case our house caught on fire. When I had children we also talked to them about what to do if there is a fire. All parents need to teach their children how to save their own lives when they are in danger. We can't always assume that there will be a responsible adult in charge of their safety.
My opinion of the nuns lack of taking charge was because of their religious training that teaches them strict disipline and not to act on their own without instructions from a leader, such as the mother superior. I hope that nuns, and all teachers in every school are better trained these days and nothing like that will ever happen again.