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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: Julie Segraves On: 12/16/2004 ID: 208
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before River Forest, Il
My father was Dr. James Segraves, my uncle Dr. William Dvonch, my neighbor Dr.Paul Fox, my sister's godfather Dr. James Callahan. All were on staff at St. Anne's Hospital. All were involved with the fire victims. The disaster plan that was used, which is credited for saving many lives, was developed by my father and others on staff. When he died he received a posthumous civil service award for his work on disaster planning. The plan used then was the first time that the triage concept was used in a civilian hospital (it had been used by the military for years) and it is what modern trauma centers are modeled on.No one who had any connection with St. Anne's hospital will ever forget that day.

My mother used to wake us up in the middle of the night just so we could see our father - he was never home. My aunt worked as a secretary there. She is now 95 years old. She still vividly remembers the auditorium and the bodies laying there and the families anxiously looking for their children. As the majority of the children were released we used to go to the hospital and visit those who were left. One was Michele McBride. She was very badly burned but a great person. My family kept in touch with her until she died (recently).

My uncle Bill (Dr. Dvonch) took care of a little boy who was in the hospital for I think a year. My uncle tried so hard. When thel ittle boy died he was devastated. It was so sad. All of his kids remember. We remember too.

None of the kids of the hospital staff at St. Anne's, doctors, nurses whatever, will ever forget that fire or the days and weeks and months following. My father was taking care of Michele for years. I remember my sister was in the hospital once and amazingly Michele was there too, for another surgery.

I have a very irrational fear of fire. I plan escape routes and always make sure there is a clear path through every room of the house to the doors. I don't like wearing seat belts for fear I'll be in an accident
and the car will catch on fire and I won't be able to get out of the seat belt. I work in a high rise but only on the third floor and the ledge outside is really wide - I am grateful for that because this place NEVER HAS FIRE DRILLS - NEVER. They have had 1 since I started here and I've been here for 15 years. I keep asking.......


Posted by: Pat Delsing On: 12/8/2004 ID: 207
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before 7415 S Union Chicago, Il
I was home from school sick that day. My Mom and I were sitting on the couch watching Tv together when the news broke. We prayed and cried and really couldn't believe that that many had died so quickly. Every December 1st, I pray and cry a little. This was one of the most vivid memories of my youth. To this day, what ever building I'm in, I check for exits and fire exits. The picture of the fireman carrying out three little children,dead, in arms will never go away. May they all rest in peace


Posted by: Mary L. On: 12/7/2004 ID: 206
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 four years old at the time of the fire and living in Saint Paul Minnesota. My Mom had the news on and we watched pictures of the fire. I remember my Mom was so upset and started praying for everyone there. I was so horrified watching the pictures and thinking of all of the poor people trapped in the building. I asked my Mom not too long before she died (2002) if she remembered watching it and she said of course she did and how sad it was. I think she was surprised after all of these years that I would still remember it clearly because I was only four at the time. I actually did not know the date that it happened other than it was winter. Something made me think of it today and I found this website. My prayers are with all of the families that lost their loved ones so long ago.


Posted by: Arthur On: 12/3/2004 ID: 205
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Massachusetts
I was eighteen on December 1, 1958, and will never forget the horror that I felt as I watched the reports of the fire on television. I can still hear the reporter describing the process of identification of the dead - in particular the description of one of the girls by what she was wearing. Without exception, my mind has recalled this tragedy on the first of Decemember every year since then. As a father - and now grandfather - the meaning of this tragedy has become more profound.


Posted by: Ann Orbon (DeChristopher) On: 12/2/2004 ID: 204
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Chicago, Illinois
When this horrible tragedy occurred I was 15 years old and was attending
Foreman High School on the Northwest side of Chicago. I was in German class and getting ready to bolt out of the school since that was my last class of the day. My German teacher was interrupted by another one the teachers, and there was whispering going on and all of us kids were looking at each other wondering what was going on. It was approximately 3:00 P.M. if my memory serves me correctly. My teacher then looked up and told the class that there was a fire going on at Our Lady of the Angels School and some children may possibly be trapped and we should all say a prayer.The bell rang and I raced home. You see, my cousin Phillip DeChristopher went to O.L.A. and was in 8th grade (13 years old) and about to graduate that next June. When I arrived home both my mother and father were home early from work and we jumped into the car and drove as quickly as possible to my aunt and uncles house. When we arrived my aunt & uncle were not home, but their landlady was standing on the front porch and crying "Phillip's hurt, he's at Franklin Blvd. hospital."Well to make a long story short, after we prayed and prayed, Phillip recovered from his injuries but many of his classmates did not survive. You see, his classroom was on the top floor and many could not escape. He was able to escape out the window but fell in the process. God had a plan for Phillip. He went on to medical school and became a doctor who is on staff at the University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago. I pray for all those who perished and I thank God for Phillip. Please, all of you, do not forget. I never do. Light a candle. Visit the graves at Queen of Heaven cemetary. And hug and love your children and grandchildren. And most of all, know that faith pulls all of us through. I know this is true for myself, my family, and especially my cousin, Phillip John DeChristopher, M.D.


Posted by: Vivian (Guercio) James On: 12/2/2004 ID: 203
Enrolled on 12/1/58? Present on 12/1/58? Injured? Age Grade Classroom Teacher
Yes Yes No 9 4 108 Sister Mary Rufino B.V.M.
I lit a candle today (Dec. 1, 2004) as I have done every year on Dec. 1st for my schoolmates that I lost in the fire. I was in the fourth grade and in a classroom on the first floor, room 108, I remember, at the beginning of the year, I was disappointed that I was not in one of the classrooms on the second floor with the "big kids" I guess God had a different plan for me. I remember that day, very well. We were getting ready to go to the cloakroom to put our coats and leggings on. The fire alarm rang and we all filed out and stood across the street. At first we thought it was just a fire drill but when we went across the street we could see the smoke and flames on the second floor of the school. Sister Mary Rufino wanted to get us away from the school so she had us line up and walk to the church and pray. We were only in the church for a few minutes before someone screamed out that the church was on fire, at which time we all ran out. I ran all the way home and when I arrived at the front door my Mother could see I didn't have my coat or leggings on. She opened the door ready to reprimand me for not having my coat on but when I told her what happened she immediately got on the phone to family to try and locate my cousins, who thank God, were all safe. In August of 1958 my family moved to California. Whenever I visit Chicago I always try to take the time to go to the cemetery and say a prayer at the site of all the children’s graves from O.L.A.


Posted by: R. Gordon On: 11/27/2004 ID: 202
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Park Ridge, IL
My Father was a doctor who was affiliated with Walther Memorial and Saint Annes Hospitals in Chicago. I was born in Saint Annes Hospital. On the day of the fire, I was 12 years, two months old.

I remember the night of the fire very well. Dad got an emergency call to go to the hospital that day and returned in the evening. I never knew which hospital called him in but concluded it was St Annes.

Dad was horribly affected by what he saw that day. He had been a combat surgeon in WW2 and saw a lot but he sat in tears, stunned and quiet in our kitchen after returning from that scene. The "thousand yard stare" seen in combat vets summed it up well.

He was concerned that he would be called back later so I got some flashlights and batteries ready in case he needed them. I didn't know what else to do.

I fully realized what happened when news and magazines covered the fire for some time afterwards. The picture I remember most showed doors which were jammed shut. As I recall, they opened inward and could not be used against a crush of people trying to escape. My God, what a horror!

May God be with the departed kids, the families and the survivors. My prayers are with them.


Posted by: Mary Thomas On: 11/19/2004 ID: 201
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Des Moines, Iowa
I was attending a Catholic grade school (6th grade?) in 1958. To this day I remember kneeling down in the classroom and praying for those children. I have been afraid of fire since that time. When my children, and now grandchildren, ask why fire scares me I relate the horror of this tragic fire. Of all the events since that day, this one ranks up there among the worst in my memory. God bless all those who were personally touched........including me.
Mary Thomas Rittgers
Holy Trinity
Des Moines, Iowa
now San Antonio, Texas


Posted by: Peggy On: 10/12/2004 ID: 200
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No After n/a
On December 1st, 1958, I was 11 years old and a relatively new student in the 6th grade at Oliver Wendell Holmes School in Oak Park. My family moved to Oak Park over the summer so my father, recently put on inactive duty with the Navy Reserves, could teach school at Elmwood Park High School.

On that fateful day, the whole world seemed to stand still as the Chicago area watched and read the horror of the Our Lady of Angels School fire. I was deeply affected by the awful physical and emotional pain that the children, their parents, and the rescuers endured.

The next day, when students returned to Holmes School after lunch, the fire alarm rang. There was no smoke or fire. It was just a drill-- inspired, I suppose, from the tragedy of the day before. The entire student body filed out of the school silently, somberly.

I have been a teacher in public schools in the Midwest since 1969, and I have never, before or since, experienced a fire drill that held such drama and reverence. I live in Indiana now, but with the first fire drill of each school year, I recount the story of the OLA disaster to my students, hoping that they will come to understand the fragility of life. The precious lives that were lost at OLA have saved many others due to fire safety changes, but it doesn't change the reality of what happened that day in early December. I am a grandmother now. I simply can't imagine how those dear families survived the emotional devastation of losing their children and grandchildren that way.


Posted by: Maryann Gorman Smith On: 10/3/2004 ID: 199
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Skokie, Illinois
I was in third grade at St. Peter School in Skokie, Illinois at the time of the OLA fire. While we were told the importance of fire drills because of the fire, it wasn't until I was an adult that I learned the real significance of this tragedy.

During the past five years I have been working as a teacher for the Archdiocese of Chicago, and the story of the OLA fire has come to mean even more to me. I have gathered every resource I could about the OLA fire, articles, books, websites, video, CD, etc., and I began to teach my students about the fire and its effect upon the neighborhood, the parish, the Archdiocese, and the country. I concentrate on the story of Sister Geraldita's 5th/6th grade classroom because of its inspiration to the students and to me. Sister Geraldita is my heroine, and I always promise my students that if anything ever happened at our school, I would get them out, just as Sister did. I had sixth grade students write journal entries as if they had been survivors of the fire, and their insights were remarkable.

Students relate well to the story of the fire, and it teaches them compassion and charity. It is a story of Chicago history and Archdiocesan history that should never be forgotten, and as long as I work for the Archdiocese, it will be remembered and honored.