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.
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