Before I get into my recollections of the fire, I ask the WebMaster to correct my 1st Cousin Frances Guzaldo's entry under "people involved" Frances is listed as a boy - Frances was a girl.
I also lost my 1st Cousin, Frank Piscopo, I remember both of these people very well and I guess our family never really got over the loss of our loved ones.
The day of the fire in etched in my memory, I recall the blind walk down the stairs from room 201. I sat in the last seat nearest the back door adjacent to the window and radiator. It was my job to lead part of the class out the door through the cloak room down the stairs and out. We had fire drills to practice that. The smoke was very thick and sooty, our faces were black from it. We were to go outside across the street and line up by class room in front of the convent. I remember looking at the licks of fire coming out the windows and wondering if anyone would die in this and how long we would be off school. I had find Frank and Gerald Guzaldo who lived upstairs from us on Homan Ave. Michael Piscopo (Franks younger brother) and Frances. I rounded up all of my cousins I could find (all but the ones that died) and ran to Connie's a little restaurant on Chicago and Hamlin a block away, I knew they had a phone there. I called my mother, I still remember the phone number SA2-5698, to tell her what was happening and who I had found. She showed up soon after with my aunts.
We went home to watch TV and listen to the radio for any news. My Father his Brother Cos and Brother-in-law Frank were searching the temp morgues to look for our missing family members. They finally found them.
Boy what a day.
We children were mostly kept in the dark about what the adults were doing, although we lost friends and family nothing much was ever discussed with us - to this day the fire is never discussed among the family.
The attempted schooling to finish the year on WTTW Channel 11 then various public schools we were bused to turned out to be a mess.
Today if a kid stubs their tow they bring in an army counselers we had the nuns who told us "GOD TOOK ONLY THE GOOD ONES" nice huh guess that was their idea of therapy. So we weren't good eneough to be "TAKEN" by GOD well guess this is one reason I have no religion today and haven't since that day in December 1958.
I think this story needs to be told on the big screen. I think the corruption of the Church and the Daily administration needs to be shown for what it was. I would like to know why all the money the church collected went to the Nuns convent and elaborate church decorations, and we had to be schooled in a fire trap that failed fire inspedtion after fire inspection. I want the story told about how the survivors were treated and the few dollars that were given to sibilings of the dead children. How the mayor an Irish Catholic stifeled any attempt to sue the Church.
As far as I am concerned the Catholic Church killed al those children by way of criminal neglence and greed.
My name is Mike Guzaldo and can be reached by email - guzaldo@yahoo.com
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