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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: Kathy On: 1/7/2008 ID: 356
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No After n/a
I remember my mom telling me of this horrendous tragedy. She also attended Austin high school and graduated in 1960. I was born in 1962. After listening that day to my Mother telling me about this fire, I never complained when we had fire drills throughout grammar school and then onto Morton East h.s.At first it angered me that the nuns wanted the students to pray for help instead of trying to do something to save themselves. But as I got older, I fully understand that the nuns must have thought that the firemen would get to the school and rescue them and who can really know how quickly a fire can spread unless you've been in one?What i really find sad is that the surviving students and families never spoke of the tragedy, nor of their struggles to get over their fears!From this website, I have learned that to speak of this tragedy was struck down by parents, and other people. How could these young survivors/children AND their families/loved ones ever heal? I pray for the students and the nuns who lost their lives, and for the survivors and their families. God Bless You!


Posted by: Bill Dee On: 1/2/2008 ID: 355
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Chicago, IL
I have stark memories of that day that have remained with me through the years. In my mind's eye, they are still crystal clear:

Though I am only in the second grade, I am shocked and dismayed hearing the news from our teacher, and am seated in a classroom much like those at OLA. I can imagine how frightened those children must be at that moment. Though four miles from the scene, as I peer to the south out the classroom window on that bright, brittle afternoon, I can hear the sirens in the distance, can see and smell smoke and drifting ashes from the fire.

At that moment, I know this day is one I will never forget, and that December 1, 1958 is a date that will always remind me of OLA and the tragic events that took place there.


Posted by: Sal Caeti On: 12/29/2007 ID: 354
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before 921 N. Avers
I lived next to the candy store on Avers Avenue when the fire happened. I remember the day like it was yesterday. I had graduated from OLA in 1956 and was at Austin High School in 1958. I got out of school early on that day and instead of going to work in my dad's store all the way in downtown Chicago, I decided to go home fist.I stopped at the bowling alley on Chicago Avenue to see if any of my friends were there but they were not. When I walked out I saw smoke far away and kept walking towards Avers. As I got closer, I thought it was my house that was on fire. When I got closer I saw my mother in the alley putting wet sheets and blankets on children that were jumping from the building. I will never forget that day. I saw my neighbor trying to get his son to jump from the window but he would not becuse he was afraid. His dad ran about 100 yards to his garage to get a ladder but when he got back his son was gone. The OLA neighborhood was made up of a lot of families with more than one child; so many of my freinds lost sisters or brothers or some family member. There were so many things that went wrong that day that contributed to the devastation. It was a great place to grow up; it was one of the best places in the city of Chicago. I still see all of my friends today even though I don't live in Illinois any longer. I still come back for our golf outing every year just to see all the friends I grew up with. That day changed the whole neighborhood; it became a place that had too many bad memories. People started to move out to somehow help the pain. God bless all those who lived and went to OLA.


Posted by: Gabrielle On: 12/21/2007 ID: 353
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No After n/a
Thanks to all involved who helped to make this website as interesting and informative as it is. I agree with all who said that the children and nuns who died gave their lives for others - surely it would have been years before fire laws would have otherwise been updated and changed. I went to St. Monica's school and although I'm not old enough to remember OLA fire, I remember a nun chastising a boy who complained bitterly one day during a school fire drill. When we returned to the classroom, she told the story of the OLA fire - she certainly got our attention and there were no complaints during future drills.
Those who are interested in this site should also go to youtube.com
When you get to the homepage, type in the search box (upper right corner) our lady of the angels fire
A teen has put together a short video/slideshow presentation for an American History class that they posted online. There are a couple of typos, but on the whole, it is a good and interesting effort. Make sure you have your speakers on so you can hear the accompanying music. I will continue to pray for OLA victims and survivors-you are not forgotten, I promise. I also hope that the 50th anniverary will be observed or noted around the country, not just in the Chicago area, in an effort to promote and bring awareness of this story and fire safety in general, especially as it relates to public and private schools.


Posted by: Bill On: 12/18/2007 ID: 352
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 seven years after the fire, my family lived on Augusta and Central Ave on the westside of Chicago. My Mom's family was Irish Catholic my Dads was German Lutheran, I was raised in my fathers religion and we moved to the NW suburbs of Chicago when I was 6 years old. I watched the Chicago Stories program recently aired on WTTW a week or so ago. I remember reading about the OLA fire before, a long time ago, but I never knew the details as it was given on the program. My maternal grandfather was a Chicago Firefighter so I was inclined to ask my mother the other day, after watching the program, if he and his fire company responded to OLA that day. She told me for the first time that her 7 older brothers and sisters attended OLA but the semester before the fire her family moved to another neighborhood and transferred to a different school. My mother was 11 years old at the time of the fire and she told me that she would have certainly been enrolled at OLA that day if they hadn't of moved. She told me that her father was retired on disability from the CFD at the time of the OLA fire, because of injuries he suffered from a different fire. She said that when she heard of the fire she was very grief stricken as was the rest of her family. Coming from the same neighborhood they knew most if not all of the children who died. She told me she can still see their faces in her mind today. She was attending another Catholic school nearby and she said she had to attend the mass funeral and sing in the choir. She remembers when they brought the numerous caskets of the kids in one after the other at the beginning of the service, as she was singing, tears were streaming down her face. Despite the rigid Catholic discipline she was taught, she couldn't control herself. She said imeadiately after the fire her father grabbed her when she came home from school that day and shook her almost violently with fear and made her repeat to him everything he taught her about escaping a burning building, which she said she did, then he hugged her tightly with tears himself. My grandfather died a month after I was born, so I didn't know him, but I'm told he was a very tough man and a good firefighter. He has rescued children from burning buildings before, some successful, some not. He always remembered the children he pulled out unsuccessfully and the horrible memory of each one tortured him until the day he died. I feel for everyone who experienced this tragedy first hand, especially the firefighters who tried so hard to save lives but were rendered helpless, what an awful thing to witness.
The odd thing about it is how this never came up before in family conversation. I've read from others here about how "nobody wanted to talk about it", this is very true, even my mother was a bit reluctant and didn't give any more detail than I specifically asked.


Posted by: Maurice O'Connor On: 12/14/2007 ID: 351
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Brighton (Boston) MA
I was a student in a Boston elementary parochial school at the time of the fire. Our school was in mourning even though we had no knowledge of the school prior to the tragedy. Our prayers were with the victims and their families. We felt like those were our friends and teachers who had perished. I had not thought about the fire in years but a cousin of mine wrote about it in the Sun Times. As a Boston Catholic who has witnessed the cover up of the clergy sex abuse, I found it interesting that the Catholic judge did not want to prosecute the student who confessed to the arson because of the potential scandal to the church.


Posted by: Kathleen Donahue Lesser On: 12/9/2007 ID: 350
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Southeast Side of Chicago
I was a third grader at Our Lady Gate of Heaven Catholic School on East 99th Street in Chicago on the day of the fire. When I arrived home from school, my mother had just returned from Christmas shopping and heard the news of the fire on the car radio.
I remember listening with fear and intensity as she explained what was happening.That night I could not sleep.
The next day I read the Chicago Tribunes recap of the story along with pages and pages of photos of students my age who died in the fire. These stories and photos were reviewed over and over again in my mind for many months after the fire, yet I never expressed my fear or sorrow to anyone verbally.
We attended a memorial Mass at our parish the following week. Then requisite fire drills began on a weekly basis regardless of Chicago winter weather conditions.
The OLA tragedy is as vivid in my memory today as it was on Dec 1, 1958.
Somethings in life are never forgotten even by an eight year old girl with no direct ties to the school. My only commonality was age, city and faith, yet my heart ached for the students and the families that I did not know.
I shall once again hold them in my thoughts in 2008 as we commemorate the 50th anniversary of something too awful to ever forget.


Posted by: kris On: 12/9/2007 ID: 349
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 in 1962, and my family lived in Chicago until moving to the Northern Suburbs when I was 4. I can remember my mother ironing in front of the black and white tv, watching newscasts commemerating the fire as I was growing up. Every time it was mentioned, without fail, she would cry and try to explain to me the depth of the tragedy.

I don't think it's something you can understand until you send your own children off to school and someone else's care each day.

The victims, their familys, anyone touched by this terrible fire, are in my prayers.


Posted by: goodgame22 On: 12/2/2007 ID: 348
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Parkside Stree, Chicago Illinois
In the Fall of 1958 my family moved and I transferred from Our Lady of Sorrows grade school to St Angelas grade school where I entered the 4th grade. I came upon this website quite by accident, but it has awakened the powerful but long forgotten emotions of a young boy. I recall frightened aunts and uncles calling our home, worried that my new school was Our Lady of Angels. I recall hearing the frightening and unthinkable news accounts of children my age dying at school. I recall the overwhelming sadness of the mass funeral. I recall praying for the victims and their families at school and for years afterwards in my personal prayers. Today, I have resumed those prayers.


Posted by: ange On: 12/2/2007 ID: 347
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No After n/a
I don't know if this film I saw in school in the mid-to-late 60's was explicitly about this fire, but I can tell you, it has haunted me all my life. It was about a similar school and the people looked to be from the 50's. A school caught fire, and the kids were forced to jump out the windows and get killed. I have never forgetten that film and, from the looks of this website, the real thing was 100's of times worse than the film. My heart goes out to anyone who had to live through this. I am truly sorry such a hideous thing could really happen.