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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: Nena (Cizewski) Smith On: 8/14/2004 ID: 195
Enrolled on 12/1/58? Present on 12/1/58? Injured? Age Grade Classroom Teacher
Yes No No 2.5
It's a funny thing about memories.. the more intense the circumstance, the stronger the memory. There were always two or three images that come back to me from my years before I started elementary school. The first is of one of my older brothers being wrapped in a blanket and taken by car to the Contagious Disease hospital (he had complications from chicken pox) ---The other was of a school fire tragedy. I didn't put two and two together until many, many years later that both of these events occured within weeks of each other. I was only two and a half years old.

I have spoken with my mom about this, and she agrees that it was a strong memory to have. She also told me we attended some of the funerals.


Posted by: David M. Habben On: 8/9/2004 ID: 194
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Hammond, IN
I was in the 1st grade, at St. Paul's Lutheran School in Hammond, IN. Even at the young age of 6 years, the fire had quite an impact on me. I recall television coverage of the fire. The school I was attending was very similar in structure to OLA, which frightened me a little. I recall a dream I had soon after of walking down my street, at night, with my mother, and a firey object falling from the sky and landing in my mother's arms. All I remember her saying was, "He's from the fire." I've been able to visit the memorial site and, in particular, John David Trotta's grave site. May God bless their innocent spirits.


Posted by: Cynthia On: 8/2/2004 ID: 193
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Chicago
I was ten years old when the tragedy happened, my mothers best friend lost her grandson Paul Silvio in the fire. I remember her sadness and tears, as we all cried for a young boy I did not even know. I wrote this poem about the fire when I was fifteen. I am posting it today.

The Fire
It was December 1, 1958, when the tragedy began.
Down in the basement, by the chapel, in a cardboard trash can.

There was only one fire alarm, no sprinklers, to help put out the blaze.
I will remember this horrific fire, for the rest of my days.

A catholic elementary school in Chicago, with layers of wax on wooden floors.
Served as fuel for the hungry flames, there were no fireproof doors.

Smoke filled the school as the rooms turned black.
Heat and flames kept up their attack.

Ninty-two Little Angels, went up to God that day.
Some jumped out of windows, to try and get away.

I hear the mothers screaming, I see their river of tears.
Fireman carried bodies out,the worst of all their fears.
Its like a slow motiion movie now, when I replay it in my mind.
When the sky went black that day in 1958, and we left them all behind.


Posted by: Marianne Kwiatkowski On: 8/1/2004 ID: 192
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Milwaukee WI
When I was in Catholic grade school in Milwaukee in the early 60's and we had fire drills, our nuns talked about "the children who died, still sitting at their desks in a school fire in Chicago." Because I was so young (3) when the fire happened, didn't live in Chicago and didn't read newspapers, I never heard about it, but at 8 or 9 years of age when the nuns told us about the fire, we had no reason to question whether it was true or not; after all, they were nuns, so, of course, it had to be true. By 8th grade, I was still hearing the story, but I was starting to think it was just a tale concocted by the nuns to make sure we got out of the school fast during a fire drill. Fast forward to the 1990's when the video "Hellfire" appeared on The Discovery or The History Channel, and there, after some 30 years of thinking this was "just a story" was the "real story". I wept. I then read "To Sleep With the Angels" and it is one of the most riveting books I've ever read. The neighborhood surrounding OLA reminded me of the one I grew up in: a neighborhood defined by a church and its school. There are no words that can describe the loss the OLA neighborhood sustained in 1958 and my heart goes out to everyone who lost their loved ones or friends and to the survivors.


Posted by: Charlotte A. On: 7/30/2004 ID: 191
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Albuquerque, New Mexico
When the fire occurred, I was a 4th grader in an Catholic school in Albuquerque. I heard nothing about the fire until I read the account of it in the December 15th(?)issue of LIFE magazine. Actually, in those days, I probably looked at the photos more than read.
When I saw the photo of Susan Smaldone, I told my mother that I wanted to write to her. I knew she was going to be okay, and I wanted to hear from her. Surprisingly, my mom agreed with me. After I wrote the letter, there was the problem of how to address the envelope. We just addressed it to "Susan Smaldone, Our Lady of the Angels School Fire, Chicago, Illinois". I waited and waited and heard nothing, of course. Then, in either late January or early February, a hand-written letter came to me from Chicago. It was from a priest (I don't remember his name), telling me that Susan had died. I just didn't understand that.
As I was reading TO SLEEP WITH THE ANGELS, one of the things that was said about Susan was that she wrote to Santa Claus reminding him that she was in the hospital, and not to forget her. I remember how important Christmas was when I was 9 years old, and when I think of Susan dying on the 23rd, all I can think is, "That really bites." I hope her 1958 Christmas was the best ever, and that she got to meet Santa in person! That's my whimsical thought.
I've thought of her all these years. Whenever I see that photo of Susan taken the day after the fire, I STILL see just a girl my age with soot in her hair. That's all. I never realized then that she was swollen up from the burns, and I don't see that now. I just see a sick little girl whom I had hoped to become friends with.


Posted by: octavia On: 7/24/2004 ID: 190
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before maryland
Even unto this day, the phrase "Our Lady of the Angels" still makes me weep. Despite the fact that I was reared half a continent away, and that the buildings in which the various Catholic schools I attended were either brick or concrete block, I am still inspired with a sense of horror at the monstrous event which destroyed so many young lives that fateful winter day in December of 1958.

I can certainly appreciate the irrationality and stupidity of the nuns who, instead of herding the children outside to safety, forced them to sit at their desks and "say the rosary". (You don't have to be a rocket scientist to be a nun.) In every respect, they were just as culpable for the many deaths and injuries as the boy who apparently set the blaze - for whatever evil and/or deranged purpose that inspired him to do so.

In my own Maryland suburb, the parochial school was crowded beyond the limits of sanity; my half of the 3rd grade room (which was built to accommodate roughly 30 pupils) had an incredible 93 children packed in like sardines (the tallest children, of which I was one, were shoved in the back of the room, and the boys were forced to sit in the cloakroom, sometimes practically enveloped in winter coats.) If another child came into the parish, another desk was pushed into the room, and we were constricted even further. If a child fainted in class (likely due to attenuated oxygen levels), Sister revived the hapless tot with a good, hard smack in the face. And that was only one-half of the class - the other 93 kids were crowded into a room equally inadequate!With the post-war baby boom population of the Catholic schools in the D.C. metropolitan area stretching the facilities beyond all reasonable limits - can you just imagine the horror that would have transpired had my school (which fortunately was concrete block) gone up in flames?

Fortunately (for the mental health of succeeding generations) the Catholic school system is closing up shop in many parts of the country, and today's children are not being subjected to the inadequacies of that regimen. But for those of us old enough to remember: Our Lady of the Angels - the phrase, and the harrowing images in print and on the television - is a tragic memory that will haunt us until the end of our days. God rest the souls of those tragic young victims who did not live to fulfill the promise of their lives.


Posted by: Martha Dolciamore On: 7/6/2004 ID: 189
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Huntington Station, New York
I was in the third grade at St. Hugh's School on Long Island. My father always brought the N.Y.Daily News home from work and I always read the paper. When I saw the story and photos on this fire, I was very upset. My classroom was located in the basement of an old building with other classrooms. There were only two exits. One was a flight of stairs at one end that could only accommodate a single file of students and there was one skinny door at the top. The other exit was at the other end of the building.But between my classroom and that exit were about five other classes, mostly second and third graders. I kept thinking that if a fire happened I would not be able to get out, like the kids at Our Lady of the Angels. I remember the Dominican Sisters who taught us had us say a rosary for them. But I continued to be upset by having nightmares almost nightly. My mother did not want me to see the paper anymore. But I felt I personally identified with the school because it was a Catholic school like mine. The class picture showed that the uniforms at OLA were similar to the uniform I wore. And my class was just as overpopulated. I can count over 50 students in one of my class pictures! Also, the windows in the basement classrooms, were situated high over our heads.My mother says today that it was a real fire trap and wonders why the fire department allowed St.Hugh's to put so many children in a dangerous building. It is the one news story that has stayed with me all these years. God bless the students and Sisters who died and those who survived. Heaven holds the ones we love.


Posted by: First Grader On: 7/3/2004 ID: 188
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Melrose Park, IL
I was 6 years old in the first grade at the Sacred Heart Catholic grammar school in Melrose Park, IL, about 12 miles west of downtown Chicago, at the time of the Our Lady of the Angels fire. While the fire was in progress we were still in class and the nuns upon hearing the tragic news led us in prayer for the victims. Although I was very young and at age 6 without a full comprehension of death I vividly recall how upset the nuns were.

I was not aware of the existence of OLA school before the fire, and knew none of the victims, but I always felt for them because I felt connected with them as part of the same school system. We all wore uniforms then and if you look at Catholic school classroom photos from any such school in the Chicago area at the time they were almost always interchangeable. My school's classrooms, like those at OLA, were also hopelessly and unhealthily overcrowded with at times 50 or more kids to an undersized room. Today various board of health laws would probably forbid such crowding.

The Catholic education was a schoolastically good one, but I eventually felt its faith based belief system, which is belief without evidence, was of no value. By age 16 or so I became agnostic and have remained so until my present age of 51. It is curious how many people with backgrounds similar to mine either vigorously embraced the Catholic faith, or thoroughly rejected it. There are some in the middle ground catergory, but not many. At least that is my personal experience.


Posted by: Richard Widenski On: 6/30/2004 ID: 187
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Milwaukee, Wisconsin
I had just turned 9 years old and was attending the third grade at St. Stanislaus Catholic grade school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on December 1, 1958. The one thing that I have always remembered was how upset and saddened my parents were at the dinner table that night. I was too young to really comprehend the tragedy but I was old enough to notice my parent's sorrow and distress. I think, for them, the fire hit very close to home as my two brothers and I were attending a Catholic grade school that was also taught by nuns (School Sisters of Notre Dame). My mother is still living and whenever I talk to her about that evening, she always tells me of how she tried to imagine what the parents were going through that night.


Posted by: Finessa On: 6/23/2004 ID: 186
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Bridgeport
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