Personal experiences with Our Lady of the Angels School Fire on 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:

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.

Posted by:

Timothy J. Hughes

On:

9/15/2004

ID:

198

At OLA on 12/1/58?	Born before or after 12/1/58?	Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No	Before	Chicago's South Side

The Our lady of Angels Fire in Chicago is my first memory as a child. I was a five year old boy who would attend 12 years of Catholic schools in Chicago. Additionally, my family had been fire fighters in Chicago since the late 1800's. A number of my cousins, uncles and my Grandfather were at the fire working for the Chicago Fire Department. In every case I have seen the anguish in their eyes as they have discussed this tragic day. My Grandfather, who was a high ranking officer at the time of the fire, had a very difficult time talking about this fire until the day he died in the late 1970’s. My Uncle Harry, now in his 70’s, who I’m told was the first fireman to enter the room with the children still in their seats praying with their teacher, a Nun, has had the mental scars from that memory until this day.

We, some of my brothers and sisters, were with my mother shopping on Chicago’s southeast side. I don’t recall if we heard it on the car radio or if others in the crowd shopping informed us, but I knew it was a Catholic School and the word were that there were many dead. I remember thinking about my family members and if they would be in harms way. I will never forget the look on my Mothers face as she stopped us all to say a prayer for the children, the Nuns and the fire fighters. That evening I remember listening to the radio and watching the local news and our phone ringing with confirmation that my family members had been on the scene and, thankfully, all were safe.

Finally, I remember the talk over the years as I grew up. The terrible memory of those lost but how my family members discussed how and increase in fire safety, long overdue, was being instituted. While these measures were too little and too late for those people that perished I always thought my Grandfather took great pride in some of the things he was able to push through as he rose further in the Chicago Fire department and later became the State Fire Marshall of Illinois.

Timothy J. Hughes
Tempe, Arizona
858-414-6091

Posted by:

J Matarrese

On:

8/22/2004

ID:

197

At OLA on 12/1/58?	Born before or after 12/1/58?	Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No	Before	400 N Monticello

I went to Ryerson Public School,every Wednesday we would go to OLA for our CCD classes getting a half day off of school. That day Of the fire was monday I remember very clear I got out of school about 2pm and there was thick black smoke in the sky toward the church. It was so strange because all you could hear was the sounds of sirens.I ran home and my father who washed windows for the church went right away with his ladders to see if he could go help.As anyone who lived that nightmare knows it seemed like those sirens never stopped all night. Then we had the visitation for the 92 children in the church, and the nuns who had their wake in the convent.We later had Mass and CCd in the Alamo.That day touched a lot of people. I hope the suffering can be lifted with all our prayers , bless you all that were in the school that day,or lost a loved one.

Posted by:

Guy A.

On:

8/19/2004

ID:

196

At OLA on 12/1/58?	Born before or after 12/1/58?	Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No	Before	Bradley, Illinois

The 1958 fire at Our Lady of the Angels is an event I shall always remember. At the time, I was 10 years old and attending St. Joseph's grade school in Bradley, Illinois, about 60 south of Chicago. This two story wooden school building had an extremely narrow wooden staircase leading to the top floor. To make matters worse, the outside of the building was covered in highly flamable tar paper. I was afarid for weeks afterwards that a similar fate would happen at St. Joseph's.

While the nuns were clearly horrified by this event, one of them said shortly thereafter that, "God has a speical love for people who burn to death." It was a remark I have never forgotten or understood.

Out of all the tragic memories of this event, the one that will always stay with me concerns a man who lost his son at Our Lady of the Angels. Days before the fire, he had undergone delicate eye surgery and was told he could not shed one tear or he would be blind for life. I cannot imagine the depth of grief this man dealt with.

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.

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