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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: DEH On: 5/26/2006 ID: 273
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Mundelein
I remember the day but not the day of the week. It was winter. Less than three weeks away from the shortest day. We had moved the past summer to a farming community 40 miles north of Chicago. My father rode the Milwaukee Road Railroad to and from Chicago each day. At age 13, I was angry that we had moved away from Logan Square and all my friends. Starting 7th grade in a new school was difficult, and no one lived nearby. It is easy to be angry with your parents at 13 but difficult to express the anger. Al least it was in 1958. It was easier to vilify them—make them a different species—impossible to deal with. So it was with me and my father. As I began my emancipation he resisted and we became more estranged. He was incapable of feeling. I was sure of it.

We heard about the OLA fire when we came home from school. It was not until 6 that evening when my father walked in the door. It was dark already. We were fairly isolated. There were no lights from other houses visible from our windows. The night had never seemed scary before but this night it felt evil. I was glad my father was home.

He kissed mother in the kitchen and then went to his bedroom. I followed him in. He was standing with his back to me but I could tell by his hand movements he was taking off his cufflinks and placing them on top of his dresser. I asked, did you hear about the fire? That’s when he turned and looked down at me and began to cry. He sat down on a chair next to his dresser and wept. His chest heaved up and down—he could no longer hold his pain. I walked closer and he reached out and held me close for a few moments. Did you know someone in the fire, I asked. All those children, all those children, was all he could say.

My father and I continued to have rough times, only reconciling when I was older. But I never thought of him in the same way after that night in his bedroom. I’m embarrassed to say at the time I didn’t understand why he would cry over the loss of children he had never met. Now I am 60. I have four children. I understand why he would cry because it is all I can do when I think upon the children.


Posted by: Missy On: 5/24/2006 ID: 272
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Gladys and Cicero, same year moved to HOC parish.
Was in 4th grade at Resurrection. Home alone sick from school that day and saw it on the news. Family members out of state kept calling all evening because they all knew we were in Catholic school in Chicago. It took that fire to get Res school to put in fire doors in the stairwells and sprinklers. ALL our schools in the archdiocese were fire traps until then. Putting safety measures in the parish schools was the one good thing that came out of that horror. Read TO SLEEP WITH THE ANGELS a few years back. It's a powerful account of that story. I agree with the authors that church authorities at that time knew who did it and just swept it under the rug to avoid a scandal. No telling what else was under that rug.


Posted by: Linda On: 5/15/2006 ID: 271
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Our Lady Help of Christians Parish
I was 11 years old at the time of the fire. I remember that on that day I had to stay after school for talking. My room was on the top floor of HOC. When I looked out the back window you could see the heavy smoke even though we were a couple of miles away. At the time, I didnt know it was the school. When I got home, my father was at the kitchen table crying. He had stopped at a store on his way home from work and someone had told him there was a school on fire and that kids were jumping out the windows. The man said it was Our Lady of something on Iowa street. Our Lady Help of Christians was on Leamington and Iowa. He had to take the bus all the way home thinking his kids were trapped in the school. I had never seen my father cry. I lived between the fire station, OLA and St. Annes Hospital. All night long all you heard was sirens. I dont know why but my parents took us over a few days later to see the remains. OLA looked so much like our school. Books and shoes were all on the ground. When my children were in school if I heard a siren, it would freak me out even after all these years. It taught me never to take my children for granted just because God gave them to me. And to this day they never walk out of the house without my telling I love them. I know we are not supposed to question God but I dont think anyone who lived through that time hasnt asked WHY. God bless all the little angels and the nuns who lost their lives trying to protect them. But most of all, bless the families who have had to experience horror none of us will ever be able to comprehend.


Posted by: Jeanne (Gillespie) Schofield On: 5/3/2006 ID: 270
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Not sure on that date but later Gladys/Cicero
My uncle George O'Connor was in room 209 in the fire. He survived and jumped out a window. He never talked much about the fire except saying there was a lot of screaming. I went to Resurection and remember the fire drills there. The nuns would always tell us to pray for the children who died. I never understood the extent of all this time I started researching the fire. It's sad that it takes a tragedy to improve things.


Posted by: Terry Callen On: 4/29/2006 ID: 269
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Philadelphia, PA
I was in the first grade at St. Gabriel's school in Philadelphia, PA.One of my earliest childhood memories was coming downstairs dressed for school and seeing the front of the Philadelphia Inquirer with the headline about the fire in Chicago and the photo of the burning school building.I asked my mom what it was about and she said "A school caught on fire. A lot of children and nuns died."I read "To Sleep with the Angels" in 2000. Cried all the way through it.I understand the (new)Our Lady of Angels has closed and the School District of Chicago bought the building.

Pity.

Terry Callen
South Jersey
TCall2004@comcast.net


Posted by: anthony guzzi On: 4/26/2006 ID: 268
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before 1108 N. central Park
Although I was barely 4 years old at the time of the fire, this is one of the first memories of my life. I remember looking out the back door of the 2 flat building that we lived in and seeing the thick black smoke to the west. I can also remeber my mother being on the phone with my grandmother and saying 'My God the school is on fire ma.' I can also remember the girl who lived next door to us coming home with out a coat or jacket and telling us about the fire. And I will always remember the sirerns of the fire trucks and ambulances as they raced to the scene of the fire. I remember being very scared. I attended OLA as a first grader in 1961. I graduated in 1969. OLA will always have a special place in my heart and life. Every December 1st I tell my own children about that tragic day and they ask me questions about it. Our family lost a cousin along with a neighbor and children of several other families that we knew. I will never forget that day and I think about all of those children every December 1st.


Posted by: Debra Moretti Morgan On: 4/20/2006 ID: 267
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Chicago
December 1st, 1958 was my fifth birthday. We lived on Franklin Blvd. between Our Lady of Angels, the fire dept., and one of the hospitals. To this day every time I hear a fire siren I get a sick feeling in my stomach and think back on that day. I went to public school and was in kindergarden. For days after the fire my mom had to walk me to school and show me that it was made from bricks and wouldn't burn down.

I read To "Sleep with the Angels" but it took me a long time. I could only get through a few pages and would have to put it down.

I would say to all of the familys that you did not suffer alone. Fourty eight years later I still say a prayer for all of you on my birthday.

God Bless


Posted by: Kathy On: 4/14/2006 ID: 266
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Chicago Heights
I was in eighth grade at the time of the fire. I was late coming home from school that day and I can still see the my parents as I came into the house. My mother was busy putting supper on the table and my father was watching tv in the living room. He was crying. I had never seen my father cry, never even imagined that he would cry. He was saying to my mom in a broken voice "They're bringing out even more kids." The memory of that evening and the days that followed have stayed with me through the years. My husband is buried in Mt. Carmel cemetery across from Queen of Heaven and my daughter and I have frequently visited the gravesite and memorial to the fire victims that is there. I hope peace is with them and with their friends and families.


Posted by: KATHY Borden On: 4/12/2006 ID: 265
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 9 years after the fire but lived about 2 miles away from the school. My extended family described for me in detail how horrific it was when all the students and nuns perished. They painted for me a picture so clear it is as if I can understand the time period. Loss of property due to a fire is a stressful experience for any family but nothing can compare to the loss of children right in front of the eyes of those who love them. That helpless terror that overcomes instantly must be a haunting reocurring experience whenever a fire truck drives by or an alarm sounds. I wish peace to the families, friends and by-standers who have suffered. I am grateful that the elementary school I attended just a few years later was made safer because of this fire. I wish that lessons were not learned at such a painful price. Even all these years later we still remember and mourn the loss. I will never forget these people who once lived so close to me.


Posted by: Patrick McCormack On: 3/28/2006 ID: 264
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No After n/a
As a young child at St. Augustine elementary school in Austin Minnesota, we practiced endless fire drills to the ever present stop watch of Sister Sean. We were perhaps the best drilled student body ever.

Later, I was told that Sister had been a young student at the great Chicago school fire, and had gotten her charges out, but seen the result. I have no way of knowing if this is true or not, but I do know that taking fire seriously is one thing she did.