I was only 3 years old at the time of the fire and lived in NYC. I attended St Mark The Evangelist Catholic Elementary School in NYC from 1961 to 1969. Although not as large as OLA (we only had 35 - 40 kids per grade and only eight classrooms) the school was built around 1900 and was red brick faced on a wood frame, with a wood interior that was highly waxed .. a smaller version of OLA. We were taught by the Sisters Of The Blessed Sacrament (S.B.S). Every December we would remember the children and nuns that died in a fire in Chicago. We also had extensive fire drills and other improvements were made to the shcool to enhance fire safety. Those improvements paid off big time in 1969. In May of 1969, one month before my 8th grade graduation, there was a fire in the school which started in the school's cafeteria that was very smokey. The 8th grade classroom was located directly above the cafeteria and connected to the first grade classroom. The 8th graders were trained to go through the 1st grade class and take a first grader with us. Since the fire was located directly underneath us, we noticed the smoke first. However, the fire alarm rang almost immediately after we became aware of the fire. When the fire alarm rang we immediately went into the 1st grade class and escorted the 1st graders. Because of the OLA fire, our school made vast improvements within the old structure, therefore, the fire was extinguished quickly and none of the over 350 students were injured. When we returned to school the next day, it reeked of smoke (especially our classroom) but we were all safe and reminded of the OLA fire. Sr. Gabriel stated that we had the angels from the Chicago fire looking over us during our fire. I never forgot that. By accident I stumbled upon this site in January. I have been reading it off and on for months and have finally read everything on the site and the books "The Fire That Will Not Die" and "To Sleep With The Angels". The latter I have been reading while commuting from NJ to my job in NYC and several of my commuting friends heard of the fire when growing up and are reading the books.It is hard for me to read this site or the books without tears. May God bless each and every one of you that lived through that awful day or had friends or family die. I was in NYC on 9/11 about a mile from the Twin Towers. Sights and sounds of that day still haunt me and I was 46. To witness such a horror as a child I can only imagine. December 1st will always be remembered by me and I will keep all of you in my prayers. Love and comfort to you all.
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