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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: Tim Hermesdorf On: 3/22/2007 ID: 319
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before 1929 N. Ridgeway
I was born on 4/22/57 and therefore I am too young to have any direct recollection of the fire. Attending Maternity BVM on North Av. and Lawndale, we were frequently reminded of the tragedy, especially during fire drills. BVM's main school was a bigger fire trap than OLA with the Church on the first floor, the parish hall/chapel in the basement and classrooms on floors three and four. Luckily, because of OLA, sprinklers, fire alarms, heat detectors and fire doors were installed before another school fire occurred. At the time of the fire my father was assigned to Hook and Ladder 46 of the Chicago Fire Department. As far as I knew he was off duty the day of the fire. Years after he died I read "To Sleep With The Angels". I asked my sister, who is ten years older, what she remembered. She shared her thoughts and then said "you know about dad?' I just said I had been told he was off duty. She then told me that the day of the fire he stopped home about 4pm (he was working a side job) and told my mother he was going to OLA to help out. He returned that night aroun 8pm, went into the bedroom, closed the door and didn't come out until the next morning. He never spoke of that night again.


Posted by: Kathie Ciarametaro On: 3/20/2007 ID: 318
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Watertown, MA
I have never forgotten that horrible fire. I was 11 years old when it happened and in the 5th grade of a small Catholic school. My classroom was in the attic of an old brick building. The only exit was a very narrow winding staircase leading to the 2nd floor, where the fire escape was. I had often heard adults around me, including my own parents, referring to that classroom as a "fire trap." I didn't know what that meant until the OLA fire. How could such an arragement ever have been allowed, either legally or morally? I am appalled that parents had this concern, yet sent their children into this situation - the kids had no choice. I was gravely impacted by the OLA fire, maybe because it killed kids of my own age in a Catholic school, and I could really relate. I think somehow subconsciously we felt that we were specially protected by God because we had the nuns and we went to a Catholic school - how could anything bad happen there? I have thought of those kids and that terrible fire so many times over the years. And the fact that it happened right before Christmas - that's all I could think of that Christmas morning, those kids who weren't having any Christmas. To all the survivors and families of the victims, I want you to know that you are not forgotten. What a horror you have had to live with throughout your lifetime. You are thought about and prayed for much more than you can imagine. God bless you.


Posted by: Karen H. On: 3/7/2007 ID: 317
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Northampton, Pa.
I was two and a half when this event took place. It is significant to me because it is the first news story I ever remember hearing about. I was old enough to say my nightly prayers, which up until this time had always been for family. My mother always heard my prayers but just before prayer time one night she told me that "there were a lot of Children killed today at a Catholic school in a big fire - almost 100 - tonight we are going to pray for them." As I got older I later was able to positively confirm that the OLA fire was that event. I started school myself just a few years later, and the nuns were very careful to drill us several times a year in what to do in case of fire. In first grade, I can even remember firemen coming to our school and they'd pick out a lucky kid to demonstrate how to jump into a fire net if need be. I don't know if they still do things like this today. Also, in grade school from Kindergarten on, if we ever heard a fire engine or ambulance siren, we would always stop whatever we were doing and say a Hail Mary or Our Father that whomever was in trouble would get the needed help. It may look like a "small" thing now, but it has had the lifelong effect of me continuing that practice until this day. Faith wasn't just "for Sunday." I have had a lifelong fear of being trapped in a fire, I think it would be the worst possible way to die. I always subconsiously look for the exits in any building I am in. I am sure the OLA fire is the first tragedy I ever heard of of any kind, and in a way you can say it made an "imprint" on me.


Posted by: Mary On: 3/6/2007 ID: 316
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Greenville, IL
I was in 5th grade, age 10, at the time of the OLA fire, and our school was an old brick building filled with wood, varnish, etc. and no fire doors, so the stairwells were chimneys for any fire. We had one fire escape from the second floor, which was one of those long metal tubes used as a slide. We always had fire drills, but not until after the OLA fire did teachers talk about wet towels, windows, and fires escapes. My father was always very fire-conscious, and ingrained that into the family: never empty an ashtray until it had sat in the sink overnight; always know exactly how to get out of any building, whether restaurant, office, school, church, or other; in hotels, always locate the stairway when you first go to your room, and know exactly how many doors are between your room door and the stairway door; in airplanes, count the exact number of seats between your seat and the emergency exit; remember to dip a towel into the toilet if there is a hotel fire; never wait for the firemen to rescue you -- get out with a wet towel held over your face; etc. In college dorm fire drills we were required to put on shoes and coat and carry a towel with us. I knew a couple of school teachers who always had a full bucket of water next to their desks. When I have an electric appliance that needs to be thrown away, I always cut the cord off at the appliance before throwing it in the trash, and I never leave an iron plugged in even for a minute unless I am right there using it, and when the children were small and the phone rang I took the iron with me to answer the phone. (Now I just unplug it.) I think that the OLA fire made a huge difference in how children were educated about fire safety, and those of us who were in school at the time of that fire are very fire-conscious. I am pleased to know that in some towns, the fire stations collect soda and beer cans, watch the market carefully, and when the price is high they sell the current stash and use the money for fire education in the local schools. The OLA fire made a huge difference in fire safety the same way the Titanic sinking made a huge difference in ship safety. What a shame it took such a tragedy to bring the changes, though!


Posted by: Anita Schultz On: 3/4/2007 ID: 315
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before East Gary (now Lake Station) IN
We were having a small 25th wedding anniversary gathering with just a few relatives present for my parents at their home (they were married 12/1/33) when the TV broke in with the news report of the fire. Our festivities turned to sorrow when we heard the tragic news. It's like when Pres. Kennedy was shot--I'll never forget where I was on that very sad day.


Posted by: Barbara Reichhardt On: 2/27/2007 ID: 314
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Philadelphia
I have no personal recollections myself, but my husband was from Illinois, and he often talked about the fire. He moved to Virginia and was a firefighter there for 27 years. His brother also retired from the fire service in illinois. As I said he talked of it a few times. He was just 12 years old at the time so many of the ones that were in that fire are our age. Last Christmas I was looking on line at the Chicago Fire Store and I saw that book To Sleep with the Angels and i bought it for him to add to his fire collection. It was only then after reading this book that the true horror of that day hit me. I cried as i read of the children and the terrible things they went through. I also found this web site and I couldn't stand the thought of those poor little children. It hurts but something is compelling me to go back and read more and more about this. It almost feels like it just happened yesterday. I can't discribe the feeling of helplessness and dread that i feel . I can only emagine the pain and fear that was in their hearts on that horrible day. I hope the ones that have survived have found comfort in some way. I know they will live with it till the day they die. I pray for them for peace .


Posted by: Mark Hale On: 2/16/2007 ID: 313
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Atlanta, GA, suburbs
Although I was many hundreds of miles away on 12-1-58, I was a fourth grader like so many victims of the OLA fire. I remember the next day at my school near Atlanta, there was a fire drill - no one had any doubt as to the reason for the timing. We knew we had been blessed and spared.


Posted by: Lynn Hirshman On: 2/13/2007 ID: 312
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Evanston
Just two days ago, I met another woman from Chicago at our little county library here in Colorado. As we exchanged notes on growing up in Chicago, she said, "I was in the Our Lady of Angels fire."
I had not thought about that for years; in 1958 I was in high school in Evanston, but I had attended grade school in Chicago in an old building every bit as much a firetrap as OLA, and shuddered to think of what might have happened had a fire started there -- Nettelhorst School was FOUR stories tall, and all wood inside.
Thank goodness for the internet -- today I googled OLA, and found the whole story, and all the memories came rushing back. I sit here with tears in my eyes, not sure if I want to thank my new friend Toni or not...


Posted by: Susan Mosher Harvey - gmashoefly@gmail.com On: 2/8/2007 ID: 311
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Chicago - Foster & Canfield
I attended St. Eugene's school at Foster and Canfield in 1958 - I was in 7th grade. We also were taught by Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM's). What I remember vividly about the OLA fire was our nun telling us afterwards that some of the nuns at OLA had just told the children to put their heads down on their desks and pray because the fire was so fast and so awful there was nothing else they could do. This horror has stayed with me for 48 years. When I stumbled on this site yesterday, I couldn't stop reading and looking at the photos even though I was in tears much of the time. The before class photos look exactly like mine - even taken by the same photographer. There are over 50 students in each class - just like our classes. How horrible it must have been to try to get that many children out of a classroom. I turned 60 my last birthday and I've had a hard time adjusting to being "old". It has often depressed me to think how little time I have left and how those years I do have will be spent being old. I can't tell you what this site has done for me in that regard. I looked at the photos of each of these precious children and realised what they and their families would have given for them to have 60 years instead of 8 or 10 or 12. These children were my contemporaries - they never got to go to high school, or date or get married or have children of their own - much less grandchildren. The fire at OLA was a horrible, senseless tragedy. But after 48 years, these precious angels are still giving us gifts. I thank them, and you for putting this site together.


Posted by: gemini On: 2/7/2007 ID: 310
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Skokie
In 1969, while attending high school, I can clearly remember my first day of Biology Class. Our teacher telling us that in the case of the fire alarm sounding, we were all on our own. We were all 16 years old and could get ourselves out of a building. I thought this strange, first coming from a teacher, but also we were in the first room, first floor, closest to the front door.

We later found out that our teacher was an OLA survivor.

When the fire alarm test was coming, she would give us about 5 minutes warning. The bell would go off, she left. We would calmly go about closing windows or whatever and meet her outside.

Not another word was ever spoken. I'm almost sorry - she could have probably helped with future school designs. She had her good and bad days but I have to give her credit: she came back to teach and she was a hell of a good teacher!