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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: Bill On: 12/18/2007 ID: 352
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 seven years after the fire, my family lived on Augusta and Central Ave on the westside of Chicago. My Mom's family was Irish Catholic my Dads was German Lutheran, I was raised in my fathers religion and we moved to the NW suburbs of Chicago when I was 6 years old. I watched the Chicago Stories program recently aired on WTTW a week or so ago. I remember reading about the OLA fire before, a long time ago, but I never knew the details as it was given on the program. My maternal grandfather was a Chicago Firefighter so I was inclined to ask my mother the other day, after watching the program, if he and his fire company responded to OLA that day. She told me for the first time that her 7 older brothers and sisters attended OLA but the semester before the fire her family moved to another neighborhood and transferred to a different school. My mother was 11 years old at the time of the fire and she told me that she would have certainly been enrolled at OLA that day if they hadn't of moved. She told me that her father was retired on disability from the CFD at the time of the OLA fire, because of injuries he suffered from a different fire. She said that when she heard of the fire she was very grief stricken as was the rest of her family. Coming from the same neighborhood they knew most if not all of the children who died. She told me she can still see their faces in her mind today. She was attending another Catholic school nearby and she said she had to attend the mass funeral and sing in the choir. She remembers when they brought the numerous caskets of the kids in one after the other at the beginning of the service, as she was singing, tears were streaming down her face. Despite the rigid Catholic discipline she was taught, she couldn't control herself. She said imeadiately after the fire her father grabbed her when she came home from school that day and shook her almost violently with fear and made her repeat to him everything he taught her about escaping a burning building, which she said she did, then he hugged her tightly with tears himself. My grandfather died a month after I was born, so I didn't know him, but I'm told he was a very tough man and a good firefighter. He has rescued children from burning buildings before, some successful, some not. He always remembered the children he pulled out unsuccessfully and the horrible memory of each one tortured him until the day he died. I feel for everyone who experienced this tragedy first hand, especially the firefighters who tried so hard to save lives but were rendered helpless, what an awful thing to witness.
The odd thing about it is how this never came up before in family conversation. I've read from others here about how "nobody wanted to talk about it", this is very true, even my mother was a bit reluctant and didn't give any more detail than I specifically asked.


Posted by: Maurice O'Connor On: 12/14/2007 ID: 351
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Brighton (Boston) MA
I was a student in a Boston elementary parochial school at the time of the fire. Our school was in mourning even though we had no knowledge of the school prior to the tragedy. Our prayers were with the victims and their families. We felt like those were our friends and teachers who had perished. I had not thought about the fire in years but a cousin of mine wrote about it in the Sun Times. As a Boston Catholic who has witnessed the cover up of the clergy sex abuse, I found it interesting that the Catholic judge did not want to prosecute the student who confessed to the arson because of the potential scandal to the church.


Posted by: Kathleen Donahue Lesser On: 12/9/2007 ID: 350
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Southeast Side of Chicago
I was a third grader at Our Lady Gate of Heaven Catholic School on East 99th Street in Chicago on the day of the fire. When I arrived home from school, my mother had just returned from Christmas shopping and heard the news of the fire on the car radio.
I remember listening with fear and intensity as she explained what was happening.That night I could not sleep.
The next day I read the Chicago Tribunes recap of the story along with pages and pages of photos of students my age who died in the fire. These stories and photos were reviewed over and over again in my mind for many months after the fire, yet I never expressed my fear or sorrow to anyone verbally.
We attended a memorial Mass at our parish the following week. Then requisite fire drills began on a weekly basis regardless of Chicago winter weather conditions.
The OLA tragedy is as vivid in my memory today as it was on Dec 1, 1958.
Somethings in life are never forgotten even by an eight year old girl with no direct ties to the school. My only commonality was age, city and faith, yet my heart ached for the students and the families that I did not know.
I shall once again hold them in my thoughts in 2008 as we commemorate the 50th anniversary of something too awful to ever forget.


Posted by: kris On: 12/9/2007 ID: 349
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 in 1962, and my family lived in Chicago until moving to the Northern Suburbs when I was 4. I can remember my mother ironing in front of the black and white tv, watching newscasts commemerating the fire as I was growing up. Every time it was mentioned, without fail, she would cry and try to explain to me the depth of the tragedy.

I don't think it's something you can understand until you send your own children off to school and someone else's care each day.

The victims, their familys, anyone touched by this terrible fire, are in my prayers.


Posted by: goodgame22 On: 12/2/2007 ID: 348
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Parkside Stree, Chicago Illinois
In the Fall of 1958 my family moved and I transferred from Our Lady of Sorrows grade school to St Angelas grade school where I entered the 4th grade. I came upon this website quite by accident, but it has awakened the powerful but long forgotten emotions of a young boy. I recall frightened aunts and uncles calling our home, worried that my new school was Our Lady of Angels. I recall hearing the frightening and unthinkable news accounts of children my age dying at school. I recall the overwhelming sadness of the mass funeral. I recall praying for the victims and their families at school and for years afterwards in my personal prayers. Today, I have resumed those prayers.


Posted by: ange On: 12/2/2007 ID: 347
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No After n/a
I don't know if this film I saw in school in the mid-to-late 60's was explicitly about this fire, but I can tell you, it has haunted me all my life. It was about a similar school and the people looked to be from the 50's. A school caught fire, and the kids were forced to jump out the windows and get killed. I have never forgetten that film and, from the looks of this website, the real thing was 100's of times worse than the film. My heart goes out to anyone who had to live through this. I am truly sorry such a hideous thing could really happen.


Posted by: michael On: 11/30/2007 ID: 346
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Lorel & Belden, Northwest side of Chicago
My cousin died in the fire, she was in the eight grade at OLA.
The worst memory that will not leave me is walking into Malec Funeral
Home and seeing the caskets of the children lined up wall to wall from the front to the back. I have never seen as many caskets at one time to this day, I am now sixty years old, I hope never again to view such a sight. The saddness of that time lives with me and I still go visit the grave of my cousin on December 1st every year.
May God give them all peace and all who suffer the memories of that terrible day.


Posted by: mary lou On: 11/29/2007 ID: 345
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before taylor st. & hoyne ave. chicago
almost 49 years ago and i remember it like it was yesterday, it was after school and i was sitting at my kitchen table. my mother was on the phone talking to my grandfather. she was trying to talk in a quiet whisper and that only got my curiosity. i was listening intently when she could no longer contain herself. she started saying 'the kids are on fire? the kids are jumping out the windows? oh my god! oh my god! i heard it all! and there was no way she could have shielded me or my brother from the worst news of our lives. i was 7 and my brother was 11 and although we went to a different catholic school (st. charles borrmeo)every saturday in wintertime we bowled at g&l bowling alley at chicago ave. and pulaski on the motorola junior league and most all the kids were from OLA. we allready bowled there for the last 2 seasons and knew all the kids.and my father who worked for motorola knew all the parents from working with them. so now its saturday dec.6 and my dad doesnt quite know what to do so we go to the bowling alley as usual but it wasnt as usual, there was hardly no one in the bowling alley. i see it right now as i saw it 49 years ago. to sad to put into words.the kids werent there because they died in the fire. the fire were they were jumping out the windows. amen and the surviving kids (me and my brother didnt know who they were yet) were at the funerals that were starting. now so here comes my fathers friend wally who ran the junior league and he says to me well young lady i guess were going to have to move you up to captian and youll have to keep score.when i heard this i put my head down on the desk and i started to cry. wally asked me why i was crying and i told him i didnt know how to keep score. but the real reason i was crying was i knew all the kids that were missing were probably dead. all the kids i had come to know and bowled with every saturday were gone and i would never see again. how sad. 49 years later and i still cry for them. that was the end of the motorola junior league. cant ever remember bowling there after that day.then more bad news followed that spring when my brother john learned that some of his friends from bowling (from OLA)that were on his little league team at kells park (CHICAGO AVE> AND KEDZIE)died in the fire. i wasnt at the fire but i will never forget the fire.every year at this time especially i think of the children, i wonder why they had to suffer. they did nothing to deserve such a horrific end to their precious lives. we somehow want answers,but so far i havent heard any that sit right with me. too bad we have to die to get the answers were looking for as were taught per our religion. my thoughts and my prayers to the families and friends of all our angels. side note; dont you wonder if the boy who started the fire realizes the magnitude of lives he ruined? and yes it was a boy that started the fire. a nun told me so.


Posted by: J.L.S. On: 11/24/2007 ID: 344
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Miami, Florida
My cousin Michael Geanto was in the 4th grade and attending OLA on 12/1/1958. I was born 2 months earlier the same year. I just found out about the fire while I was looking up my cousin's(Michael's brother) business website. I was shocked to find Michael's name as a surviving student. I called my Mom to ask if she remembers this event, and she indeed did. My Mother said it was terrible and Michael was very scared and we flew back to Chicago for support. Also, My Uncle, (Michael's father), had a sibling who's child was burned, but she could not remember their name and would call her niece(Michale's sister) Diane for details. I asked why not call her own sister and brother-in-law for information(Michael's parents) and she responded "Oh no... they cannot talk about it, that it was too difficult". This is 49 years later! Very sadly my cousin Michael Geanto died in 1968 while stationed in Germany as an MP in the Military. Michael was only 19 years old. I guess our family never talked about it. I had to find out on the internet. I found his 2nd grade class picture of 1956 on this website. Does anybody reading this have any first hand accounts about Michael? What class he was in? How he escaped? Room 210 fourth grade, lost 29 student's (Angel's) on that day, so I know Michael must have lost many friends. I did not know my cousin very well as my parents moved away from Chicago before I was born. I remember happy & funny stories being told about Michael and a few encounters on family visits back to Chicago. Please share any memories of Michael you may have. Thank You. J.L.S.


Posted by: Barbara Adams On: 11/19/2007 ID: 343
Enrolled on 12/1/58? Present on 12/1/58? Injured? Age Grade Classroom Teacher
Yes No No 10 5 212 Sister Mary Clare Therese
I was a student at OLA from second grade through eighth grade. On December 01, 1958 I was kept home from school by my Mother because we had been confirmed the night before and my family had come in from out of town to celebrate the big day with me. We had a long evening and Mom thought I should stay home that Monday since all of the fifth grade classes the years prior to the fire had enjoyed the day after Confirmation free.
My Dad called the house about 2:30 to tell us the school was on fire. Mom and I raced to the school and could not believe the horror we saw. I watched as classmates and friends jumped from windows and died. I watched as bystanders helped parents and kids who were in shock. I watched as firemen wept against trees. I attended 90+ wakes and funerals of my friends and classmates. I visited many in the hospital who were burned beyond recognition. I saw things that I will never forget.
This is the first time I have been able to look at this website . I am thankful this site is here to allow me to lend my voice which had been silent until now, to a terrible event which affected so many people. I cannot forget the horror and the loss of young lives but I can tell you that I carry all of those Angels in my heart and in my prayers everyday of my life.
God Bless all of us and all of our Angels.