Posted by: |
Michelle (LoPresti) Jenkins |
On: |
11/17/2008 |
ID: |
390 |
At OLA on 12/1/58? |
Born before or after 12/1/58? |
Where Lived on 12/1/58? |
No |
Before |
Ridgeway and Division: Chicago |
I was attending D.R. Cameron school in kindergarten on Dec 1, 1958. My sister, Paulette, was in 3rd grade at OLA and my cousin, Nancy Pilas, was in 8th grade at OLA. I was home from school on that day and remember having lunch with my mother, when somehow, there was news of a fire in the neighborhood. It was then known to be OLA school. I was unaware of how that news came to be.
Both my mother and my aunt left the house to run to the school-both my sister and cousin were there. A friend happened to be visiting my aunt that day and I was left with him, while they ran.
I remember the phone starting to ring continuously...I also remember my sister running to the house, crying and scared. Instead of staying there, she ran back toward the school, since that was where my mother was. There was much running back and forth of adults, asking, wondering where the children were. We then knew my sister was safe-and she was then staying by a neighbor's house. We waited for word about my cousin.
The phone continued to ring, my aunt, my uncle, my mom, continued to run back and forth from the school to the house to see if she had come home.
The rest of the evening was a flurry of tears, people coming over, more tears, prayers, and no sign of my cousin Nancy.
The day ended in tragedy for our family. There were reporters, phone calls, and non-stop people visiting, questioning, paying their sorrowful respects.
My memory of that day will always be with me. My aunt and uncle kept a picture of my cousin and a vigil to her memory every day, until their deaths. They were also featured in an exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry-and I will always remember that as well.
When I became a school teacher, and then a school principal for the Archdiocese of Chicago, I knew how important fire safety was, and always will.
Nancy will always be in our prayers, along with all the other victims of the OLA tragedy.
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