OLAFire Logo
Our Lady of the Angels (OLA) School Fire, December 1, 1958
nUserID=0

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.
Click here to add your OLA fire experience.        

Posted by: Ann Marie On: 12/5/2008 ID: 445
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before New Castle, DE
I thought I was in the seventh grade when this tragedy happened because I remember it so well. As I read it now, I was only ten so I was in the fifth grade. I watched the horror on TV and remember seeing little children jump into people's arms. I remember the windows were decorated for Christmas with candles, snowflakes etc. I NEVER forgot anything I saw on the TV on in the papers later. Because of this fire, all the Catholic schools were inspected, I went to St. Peter's School in New Castle, De with condemned posters in the windows until the middle of eighth grade. When our new safe school was finished, we had to carry our own desks down the street, across the field and into our new classroom. I can still remember the pains in my upper arms. Then because we were the oldest kids we had to take the 1st and 2nd grade desks. Our school had been built in 1906 and was the same as OLA waxed floors, no fire escapes from the second floor. They built a fire escape that came down from the back and front wings and met in the middle. I was terrified of it. The first time we had a fire drill it was icy and slippery. I am now a teacher and I get really upset when the kids will not take the fire drills seriously. I do not want to scare them but I do tell them the story of OLA. I was substituting this week and there was a drill. I wrote a boy up for running around the room and screaming. He knocked another kid down. He was suspended for three days. God bless the families, who still suffer the loss of those babies so close to Christmas. I think about it every year.


Posted by: Louis Casa On: 12/5/2008 ID: 444
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Roseland area. Chicago southside.
I was married on October 18, 1958 at Holy Rosary Irish Church on 113th & South Park. We quickly heard about the fire at Our Lady of the Angels School. The Roseland Area was in a state of shock and pain. We had so many old parishes with old schools and related to the families who lost their children in the fire. Both Roseland Community Hospital and the 111th Street YMCA set up blood donation facilities. Everyone I knew that could donated blood. I still have the donor's receipt.

Two of my children attended Holy Rosary School. My wife and I always prayed that no other school would suffer the unforgettable tragedy of December 1, 1958. The anniversary of the fire has brought back that terrible memory. I feel still very badly for those parents who lost children in the fire and for the survivors who cannot ever forget.


Posted by: A.Pettey On: 12/5/2008 ID: 443
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No After n/a
I have become very interested in what happened at OLA. I read the book To Sleep With Angels and now am reading the new book. My mom remembers being pregnant with my sister and hearing about the fire. She felt so sad that she was bringing a new life into the world and that so many other parents were going through such sorrow. I'm also a mother and can't imagine what it was like. I pray for the children and nuns who lost their lives and also for their families.


Posted by: Josephine(Joyce LaSalvia)Cusimano On: 12/3/2008 ID: 442
Enrolled on 12/1/58? Present on 12/1/58? Injured? Age Grade Classroom Teacher
Yes Yes No 12 8 209 Sr. Mary Davidas
Everyone has said about so many things. The main thing I want to
say is that if it were not for Sr. Mary Davidas, Father Joe, and Mr. Tortorice there would have been more fatalities in my classroom.
Sister was so strong and calming to us (as I remember) telling us
what to do. Throwing our books against the doors for the smoke & fire
to consume also I remember her telling us to push all the desks by the
door also for the same reason. She told us to open the windows all
the way so it would create double panes so the windows wouldn't
break from the heat.
We were all so scared. I heard Mr. T yell to his daughter my friend Rose Tortorice. Rosie, get to a window, get to a window We were
fortunate enough to get to the window of freedom sat on the ledge and dropped down into Father Joe's arms and back into the safe side of the
school down the steps and went into the church were so many kids
were crying. I remember being in 8 th grade, and a little older ,trying
to console the little ones. Curiousity got the best of a lot of us
and we went outside where people were bringing blankets and coats
to us. I did call home and tell my sister I was ok. Later that night
everyone was at the school trying to find friends and relatives lights all over the place. I couldn't find my friend Mary Louis Tamburino and later found out we lost her. It was so sad. I think about them all the time and just wonder what great things they all could have been or done. They will never leave my heart and my thoughts.


Posted by: Alvin Jensen Jr. On: 12/3/2008 ID: 441
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Cicero and North Aves, Chicago, Ill.
I was only 3 at the time. We lived not to far from Our Lady of Angels. My Grandmother who lived at Chicago and Cicero called my Mother about the large amount of smoke coming from down by us. My Mother went out and saw the area was really smoky. I remember all the fire trucks going by our apt. that afternoon. When my Father got home from work, he was really concerned about the fire. He had several friends that had kids that went to that school.
My Father marched with the Austin [Chicago] Grenadiers and several freinds were staff members of the Royal Airs Drum and Bugle Corps. With so many friends connected to Our Lady of Angels, it really bothered him.
A couple of years later, we moved to Morton Grove, Ill. When I was in first grader at Grove School, we had a fire in the lunchroom. I saw the fire start when a cook spilled liquid on the stove. The fire alarm sounded but we, in the lunchroom, already were on our way out of the school. The fire station was only 2 blocks away. Fire trucks were at the school with in minutes. It was cold, and lots of snow on the ground. I remember a couple of teachers mention the lessons learned from the Our Lady of Angles fire.
I have read the book To Sleep With The Angels and found an old Chicago paper dated Dec. 2, 1958 which I boought. Several times while in Chicago, I have stopped at the memorial at Queen of Heaven Cemetery.
I have taught my kids the importance of the fire drills at their schools.
LET US NOT FORGET THE VICTIMS, SURVIVERS, AND FAMILIES OF THE FIRE.

Al Jensen
Minnesota Brass Inc. Drum And Bugle Corps.


Posted by: NANCY LEWANDOWSKI MOLSKI On: 12/3/2008 ID: 440
Enrolled on 12/1/58? Present on 12/1/58? Injured? Age Grade Classroom Teacher
Yes Yes No 8 3 MRS. WILKINS
I WAS 8 YEARS OLD, IN MRS. WILKINS' 3RD GRADE CLASS. MY BROTHER GREG WAS IN SISTER EUNICE'S 1ST GRADE CLASS. WHEN THE FIRE BELL RANG MRS. WILKINS WENT OUT IN THE HALL AND THEN SAW SMOKE IN THE AVERS AVE. STAIRWELL. SHE GOT US OUT OF THE CLASSROOM VERY FAST AND TOOK US ACROSS THE STREET. WE SOMEHOW GOT OVER TO HAMLIN AND IOWA. KIND HEARTED PEOPLE TOOK USE INTO THEIR APARTMENTS TO KEEP US WARM. IT WAS THERE THAT I SAW MY AUNT JENNY SALERNO OUTSIDE. I RAN OUT TO HER AND SHE BROUGHT ME TO MY MOTHER WHO WAS LOOKING FOR ME AND MY BROTHER GREG. WE FINALLY FOUND GREG IN A HOME ON AVERS AND AUGUSTA. MY MOTHER TOOK US HOME..AWAY FROM THE TRAGEDY. SHE WAS SO THANKFUL WE WERE BOTH UNHURT. MANY OF OUR NEIGHBORS LOST CHILDREN OR THEIR CHILDREN WERE BURNED. I STILL THINK ABOUT THEM. IT WAS A SAD, TERRIBLE DAY...WE WILL ALL BE FOREVER JOINED TOGETHER IN THIS MEMORY. GOD BLESS ALL.
NANCY LEWANDOWSKI MOLSKI
GOODYEAR, ARIZONA


Posted by: Kenneth Sienkiewicz On: 12/2/2008 ID: 439
Enrolled on 12/1/58? Present on 12/1/58? Injured? Age Grade Classroom Teacher
Yes Yes No 10 5 212 Sister Mary Claire Therese
I would like to talk to any room 212 survivers


Posted by: Sandi (Cullen) Oswald On: 12/2/2008 ID: 438
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Bartlett, IL
My grandmother's best friend was Francis Giacomino, and Fran's youngest son was Mickey (Michael) Giacomino. Mickey was in Room 208 the day of the fire. Mickey and I were pretty close, we were kind of like cousins. My grandparents raised me as their own child. Mickey's Dad's sister was married to my Uncle Art, and we were raised close. We went on vacations and stuff together, and I had the biggest crush on him for years and years. I was 10 at the time of the fire. I remember when I got home from school my gram had tv on and it was on about the school being on fire and I could see kids just standing at the windows and they couldn't get out. The screaming was horrible. I remember my gram started to cry and grabbed the phone to call Francis to see if Michey was all right, but the call couldn't go through because everyone was trying to call people in the area. We didn't know until late that night that Mickey was ok. But he would never talk about the fire. Three years later we went on vacation to Minnesota (Gram and me and Francis and Mickey) I tried to ask him about what happened but he refused to talk about it. Years later I came home from England in August of 1969 and went to Mickey and Linda's wedding. I have only seen him a handful of times since then. My gram died in June of 1989 and I only saw his brother George at her wake and funeral. We have lost touch over the years and it sure would be nice to see him again. I think he lives in Round Lake now but I'm not sure.


Posted by: Susan Garstki McManus On: 12/2/2008 ID: 437
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Harlem and Foster area, Chicago NW Side
I was eight years old and in the third grade at St. Monica School at 5100 N. Montclare Ave. I remember watching the TV and reading the newspapers, and praying in school for the sisters and children who were killed.

Sometime after that, a boy came to our school who had been in the fire. He was a year older than I, so he had been in fourth grade at the time of the fire. His name was Leroy. I can't remember his last name. His head had apparently been severely burnt, and we wore a head covering covering the back of his head. It was somewhat like a bonnet and tied under his chin.

My dad's family was from St. Hyacinth's, and everyone seemed to know of someone who had been there.


Posted by: Evelyn Bonilla On: 12/2/2008 ID: 436
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Newark, New Jersey
I remember the nuns at St. Lucy's Catholic School in Newark, NJ telling us that 90 school children died in a fire and that was why we had fire drills. We all vacated the upstairs of the building very quietly although I was very self-conscious of going down the fire escape since in those days girls wore jumpers and I thought all the boys were looking up at us. Years later, I became a teacher and for 25 years always reprimanded my students for their cavalier attitude during a drill. I would tell them one thing I take seriously is a fire drill and I would recount the story. One day looked up on the internet "school fires" but this did not come up and it only showed a few public school fires. This made me doubt my story. Today 12/2/08 I sadly viewed the 50th anniversary of that loss. It still brings tears.