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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: Elizabeth Finlay On: 12/8/2008 ID: 448
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No After n/a
My mom was an 8th grader in Rm 209 the day of the fire. I have spoken with her several times about that day, and it brings tears to both of our eyes every time. On the 50th Anniversary of the tragedy we read the Chicago Tribune together and cried again. She lost her cousin and several friends in the fire. Among the pictures published in the tribune’s anniversary story was of her aunt among other worried parents.

I rarely talk about it with other people because I am not sure they can truly grasp the horrid innocent without speaking to someone who was there that day. I am starting to speak more about it because I don’t want the memory of the victims and families to be lost. I am thankful for this website. It is important to be able to continue to remember those involved and honor those who helped save many lives.

My mom always says that if it weren’t for Father Joe she wouldn’t be alive. Thank you Father Joe for saving her life and the life of many others.


Posted by: Janell On: 12/7/2008 ID: 447
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before nearby
I was one years old at the time of the fire we lived in the area until I was three. Im not sure where we lived, my parents are both deaced, but my father had abusiness on Roosevelt Rd. My mom said dad loved the west side at the time. I do know later we moved to Roosevelt Rd.and Austin and lived above a record store for awhile until my Grandmother bought an apartment building on the far north side because the city demolished her neighborhood to build the University of Chicago, she was a Greek imigrant and was never the same after having to leave her friends, she spoke little English. anyway when I was old enough to remember my mother told me about the fire, she remembered for the rest of her life,she died last year at 90 what had happened.She went to the Loop shopping when she came home and turned on the tv she saw the flaming building and children jumping out of the building she did not know what she was seeing she told me she thought it was a movie but later realized the truth of the matter of the Horrific and tragedy. My mom told me I probably would have gone to Our Lady OF Angels if I had been older, She said for many years after,every year they would show the anniversary on the news. Well this year because of the 50th I saw the headlines in the newspaper it brought back those memories to me as well as sadness for victims and families, I want to read the books and learn more. I feel aconnection, I did go on to go to Catholic schools for twelve years, but it is kinda haughting to me I could've been a victim too,if I were older! May God Bless all involved and thank you for the oppurtunity to write. Im wondering what became of the many families of the victims and how they were able to move on?


Posted by: MM On: 12/6/2008 ID: 446
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before River Forest, IL
My experience with the fire was different than those directly affected. I was in the first grade and attended a local parochial school the day of the fire. My father was Dr. James E. Segraves, an orthopedic surgeon at the old St. Anne's Hospital on the west side. He was chief of what was then called "disaster planning." A mock trauma of the plan was run only weeks before the tragic fire. Looking back the ER at St. Anne's hardly resembled the sleek emergency departments we have today. It is astounding to think that the hospital staff in that small emergency room managed to treat the number of seriously burned children and try to help their anguished families. Needless to say, I did not see my father for several days. He arrived home just before midnight on December 1, and according to my mother wept. He left for the hospital before 7 in the morning and often didn't return home until well after 10 pm. I'm certain that in the back of his mind, he identified with the parents of the children he treated, some of them for many years after that event. I remember him telling my mother, who had been an army nurse, that many of the fire victims were suffering from flashbacks. When my father died in 1967, fire survivors who attended his wake told me that my father helped them and cared for them. My father, however, was one of many medical and nursing professionals who took care of the fire victims. The emotional aftermath of that day has remained with them, and their families, to the present. It's impossible for me to forget what is so important about December 1. In the months before her sudden death in 1996, my mother reached out to the survivor group. Although she was not involved in the direct care of the children or their families, as a mother, nurse and wife she understood the meaning of that day for the survivors. Today, I work as a school nurse. I know that my primary responsibility is to ensure the children's and the entire school community's safety, be it from fire, communicable disease or another catastrophic event. I also know that as young as I was when it happened, I learned about caring for others from that terrible day.


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