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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: Mac McCarty On: 12/17/2008 ID: 451
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Granite City, Illinois
I was in 7th Grade on December 1, 1958. All 7th Graders attended one building in downtown Granite City (down state Illinois, across the riover from St. Louis). My Mom was Chief Nurse (Labor and Delivery Room) at St. Elizabeth's Hospital, a couple of blocks from my school. Rather than ride the bus home, I would go to the Public Library after school and then walk to the Hospital to ride home with Mom.She had the radio on and we were talking about Christmas and the happy things of a 1950s Christmas. As we pulled into our driveway, there came the announcement that 24-hour cable has now turned into a relic of the past: "We interrupt our broadcast for a special news bulletin."The report gave only a few details: fire in Our Lady of the Angels Catholic grade school in Chicago. Chicago Fire Department struggling to bring the flames under control. Reports that as many as 100 children were missing and might be dead.Mom just put her head down on the steering wheel and began crying. "Oh, those poor Mothers--losing their babies at Christmas."We said a prayer and went inside, subdued, to watch for the reports on TV.Our school was older than OLA. Same highly waxed wood floors, lots of wood on the walls. We had fire drills every day until Christmas break.Ten years later, when I was a senior at Illinois State University, a girl I new was an OLA survivor (Barbara Sullivan--4th Grade).My wife is a classroom one-on-one aide in our local elementary school in Downingtown, PA. She has the same concerns that some children--in our supposedly fire-resistant modern schools--don't take fire drills as seriously as they should. Teachers and staff do--a legacy of that grim December day at Our Lady of the Angels.Eternal Peace grant unto them Oh Lord, and let Perpetual Light shine upon them, May their dear little souls rest in Peace.


Posted by: Greg J. On: 12/9/2008 ID: 450
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before 6005 S. Melvina Ave. in Chicago
I was 10 years old at the time of this horrific event. My father
had come home and excitedly put on the TV to hear the latest news. (TV
was not allowed since 4 to 6pm. was for doing homework) On WGN there was a news broadcast about the OLA fire. I became sick at the reality of so many young "Angels" being taken by a fire just before Christmas.
The next day I went to the Nathan Hale School where I was in the
fifth grade. Sometime around 9:30 to 10:00am., I noticed Paul A. sobbing at his desk with his head in his arms. He was a good kid.
The teacher went over to comfort him and Paul left the room for a minute or so. At recess, I overheard some the teachers talking on the playground say that Paul had lost his cousin in the OLA fire. Being the 1950s, my friends and I left him alone and never asked him about the particulars of the fire.
Years later, when I became a CPS teacher, I always stressed the need to conduct a rapid, quiet, and orderly fire drill with our students. Our principal, who had a friend on the West side whose son perished in the fire, also was very strict about having students exit as quickly and safely as they could. My heart will always go out to the "little angels" we lost that tragic day in December, 1958. May God bless them and the surviving families touched by this horrible tragedy.


Posted by: DL On: 12/8/2008 ID: 449
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Kenosha, Wisconsin
I can still remember the incredible sadness I felt in December 1958 when, as an eight-year-old girl living an hour north of Chicago in Kenosha, Wisconsin, I learned of the fire at Our Lady of Angels. Even though I was so young, I read everything I could about the fire because, in my own way, I wanted the children who died to be remembered. And, at the time I was going to a parochial school that, like Our Lady of Angels, was old and had open stairwells. I remember in particular reading a story done in one of the Chicago papers (I believe the American) about one little girl who died as representative of all who passed away. She seemed so much like me at the time; the story said she had been eagerly awaiting Christmas and reported about her in a way that made you feel you knew her. To this day, I still feel a deep emotional attachment to Our Lady of Angels.


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.