Personal experiences with Our Lady of the Angels School Fire on 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.

Story Index

Stories 526 to 517 Stories 506 to 497

Posted by:

Anonymous

On:

3/29/2010

ID:

516

At OLA on 12/1/58?	Born before or after 12/1/58?	Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No	After	n/a

I am currently taking fire protection classes in hopes of becoming a firefighter. After reading about this fire it makes me understand why we have so many strict fire codes for schools.

Posted by:

Anthony Marzulli GRACE DIMASO'S grandson

On:

3/29/2010

ID:

515

At OLA on 12/1/58?	Born before or after 12/1/58?	Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No	After	n/a

My grandma was in the fire, she came from italy that year and she was knew to the school. she had no friends there becasue she didn't speak english. But from what she told me she said that it was the most scariest thing that ever happened to her. She told me that her class tryed to excape through the stairwell but she was to scared to leave the class room so she stayed behind and she was sitting by the window when somebody was pulling her, and all of a sudden she saw daylight. A firefighter pulled her out of a window and a second later the room went up. Its just freakky to think if my grandma died i may not be here now.

Posted by:

Patricia Cervantes

On:

3/17/2010

ID:

514

At OLA on 12/1/58?	Born before or after 12/1/58?	Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No	Before	Pasadena, California

Sister Mary St. Canice had been my teacher at St. Philip the Apostle School in Pasadena, California in the early 50's. I remember her because of her kindness and caring ways. Above all her patience with a somewhat rebellious young girl. I just had to chew gum and answer questions with what I thought were funny answers. This never fazed her. When she taught at St. Phillips she was very young. I don't know if this was her first assignment. I'm sure we were all a challenge for her. I was very sad when I was told of her death. I'm sure she did all she could to save her children not thinking of herself.

Posted by:

Joyce

On:

3/16/2010

ID:

513

At OLA on 12/1/58?	Born before or after 12/1/58?	Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No	Before	Seattle Washington

I was in grade school eight years old. It is the first tragic news story i remember and has stayed in my mind and heart all these years.
My cousin is a Nun and i remember how on the news it said a Nun's hand stuck to the door knob form the heat. I prayed for those children and parents halfway across the country and cried too. As the years have gone by i have thought of them. Odly enough twenty years later i gave birth to my own daughter. I still think of the parents and pray for them. This is something that has never left my heart. May God bless you and be with you.
joyce

Posted by:

eskarp

On:

3/15/2010

ID:

512

At OLA on 12/1/58?	Born before or after 12/1/58?	Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No	Before	a little town in rural illinois

The fire was on the radio. My friends and I looked at the pictures and diagrams and realized that our grade school looked a lot like Our Lady of the Angels. It was wood joist construction with ONE main door off a central staircase and only glass doors on the stairwell.

That was 50 years ago. A month ago, I saw a structural survey of that school, which is still in use. Nothing has changed. I am amazed and horrified. The boiler,the electrical system, and the kitchen are 50 years older and the kids still cannot get out of the building.

Posted by:

Charles Hund's great-niece

On:

3/4/2010

ID:

511

At OLA on 12/1/58?	Born before or after 12/1/58?	Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No	After	n/a

My great uncle is Charles Hund. I know that he is very effected by this tragedy. I am proud to say I am related to him. He wishes the outcome was different, as does anyone, and blames himself for those lives lost. I am grateful to see that this fire is not forgotten, and neither are those whose lives ended short.

Posted by:

Charles Kamin III

On:

2/14/2010

ID:

510

At OLA on 12/1/58?	Born before or after 12/1/58?	Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No	After	n/a

Well my grandfather was a part of the firefighters that where there. He never really said much but all he told me is that he could'nt save as many girls as boys(because the boys had belts) and he never really forgave himself even though he did all he could. He told me the fire was like a savage animal tearing away at his skin but he still continued to help in till the fire was to much. The only thing that he actually kept from the fire was the class bell, (I still have). If you read "The fire that never died" there's a kind mention of my grandfather. I asked my grandma Margret Kamin about it she told me that it was so cold the firefighters had iceicles hanging off there helmets. She said it was the worst sight she had ever seen.That's all I really have to say about that. I just wanted to make sure my granfather "Charles Kamin Sr." spirit lives on. Thank you.

Posted by:

CatholicKid

On:

2/2/2010

ID:

509

At OLA on 12/1/58?	Born before or after 12/1/58?	Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No	Before	SE Michigan

I remember hearing about the fire in much detail at the time. I was in 3rd grade in a SE Mich. parochial school. I think the nuns had us say extra prayers the next day when word of the tragedy become known. I do remember that there was a greater emphasis on safety after that. Our modern (for the 1950's) one-story, multiple-exit, suburban school had regular fire drills. Like everything else, the nuns really laid down the law about quickly exiting in silence, no monkey business on the way outside, etc.
The real tragedy was that it took something like this to force schools nationwide to have updated safety measures!

Posted by:

anonymous

On:

1/28/2010

ID:

508

At OLA on 12/1/58?	Born before or after 12/1/58?	Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No	Before	Chivago South Side

It was horrible.

Posted by:

Dennis Buckley

On:

12/30/2009

ID:

507

At OLA on 12/1/58?	Born before or after 12/1/58?	Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No	Before	Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania

Though I did not start school until two years after the fire, I certainly heard about it. One of my earliest school memories was being brought into the cafeteria/gym of our parochial school with the rest of the student body to be shown movies (they looked like home movies)taken at the fire. We were then lectured at length on fire safety and that we had better comply with procedure during the (many) fire drills we had. The nuns basically gave us to understand that none of them were going to get killed because of our failure to understand how to evacuate.

Stories 526 to 517 Stories 506 to 497

Back

Top of Page

Home