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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: Margaret O'Neill On: 6/24/2010 ID: 521
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Detroit, Michigan
At the time of the fire I was 9 years old and a parochial elementary school student in Detroit, Michigan.

The Detroit News was delivered to our house daily. I could look at it as long as I put it back together exactly as delivered. The fire was the leading story on Tuesday, December 2nd. My father came home to find me sitting on the living room floor transfixed by the images of the burned school. He was furious and took the paper away from me saying, “You shouldn't be looking at this” and went outside to the garbage can behind our garage and threw the newspaper away. This is the only day in my memory that he did not read the paper after dinner. I wanted to sneak out and retrieve it, and did just that the next day after school - but the newspaper was gone. I never saw the edition of Life Magazine that covered the fire even though we received it weekly.

After the tragedy we had fire drill after fire drill at school. I remained haunted by the pictures I had seen and, as an adult, read everything I could find about that fire. Years ago I lived in Chicago and found Michele McBride's book The Fire That Will Not Die, and recently To Sleep With The Angels as well as the WTTW documentary.

Thoughts of that fire haven't surfaced for decades. Recently, while visiting Chicago, I was walking to Manny's and came upon the Fire Museum of Greater Chicago and went inside. Along the wall of pictures from famous Chicago fires was that of fireman Richard Scheidt carrying the body of John Jajkowski along with other photos from that day. It all came back to me and at 60 years old I was back looking at the Detroit News.

Thank you for this site and to those who add their stories.


Posted by: Diane Ruskowski On: 5/20/2010 ID: 520
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Chicago, Illinois
My father was at the OLA fire on that horrible day. His name is Matthew Ruszkowski he was a fireman. The fire had an impact on his life and the lives of everyone that he was around. We were sent to St. Columba School because it was a one story building and he convinced his brother to send his daughter to St. Columba as well. I remember him telling his brother that he would not be able to sleep at night if she were going to a catholic school that was multiple stories. My father never did get over that fire. We used to go to the cemetery where the children are buried to pray for them a few times a year and he was just devastated over the whole thing. There were many nights that he could not sleep because he was thinking about the nuns and the children that were injured and those that had passed away in the fire. He said that the hardest thing was when the parents showed up and were screaming for their babies as the fire went out of control. As I reflect back on this tragedy, I realize that it had taken a toll on all of Chicago and those that were there at that fire were never ever the same. I pray that God Will Bless and Heal each and every individual that was at or was in that fire.


Posted by: Nearly Normal On: 5/15/2010 ID: 519
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No After n/a
I was ten years old and attending Holy Trinity Grade School in a building that was about seventy-five years old. There were a lot of tears and prayers the next day since almost all of us had seen reports about the fire on television and in our local paper. Because we were Catholic kids there were a lot of emotional bonds with the victims of the fire. I had nightmares for several nights. After the fire, there were upgrades to our school building in regards to fireproof doors and other measures. We older kids were on the second floor and had lots of practice with the fire escapes which were slides in metal tunnels. The building was soon replaced with a modern one that was up to the revised fire codes established by state law and city ordinances. This fire has always been a touchstone for my generation. I have read books and articles about the incident and its aftermath. It appears to me that it was indeed arson that was aided by the fact that the building was not brought up to the modern standards of the time. Grandfathering these buildings out of the newer standards was a death sentence to the victims.


Posted by: Marianne Gillette On: 4/11/2010 ID: 518
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before River Plaza, NJ
Believe it or not, I was only 2 1/2 at the time and I distinctly remember my mother and a neighbor talking about the fire. I remember them talking about the nuns who told the kids to pray instead of getting them out. A couple of years ago, I wondered if what I thought I remembered had, indeed, happened, so I did a Google search and actually found this site. That conversation between my mother and her friend all those years ago had made a tremendous impact on me. God bless all of the children who perished and/or were injured in that horrible fire.


Posted by: Sossy On: 4/5/2010 ID: 517
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Columbus, Ohio
I was only about 10 when this happened, but I vividly remember the horrific stories in the Columbus Dispatch, the Columbus Citizen Journal (now defunct) and on television. As others have mentioned, this story has stayed with me my entire life. For children alive and able to understand what happened, it was a gripping and terrifying event.

A few of the things that were reported (as best I recall):

The nuns were heroic in every way. There were stories of nuns rolling the children down the stairs (what were left of them) to help them escape the fire. Some reportedly lowered or dropped children from the windows in an effort to save them.

One story told of a child (a girl, I think) who saw a brown line, possibly with some smoke, tracing a path along the floor next to her desk and pointed it out to a school mate. It was the fire, burning beneath their flooring, and only moments later it roared out of control and consumed the classroom.

Parents showed up at the school to search for their children.

It was a horribly cold day - there were stories (even a photo, I think) of finding a child's shoe on the ground, filled with ice from the water of the fire hoses having frozen in it.

My prayers still go out to the dear babies who were lost, to anyone who experienced the tragedy, and especially to families who lost their sweet children (or their dear relatives serving as nuns). I cannot imagine what they went through.

For those who weren't around in those days - it was quite standard for school houses, especially older buildings, to have wooden floors in their classrooms. A school of this vintage would have been like a tinder box in many ways - full of aged wooden floors and walls, and particularly dry and combustible in the winter weather, with the heat going full-force. Many schools in that era were heated by coal furnaces.

This terrible event surely helped push for reform in school safety. Education is often the lowest budget priority. Such attitudes have repeatedly put our most vulnerable family members at risk.


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.