| Posted by: |
Joe Bonadonna |
On: |
8/11/2010 |
ID: |
523 |
| Enrolled on 12/1/58? |
Present on 12/1/58? |
Injured? |
Age |
Grade |
Classroom |
Teacher |
| Yes |
Yes |
No |
6 |
1 |
Joseph Hal |
maybe Sister Mary St. Denise |
I can't recall if I was in Joseph or Mary Hall, but it was on the second floor of one of the two houses OLA used for kindergarden and 1st grade; these buildings were on Hamlin Avenue, across the street from the former synogogue the church purchased and named, OLA Hall. I was in first grade,bu also can't remember who my teach was: I want to say Sister Mary St. Denise, but I'm not certain.
I used to get walked to and from school everyday by an older girl, a neighbor's daughter who lived across the alley from us, on Trumbull Ave. But on this particular day, my Mom told her that she would be shopping on the Avenue (as we called Chicago Avenue back then), and that she would pick me and my cousin up from school and walk us home at the end of the day.
It was toward the end of the school day, as I recall. We were all just sitting at our desks, either doing work or listening to our teacher. My Mother suddenly barged into the classroom with two other women, screaming, "The school blew up! The school's on fire!" Then we heard the sirens as the nun tried to calm my mother and the other ladies down. I can't remember if it was a priest or another nun who rushed into the classroom to tell us what happened; everything turned into a dream-like blur. Class was quickly dismissed, and my mother and I went next door to get my cousin Madlyn Gnoffo out of kindergarden. Then my Mom dragged us east down Iowa, to Homan Avenue, where we lived. I remember seeing flames and smoke as we rushed home.
My Mom left my cousin Madlyn and me with my Grandma who lived upstairs from us; Madlyn lived next door to us, and her mother wasn't home yet. My Mom then ran all the way back from Homan Avenue to Hamlin, where she wasn't allowed to go any farther. She had gone back to OLA to see if there was anything she could do, and to look for Madlyn's older brother Michael, who was in 5th or 6th grade, I think. Another cousin, Vivian Guercio, was also in the school; she was about 2 or 3 grades ahead of me. Thank God, both Vivian and Michael were okay. But it wasn't until later that evening,after my Dad came home from work, that we learned about the neighbor's daughter who used to walk me to and from school. She died in the fire. Her name was Mary Ellen Pettenon and she was only 9 years old.
I don't think there's one person who lived in that wonderful neighborhood or who attended OLA that wasn't touched in one way or another by the terrible tragedy. Everyone you knew had a cousin, a brother, a sister, a child, or a friend who died or was injured that day. We grew up with the memory. It affected all our lives in different ways. I was in the same grade with Barbara Andreoli, whose brother Jerry was injured in the fire. I played in my first rock and roll band with Randy Andreoli, their brother; our band often rehearsed in Men's Shop Moderne, their parents' clothing store, after they closed for the evening. Years later, at Osco Drug,I worked with a guy named Tom Carr, whose older sister, Kathleen, died in the fire; our fathers knew each other from the trucking industry. Another guy at work told me his father was one of the firemen fighting the fire that day. I worked with a pharmacist who was an apprentice at St. Anne's on that dreadful day, and told me how horrible it was to see so many kids being rushed into that hospital. It seems I never stop running into people who knew someone or had a family member who was there that day. It certainly is a day I'll never forget.
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