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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: mary On: 12/19/2012 ID: 607
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No After n/a
I just found out this weekend that my father, a Chicago Police Officer, was dispatched to the OLA school to help rescue children. My dad is now 84 years old, and this was the first I heard of it. He could not and would not tell his children about the awful events of that day.

Up to Saturday, Dec. 17, 2012, he had never, ever mentioned this to me. The reason he told me about it was our discussion of the tragedy in Connecticut.

He described his anguish helping injured children into his squad car, then driving to at least two hospitals before they (he and his partner) found a willing facility. My dad is the toughest of the tough, and listening to him tell his story was very painful; clearly still distraught at the horrible scene they encountered, he broke down and cried when telling it.

My heart breaks that he was a witness who did his best to help, and still he couldn't save any lives that day. He, more than ever, is my hero.


Posted by: Lorraine Riseley Phernetton On: 12/17/2012 ID: 606
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Villa Park, Chicago suburb
I came to this site because I, like the previous person who left a message, was trying to recall when I felt as much severe emotional pain, as I am currently feeling for the victims and families in Newtown,CT. Those beautiful vunerable little angels. I remember hearing about the OLA fire from my parents. They were horrified as everyone else was, but didn't want to talk much about it. I had just turned 13, so I got a newspaper the next day. Those newspaper pictures were so graphic and painful to look at, I knew I would never forget them. My sister was a few years older than I was. I asked her recently if she remember that fire. She has no recollection of it. I was surprise to read the message before mine. That someone else had the same thought process, or emotional process as I did. I also wonder if she thought about the boy who had said he started the fire on purpose. I wondered if God was going to send him to hell. I also wonder if these emotionally painful stories, help or hurt the healing process.


Posted by: Linda Kay On: 12/17/2012 ID: 605
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before western MN
As I watched the horrible story about the school shootings in Newtown CT on Friday, I began thinking about the most horrible thing I could remember from my grade school days. I started thinking about the Catholic school fire in Chicago during the late 1950's. I couldn't remember when it was, but knew that I was about eight or nine years old, and attended a two-story Catholic school in a small town in western Minnesota. I could remember a newspaper image, and it turned out to be the picture on the first page of your website. I remember being terrified, and my parents assuring me that my school was new, and mostly concrete, so that big a fire was unlikely to happen in my school. I remember our Benedictine Sisters being very kind and nurturing; they encouraged us to pray for the families of "God's newest angels." I am now approaching the end of a four decade career in the public schools, and I think a recollection of that fire helped shape an attitude of careful alertness to any possible danger that could come to the children in my care. I send prayers and thoughts of peace, to relatives in Chicago, and to grieving families in CT.


Posted by: Janet Q On: 12/16/2012 ID: 604
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Indianapolis, Indiana
Media coverage was not what it is today. I heard about the fire from the newspaper and my school. There were also some stories on the TV News. I remember how upset the nuns were at St Joan of Arc, Indpls., and praying for the lives lost. It was so sad. My school building looked similar to the pictures and how I worried that the same thing could happen to me or my classmates and teachers. I had difficulty sleeping and for a long time I checked the doors and the hallways. Feelings were not a topic discussed. While I was just 9 years old at the time and I knew not a soul that perished, I have never forgotten the tragedy.


Posted by: Bill Benz On: 12/15/2012 ID: 603
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Chicago
In Dec. 1958 I was in Mr. Hill's 5th grade class at J.B.Murphy public school on E. Grace St. when I heard about the fire. This was the first time in my life that I felt empahty for other people, Kids. Kids like me, my age, doing the same thing I do every day, go to school, but ending, for them, in horror. Newtown, CT. reminded me of that day in 1958. I wish Jesus would spare small children.


Posted by: KME On: 12/9/2012 ID: 602
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Bellevue KY
I was in 8th grade at the time of the fire,, and had heard about it on the news. The next morning our pastor came into our room, and told us some more about it. He told us that the children who survived did so because they were obedient children and followed their teachers' orders. Even then I did not believe the children who had died did so because they did not follow directions. Father C made it sound like their death was punishment for disobedience. I was deathly afraid of fire before that time, and the OLA fire and the priest's word fueled my fears. I spent many nights of sleeplessness worrying about my own safety, and thinking of the students of OLA during the days following the fire.

I have been fascinated by all that happened that day. One time I took my own children to the local fire museum in Cincinnati, and there in a display, I saw a newspaper article about the fire.

Recently, I had asked my sister-in-law if she remembered the fire, and that discussion made us "google" it. That day just happened to be the anniversary of the fire. It has been on my mind even more since then. I have read much of the website. Although I have never experienced anything as tragic as this fire, I have felt the pain of the children, and now, at this point in my life, I feel that of the parents too.

The families and their children remain in my prayers after all this time.


Posted by: Pat G. On: 12/1/2012 ID: 601
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No After n/a
The first time I learned about the tragedy, I was in 8th grade in a Catholic School in Chicago in 1987. An assignment was given to us to research the OLA fire. Ever since then, the victims have had a special place in my heart. As I'm typing this, I shed tears of what could've been of the students. I am so grateful there were heroes who put their lives on the lines to save many. God bless the survivors and may the angels in heaven guide us....


Posted by: AngelNurses On: 12/1/2012 ID: 600
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 a nurse at St. Anne's Hospital at that time. She was off duty but everyone was called in. She said it was the most horrible thing to see all these kids suffering and as in a previous post about the kids screaming in pain, my Mom was one of those people who had to turn the kids. Even though it was for their own good to help in the healing the kids didn't understand that. All they knew was every hour they were going to have more pain than any child should of had to endure. Even to this day, she gets a shiver when she thinks back to that horrible tragedy.


Posted by: larz On: 11/30/2012 ID: 599
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Harvey, Illinois
Tomorrow is 12/1/12 and another anniversary of the fire at OLA. I was born in 1957 and was only 1 year old at the time of the fire. By the time I reached 1st grade of my Catholic grade school in 1963 regular fire drills had become a monthly occurrence and continued that way for the next 8 years. This I am sure was a direct result of the OLA fire. I am 55 years old now and work only a few miles from Queen of Heaven cemetery. Quite often throughout the year I go to visit the memorial and grave sites. I say my prayers for the children and I have "adopted" them as my own guardian angels who watch over me daily. Take care.


Posted by: Rose Riker On: 11/1/2012 ID: 598
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Maywood, New Jersey
I was in second grade at Our Lady Queen of Peace school in Maywood, New Jersey at the time of this terrible tragedy. I remember seeing film of the burning school on the television news and seeing the pictures of the children and nuns who had died in the fire in the paper the next day. I remember going to school the and my teacher, Sister Ann Elizabeth talking about it and telling us that we should always make sure that we were in the state of grace because we never knew when God might call us home. I remember we had fire drills every week for about a month after this happened. OLQP was a newer school. It was probably 30 years old while I was attending it. I didn't recall this fire until years later when I read Andrew Greely's book, Angels of September which was based on the Queen of Angels fire. I have not read any of the books about the fire, but I have purchased the two books about it and plan to read them. I think everybody who survived, died, rescued children, or recovered the bodies of the children were very brave and deserve our full respect.