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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: john montedore On: 2/12/2003 ID: 61
Enrolled on 12/1/58? Present on 12/1/58? Injured? Age Grade Classroom Teacher
Yes Yes No 12 7 2nd floor can
Maybe time does erase so much memory. I was one of the two kids who appeared on the nitely news reports with Fahey Flynn and Frank Reynolds.

Can't remember the tv station but after i escaped slowly down the main staircase from the second floor we all ran to the rectory next door to drink water and sooth our coughing. As i had struggled down the very narrow staircase i remember stepping on people who had fallen on the steps. The smoke was so black and thick you couldn't even see the large globe lights on the ceiling, let alone what was in front of you. I was scared to say the least. But the struggle to get down those steps was far from easy. It was sheer panic in total darkness. To make matters worse, about a third of the way down, i lost my right shoe and i struggled to hold back the pushing crowd to feel on the steps for my lost shoe. I remember thinking my parents would be angry if i lost a shoe. But i was quickly pushed along down the stairs by the stampede of

panicked kids. I remember the screeming. i remember the fear and the darkness. After getting water at the rectory we emerged to stand across the street and watch as the building burned and children jumped up to two stories down. Around 3:30 or so two reporters approached a friend and i (i can't remember his name) and asked if we would go to the television station with them to tell our story. We kind of jumped at the chance being the opportunist that i've always been but i do remember sitting in the back seat of their car hopping the reporters weren't two kidnappers. We did one or two interviews then they took my friend and me out to dinner at Tad's Steak House. Then back to the station for a couple of more on air interviews. Meantime my poor parents were scouring the neighborhood, like everyone else, looking for their child. Unfortunately, the television people kept trying to call them on the phone but my parents were out doing door to door until quite late. When they finally returned home late that nite thinking i was was one of the lost souls they received their first phone call from an aunt in San Diego, california who had seen me on the news and told them i was ok. Well eventually i got home that nite to very relieved parents.

To this day i've always considered my self a very lucky guy. Even through the usual stumblin blocks of life. At 56 years old i still count my blessings. My parents now live in Des Plaines and in 1979 i moved just north of the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco. The fire did

set up a survival kind of dynamic in my life. I think having that angel on my shoulder that day of the fire kept me believing he'd always be there. So far, so good.

Hello to all my fellow paticipants in our shared tragedy !

John Montedore

e-mail: four2namio@aol.com


Posted by: Chuck On: 2/12/2003 ID: 60
Enrolled on 12/1/58? Present on 12/1/58? Injured? Age Grade Classroom Teacher
Yes Yes No 11 7 201 Sister Mary Andrienne
!


Posted by: Patti On: 2/11/2003 ID: 59
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before


Posted by: Mary E. Garrett. On: 2/11/2003 ID: 58
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No After n/a
My Mother was a teacher at OLA at the time of the fire. Mrs. Garrett (formerly Herlihy). I am named after a girl that die in the fire. her name was Mary Ellen Pettenon.

I have read "To Sleep With The Angels" I obtained a copy of it not long after my son turned 9.

Since then I have searched for any information on Mary Ellen Pettenon that I can find. If anyone has information on her I would greatly appreceat it. I would like to know where she was laid to reat so I may bring flowers for her grave. I would like to see a picture of her, so that I may know finally what she looks like. Maybe even contact her family and let them know that my mother made good on her promiss. Let them meet my son, and share him with them as Mary Ellen would have shared her children.

And most selfishly for me, lay to rest the ghost who's shadow I have lived in all my life. I dont think that my mother even realized that all of my life she compaired me to her, and sadly I did not fill the bill.

Thank-you for letting me bring this out in the open.

Rev. Mary E. Garrett

Lylymaiden@netscape.net


Posted by: Kristine On: 2/10/2003 ID: 57
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Chicago's North Side
At the time of the fire I was attending a catholic high school on the north side. It remember that it was a very bright, cold day. I was in the history class when we started to hear the continuous sound of fire engines. It seemed to us that every fire truck in the city was on the streets. The nun, who was teaching our class went to the window and looked out. I remember she commented that there must be a big fire somewhere. The phone in our class room rang shortly afterward (this never happend). Sister told us that there was a fire in a catholic school and that we must pray for God's help. After returning to our home rooms were told to go directly home. When I got home I saw Frank Reynolds talking to a student on television, and the horror of what had happened was being shown on the TV. Many of my friends lost brothers and sisters in the fire. The nuns forbade us to speak to these students about the fire when they returned to school. It wasn't good manners to ask them about their personal tragedy. I still remember seeing the picture of a nun being brought down a ladder by a fireman, and the children standing around them with awful expressions. I don't know if she was one of the nuns who died or if she was just injured. It was dreadfull. I have taught CCD was over 21 years in three different parishes, but the first thing I always do is to make sure I can get my class out of the school just in case there is a fire. I'll never forget that fire as long as I live.


Posted by: Pat Reavy On: 2/10/2003 ID: 56
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Chicago's Far West Side
I did not attend Our Lady of the Angels School. On December 1, 1958, I was in the fifth grade at St.Catherine of Siena School on the far west side of Chicago (located at Austin and Washington). Because so many died on that tragic day, Our Lady of the Angels Church was unable to handle all of the funeral masses. We were told by the nuns at our school that one of the funeral masses would be at St.Catherine of Siena Church. We were told by the nuns that all the children from our school would attend the mass. I have never forgotten that day. The little girl's name was Annette LaMantia. She was 10 years old. I have thought of her many times over the past 44 years. It was the only time I ever experienced a family in such tremendous emotional pain over the loss of their beloved child. I can still see her mother collapsing in grief and sorrow. I guess I just want to tell her family that even though I never knew their daughter. I remember. I remember Annette.


Posted by: Fran (Panno) S. On: 2/10/2003 ID: 55
Enrolled on 12/1/58? Present on 12/1/58? Injured? Age Grade Classroom Teacher
Yes Yes Yes 10 5 212 Sister Therese
I have never really had the opportunity to talk about this much..and actually hestitated to do it now. I watched the program on channel

11, and from there I found this website. The really strange part is, I dont live in Chicago anymore, but I flew in the day before the program aired to be with my mother as she was having surgery, and I saw an article in the newspaper about the program. I guess I was suppose to see it.

The night before the fire, I layed in bed and kept having a sense of fear... I told my mother something bad is going to happen at school, I had no vision of fire, just a sense of fear, but it was strong, she just told be to go to sleep and stop being silly. The next morning I still had the feeling, so strong in fact that I refused to go to school, I cried and carried on, my mother was convinced that I didnt do my homework and was afraid to go to class, but I was afraid, and kept on saying something bad is going to happen, as it turned out, she let me stay home that morning because it got late from all the carrying on , but at lunchtime she said YOU WILL GO TO SCHOOL....and I did!

I can honestly say I dont think about it much... I dont want to...but this week I cant seem to stop thinking about it.

We were at our desks in room 212 and I can still see the page in the book... It was Geography.. and there was a picture of children sitting on a beach somewhere, I can still see the seashells in that picture. I remember hearing what sounded like a choir, Sister even said " maybe they are practicing in the church " but later it was said there was no one singing in the church... to this day Im convinced it was the Angels coming to escort the children to heaven. I can still hear little Robert Anglim (he sat in the first row, right by the door) say... Sister... smoke!!!! it was seeping in trough the door... but he couldnt open it...It was rattling, and then Sister tried, but there was really nothing she could do either,we couldnt get out of the room, so she told us to stay at our desks and pray. We did that for awhile, but soon it was all out of control...from here my memory is out of focus... The room filled with smoke so fast... you couldnt see... somehow I was blessed and sat in the row next to the windows, but I didnt know what to do.. The boys started throwing books and things to break the widows and soon everyone in the room was pushing against me to reach the windows for air or escape. I was holding a girl named Maria's hand.. Maria was a bit older than the rest of us.. she was from Italy and didnt speak English well, I use to take her to my Grandmothers house for lunch sometimes. My grandmother lived on Iowa and Lawndale.. and she use to speak to Maria in Italian... anyway Maria started to laugh and I remember telling her this isnt funny Maria... I didnt realize then that it was hysterical laughter. Maria and I were seperated there at the windows and somehow I lived and she didnt.

I crawled up on the window ledge and stratled the ledge with one leg outside and one over the radiator.. one hand on that handle on the window and the other one trying to wave smoke away but it was so thick... I remember telling my mother later that it was like mashed potatoes. There was a boy hanging from the sill... I couldnt breathe anymore.. and the children behind me were pushing so hard that I felt that soon I would have to jump.. I couldnt see out the window and honestly thought the firemen werent going to come.. but the boy hanging from the sill ( and I never did see who it was, although I think it was a boy named Frank M. ) He said dont jump they are coming now.. and then I saw a fireman help the boy down.. and reach up for me... I climbed out into his arms, but the latter was short, he got me and led me down and when I hit the air I must of passed out I never remembered getting to the ground, I just remember coming to.. and seeing total chaos. bodies on the ground, flames in room 210 and kids sitting lined up along the wall across the alley.. and thats where I figured I should be.. but somehow I heard my mothers voice in that crowd.. and I crawled up to here and pulled on her coat and said Here I am Mommy... she scooped me up and carried me into the convent... but then I guess she decided she would try to go to my Grandmothers house.. as she walked out carrying me a fireman took over he carried me to an ambulance and we ended up in Franklin Pk hospital... and things were crazy there too.. so much terror going on, parents looking for their children, Hospital staff trying to keep up. I was bandaged on my arms and sent home. My dad was driving home from work and met us at the house... it seemed the whole neighborhood was standing there in front of the house. I was home for about an hour... and throwing up soot... and my ears were burnt badly, no one seemed to notice that at first... I went back to another hospital I was put into an oxygen tent and my burns were tended to there, but that night I was left there alone, most likely in shock, I still dont know why my parents werent allowed to stay. I do remember a firefighter coming in to see me the next morning, he was also a patient, but no one really talked to me. I saw a newspaper, but no one would let me look through it. I was so lucky or blessed, my burns were mostly 2nd degree except for a few 3rd on my arms. my hair was scorched... it was long and in a pony tail.. I remember having it cut off a few weeks later. I smelled smoke on my body for the longest time, as though it had permiated my skin. for awhile,I was so araid of the dark, that I had to have lights on at night. I was afraid of buses or elevators, anything where the doors closed. I still dont like elevators, and flying is so hard for me to do. Im sorry to ramble on... Im not sure there is any real reason to write any of this... but no one ever let me talk not my parents....NO ONE! Whenever I am in a theater,or hotel, or any public assembly, I still search out the exits. I cant light a barbeque, To this day... I always minimize my own pain and just move on...I accept things I probably shouldnt. Yet I tend to everyone elses needs, maybe too much, but I never want anyone to feel the way I feel inside..(overlooked) My husband passed away 5yrs ago and his family was all buried at Queen Of Heaven... so now I have visited the graves of all the victims buried there.

MY children are the only ones who have ever really heard this story... to this day my parents dont want to talk about it. And Im sad to say.. I dont feel real close to them. I respect them but I think Im healthier away from Chicago. The city or the Church.. should offer counceling..Yes, even now, 45yrs later...since there was none available then... And I will freely say that anyone involved..had their lives profoundly affected... weather they realize it or not.

I now live in Florida... and all I can say is... We survived for a reason...and whenever I question Gods presence.. I still remind myself that I truely think I heard the Angels sing that day!

God bless you all...And to the families that lost a child.. I finally have the chance to say... I'm so very sorry!


Posted by: Patricia Addante On: 2/9/2003 ID: 54
Enrolled on 12/1/58? Present on 12/1/58? Injured? Age Grade Classroom Teacher
Yes Yes No 6 2 104 Mrs Garrett (nee Herlahy)
I was in 2nd grade at OLA the day of the fire. When the fire alarm went off, I thought that it was a fire drill. We knew exactly what to do and so left our room and lined up on the stairs going outside. I turned around to look for the 'older' students who usually lined up on the stairs right behind us since they were on the 2nd floor. That day they were not there and a billow of black smoke surrounded the 2nd floor door. That's when I knew that it was a real fire. My class was brought across the street in front of the convent. From there I could see children screaming for help from the 2nd floor windows. For years I wondered if they had survived. I found out while reading 'To Sleep With The Angels' that no children died in that particular room.

Because we had no coats and it was a cold winter day, we were eventually brought into the church. From there we were told to go into a neighborhood home and call our parents. I had a friend who lived across the street from the church on Hamlin Ave. I went to her home and her mother called my mother asking her to bring a coat and pick me up. Thank goodness my mother got the phone call before she knew about the fire, or she would have left the house to look for me and been frantic.

I have no physical scars from that day, but the fire affected me in ways that I'm still discovering as an adult. We did not talk about what happened either at home or at school. That was the way people dealt with situations in those days. They felt the less said,the better and just get on with life.

Fortunately, I have had opportunities to meet with other survivors through the Friends of OLA which was organized by Linda Maffiola. I also have read the book 'To Sleep With The Angels'. Though it has been difficult to bring up these memories and emotions, this is what is helping me to heal.

The children and nuns who were lost that day and all of the people affected by this tragedy will always be in my heart.


Posted by: Charlene Campanale On: 2/9/2003 ID: 53
Enrolled on 12/1/58? Present on 12/1/58? Injured? Age Grade Classroom Teacher
Yes Yes Yes 9 4 210 Sr. Serraphica
I was in grade 4 in Room 210 with Sr. Serraphica at the time of the fire. We all smelled smoke, and kept interrupting the lesson to tell the nun, but she dismissed it as "burning leaves" which was allowed at that time. Then the smell kept getting stronger, but within two minutes of our first noticing the smell, their was thick dark itense smoke pouring in over the transom. We all gasped and she ordered us to stand up and pray the rosary. She went to the back door of the classroom and pushed it open, but the fire gases blew this door open very hard and it pushed her against the back wall. We all gasped as we were so used to being in control. We all lost control at that point, stopped praying and ran for the windows. The nun ordered the bigger boys in our room to lower the upper windows. I saw her waving her hands and trying to hush us down. Everyone was screaming, crying and pounding on the window sills asking for help, crying for their mommies.

The people on the pavement included mothers, the grocery store owner from across the alley we were facing and they were telling us not to jump, the firemen would be coming soon. My best friend, Janet Gasetier, came up to me. She was crying and her skin was full of red and white blotches, she screamed to me, "Charlene, Charlene, I'm so scared!" and I don't even remember saying anything, crying or screaming at all, as I was totally numb. I felt like I was in a nightmare, and I seemed to be disconnecting to reality. I kept remembering the commercials over the summer that said "if your're drowning, don't panic" and I kept saying that to myself. I could see Room 212 on one side of me that had the fifth graders just as hysterical as we were. I could also see Room 208 which had the sixth graders on the other side of our room, also hysterical. The other rooms had some boys that were now jumping out of the windows. I remember thinking that I wished I was older and bigger, but I wasn't. I saw many of the adults on the pavement praying the rosary, kneeling, crying, screaming and pulling their hair out in hysteria. The pavement looked like a war zone to me, with many of the window jumpers covered with blood. I noticed that the ones who jumped were either laying very still on the pavement, which I read as a little child would, "just resting". I also noticed that some of the window jumpers were propped up against the opposite side of the alley with blood streaming down their faces, and that some of them were talking to each other--this gave me the idea that you could jump and be ok. I also spotted one of my former neighbors, Johanna Uting, laying face down on the pavement, but as she turned around, I could see her leg was split completely open and covered with blood. As I looked down at her I knew that if she could do it, I could do it, too.

I took off my glasses and threw them down on the pavement below, and wished that I could be where my glasses were. I was now choking and coughing from the smoke and so was everyone else. I was having trouble breathing, so I felt I had to get out. I started to climb up on the window sill, but each time I tried, a group of boys behind me grabbed my blouse and legs and pulled me back in telling me not to jump as I would hurt myself. I remember the firemen coming and the ladders were put in the other classroom windows first, and everyone was pounding and screaming for them to put the ladders in our windows, but some of the ladders were too short anyways. Everyone cheered when they saw the firemen pulling up as they assumed they would rescue all of us.
Finally, I got up on the window sill and kicked backwards and wiggled away from the boys who tried to stop me, I had to fight to get out of that window. I climbed up on the outer ledge of the window and remember standing straight up. At that point, I either passed out or jumped as I went into shock.

My grandmother came to get me and kept screaming my name as she said there were so many bodies she could not see mine. As she called my name, I answered her with "Grandma, I am here!" yet I was still in shock and do not remember saying that. I started to gain consciousness when she and two other young women were carrying me to her car and layed me in the back seat. I remember the two women crying and saying "the poor dear." My grandmother was crying, swearing and praying in Polish. She drove to our house and into the grocery store, Sally's, on Thomas and Springfield that was next door. She left the back door of the car open and ran inside the house to phone my mom at work. The owners of the store, Stanley and Sally, and the customers as well, walked into the back door area of the car and peered in at me. When my grandmother came out, Stanley told her not to drive as she was too hysterical, and he got in the car to drive. She was in the front seat with him. Stanley drove very fast and was pulled over by a policman who scolded him for driving too fast. My grandmother and Stanley screamed out that there had been a school fire and that there will be others rushing to hospitals. He then told them never to drive that way or they would kill all of us. He then put on his siren and escorted us to the hospital.

At the hospital, they pulled up a stretcher by the car and the nurses and orderlies started to pull me out of the back seat, this is when I had my first feeling of huge pain. I screamed as they got me on the stretcher, and rushed me into the x-ray room where they started to cut my uniform off with scissors. My mother came in, as the doctor asked me where did I feel pain, and I screamed out, "MY BACK!!" and my mother got hysterical at this point, and they escorted her from the room. After x-rays, they wheeled me up to a room and I was not to eat or drink, but my throat was so dry and rough and I kept begging for water. They let my aunt who was crying and praying a rosary blot my lips with a wet washrag, and I kept trying to suck the water out. I was told I was on the critical list, and a priest came in and gave me the last rites. I knew it was the last rites as we had been drilled on what it was at our school.

I was not allowed to turn on my side and told to just lay completely flat on my back which I felt was very uncomfortable without any pillow. I had to remain that way, with head traction and weights pulling my head upwards and with a towel rolled under my spine for three months. During that time, I also had many problems with my intestinal system (probably from lying around so much)that was treated with enemas, which were painful. Because I was at Norwegian American Hospital and not in one of the other hospitals that most of the fire victims went to, I did not get all of the gifts and cards that the others were reported to get. My mother called the newspaper and they published two articles in the Sun-Times and then I got 7,000 cards and gifts the first week alone from around the whole world. The second week I got 4,000 and it kept coming. It eventually took us two years to read and sort through it all, but it kept me busy and distracted at least.
I remember one woman, named Mary Martin, who actually sent me a present a day, who lived in Kalamzoo, Michigan. Also, Jim Moran, the courtesy motors man, who had a car business in our neighborhood, invited all of the fire victims to a gathering where Cisco Kid was there and we had box lunches of fried chicken and then a shriner carried me up a flight of stairs to see the circus. He also offered to buy us anything we wanted--and my grandmother wanted me to ask for a stereo unit, which was expensive in those days, so I did.
Anyways, I got out of the hospital the end of February with sitting in a wheelchair and a body cast that covered from my entire torso, but I still had to lay in bed most of the time or sit with the traction device strapped on. I was sent one of the lay teachers to tutor me and they had a group of us which included Teresa Whittaker and Frank Della who came to my home for summer school lessons. I remember seeing how badly burnt they were, and since I was the one not walking they had to come to my home. That summer we were linked to another small group who were being tutored by another teacher, Ms. Coughlin--my teacher was Ms. Tristano. We all got together for a barbeque at Ms. Coughlin's home. All of the fire victims were invited to a special summer overnight camp, but I could not go as I could not walk, so my cousin went for me, and I remember crying about that one.

I continued to have nightmares and would wake up for about the next four years drenched in soaking sweat and had to have my pajamas changed each night in the middle of the night. I had one episode where I saw a shadow move across our front door, and started screaming that it was a fire. My mother got me in the car and drove me to a doctor who never even saw me and perscribed tranquilizers. I was moved to my grandmother's flat which was on the first floor of our two-flat. I felt better on the first floor as I figured I would not have to jump so far if anything were to happen.

After 7 months of the body cast and wheelchair, I was put in a torso brace that allowed to handle some walking. I still could not get up stairs, and had to go to Immaculate Conception School because they had an elevator. I still, emotionally, could not handle going into schools, and my mother had to sit in the office everyday to help me transition to being in a school. Eventually she just kept leaving the school for short breaks, and then stopped coming. On our first fire drill, one little boy in back of me kept teasing me and telling me it was a real fire, and I got hysterical until the nun stopped him and comforted me with telling me it wasn't real.

I returned to Our Lady of the Angels when the new school was built and I was in the sixth grade. Every fire drill made my heart beat very fast and I felt a sense of panic each time. It took me many years to be able to talk about the fire. After meeting my husband at age 19, I did not tell him about the fire until three years later. I also wanted to completely disconnect myself from that fire and remember I avoided talking to the other fire victims who were in my classrooms.
Now, however, I would like to reconnect to them and feel secure enough to talk about this. I eventually became a teacher in Special Education and now work in a school everyday.


Posted by: Jim Grosso On: 2/8/2003 ID: 52
Enrolled on 12/1/58? Present on 12/1/58? Injured? Age Grade Classroom Teacher
Yes Yes No 10 5 206 Ms. Tristano
My name is Jim Grosso and I graduated from OLA in 1962. We were the second class to graduate from the new building. I was in room 206 on the day of the fire, which was on the 2nd floor of that part of the school that connected the 2 wings. It was 45 years ago, and at the time we were discouraged from talking about the fire, so it's certainly possible, if not likely, that all the details may not be exactly correct. In any case, here is what I remember: On the afternoon of the fire, Ms. Tristano sent me and another boy on an errand down to the basement but we never made it. We saw smoke and went back to the room. After what seemed like a long time, but I think was probably a relatively short time, Miss Tristano led us down the stairway and out of the school. On the way out I clearly remember Ms. Tristano pulling the fire alarm, and once we were outside, I remember her sending us home. I remember at the time we left the school building we must have been among the first out of the building, because there were very few other kids around outside the school, and I went home not knowing how bad the fire really was. After reading "To Sleep with the Angels" I learned that at the point we were walking out the front door of the school, the kids in the next class, Room 207, were already trapped and couldn't escape until Fr. Hund and Jim Raymond get them out through the corridor that separated our 2 rooms. Other postings on this site have information somewhat different from what I remember. Specifically, it was said that Ms Tristano took her class to the church, and then went back to pull the fire alarm. I know that I didn't go into the church, and I can clearly remember her pulling the alarm before we left the school. So far I've seen 2 other postings from people who were also in room 206, and I know there must be others out there. Does anyone else from room 206 remember hearing the fire alarm go off as we were leaving the building? Does anyone else remember going directly home vs. going into the church after we left? It seems important to try to get the details as accurate as possible after all these years. The more I read from others who were there, the more I question my own recollections.