About me: |
I grew up on the south side of Chicago near the Bridgeport area in the 50's and 60's. Attended Catholic grammar and high school in Chicago, as well as a catholic university. The grammar school I attended built a new school in 1959 and was one of the first in Chicago to implement the new fire standards as a result of the fire.
My father grew up around Chicago and Western and he knew many people that were affected by the fire. My grandmother lived at Grand and Springfield and as a boy spend many days in the Our Lady of Angels neighborhood when we visited her. I remember it being an amazing, vibrant neighborhood. My most vivid memory as a young boy was trying to calm my mother down as she heavily sobbed watching TV and saw the local news footage of hysterical parents running to the school looking for their children I also remember how modern and streamlined the new Our Lady of Angels school looked when it first opened in 1960, almost something out of the future.
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