The church is a little run down and is now an evangelical church, but on every December 1st it is still the site of a Catholic mass. There were about 25 people at the mass and the mood was very somber and prayerful. The readings were done by OLA graduates from the early sixties and the mid seventies, if memory serves me correctly. Candles, each one affixed with a name of victim, were lit during the mass and placed in the alcove in the upper left of the church as seen in the photo. After the mass people were invited to take a candle home if they wished. We waited for the relatives and fire victims to take whatever candles they wished, and then we took a few home for ourselves (I took Joseph Maffiola and a few others). While taking the candles we overheard some conversations and entered into a few through which we met some people that were students at the time and others that were too young to be in school, but had parents that remember the time well. One man commented that his father identified a boy because a neighbor was unable to find the strength to. It was a sad day, but a very comforting one as well. It was my first time visiting the site and I found it very interesting and worthwhile in trying to further put together the story in my head.

I’m endlessly fascinated and moved by the events of that day.

i dont know if this will offer any comfort but for those who have lost loved ones from this tragedy maybe if you think of all the lives that were saved in the long run from what people learned about fire safety you will get a little less sadness from this tragedy!!

kt

Another thing I remember is not being able to get a hold of my mother. She had heard about the fire, and was on her way down hoping I was alive. But, couldn't find me, as they were taking all the surviving children to other homes close by. They were also bringing in burned children to homes before transporting them to hospitals.

I still think of my friend Joan. When I made my confirmation years later, I took the name of Joan for my name. I miss her very much.

My parents told me about "some horrific fire in a Catholic school in Chicago". They said one nun had bravely tried to shield children as she hurried them through smokey corridors.

Though we were Jewish, I had playmates that were Catholic. I took it to heart because I knew (potentially) that my friends could have been victims. (Just like when viewing film footage of young Holocaust victims, I always put myself in their shoes).

Horrific events, especially involving children, always affect me permanently. I pray those involved have healed, and that far stricter safety standards prevail.

Any child or adolescent who deliberately sets fires is SICK!! (Assuming OLA fire was arson).

Nowadays, any student with such a deranged mind would get immediate counseling. If necessary, they'd be committed to a mental hospital as a danger to themselves and others.

In 1958, it must have been different. Nuns were probably not trained to recognize mental illness in a pupil. And they obviously had far too many students in their classes anyway.

It is possible the Church was reluctant to pursue the matter, even if they and the police knew the likely suspect.

Finally, one cannot help but ponder:

If a single person DID start the OLA fire, and he is alive today, what is he doing?

Does he have a family? Work each day? Attend Mass?

Has he set other fires? (probably) Been caught? Engaged in other violent behavior?

Does his conscience bother him, or is he devoid of human feelings?

The arsonist's identity and related info would afford some "closure" -- if that is possible.

I would appreciate comments of others. Thank you.

C. Levy

levy2001us@yahoo.com

It was two days before my 10th birthday. I was attending a Public school (Perkins Bass Elementary) that was of the same vintage as OLA, and of the same construction; brick exterior, wooden interior.

Adults didn't talk to thier kids about events like this back then; our main contact was the TV coverage. I can still see the horrible film on WGN-TV, and I still hear the awful, somber music bed they played with the film. It haunts me to this day.

The next day at school... every kid was quiet, subdued, and terrified. Most of us were literally in a state of shock, and many of us were afraid it would happen again, but this time at OUR school.

The only folks who seemed to realize the impact on us kids were our teachers. They did what our parents didn't; they tried to talk to us about what had happened. They lightened up on us a bit as far as discipline and studies were concerned. And, I STILL thank my teacher for TELLING us a minute or two in advance that there was about to be a fire drill; if she hadn't, she'd probably have had to cope with a classroom full of terrified, panic stricken little psychotics when that bell went off in the hall.

I can remember that I was afraid to fall asleep at night for several weeks after the fire. The only other time that happened to me was during the 1962 Cuban Missle Crisis.

I can only say to parent who read these lines...

I know that it's difficult to do during a public tragedy like the OLA fire, but PLEASE remember that even tho they may not show it, YOUR KIDS MAY BE MUCH MORE SERIOUSLY AFFECTED BY THE TRAGEDY THAN YOU REALIZE. THEY NEED YOU TO OPEN LINES OF COMMUNICATION AND TALK TO THEM ABOUT WHAT THEY'RE FEELING!!!

I haven't suffered the personal loss that so many have nor was my family destroyed. My father kept me isolated from what happened after the fire but I still carry it. Here are some ramblings I'll call my story.

I was in Room 208 and I think the first desk in the window row or the one right next to that. Philip Tampone sat next to me, but I was closer to window. I recall Phil wore glasses with chrome or some sort of reflective arms. Phil didn't make it. My mom took me to his wake at the Lupo funeral home on Chicago Ave.

The classroom doors were closed and the doors were rattling. Sister thought the 8th graders were lined up in the hall and that they were leaning against the door. Sister told someone to go the door and tell the 8th graders to move away. Whoever tried to open the door couldn't. It seems to me that either Sister told someone else to try or tried herself to open the door. That's about the time the smoke started oozing in quickly around the doors. I think Sister told the taller boys to open the windows as the smoke began to fill the room then told us to sit and pray. A boy whose name I remember as Mike (found out later it was Mike Nagle .. he passed away about 8 years ago) said something like "I'm getting out of here." Somehow, I leaned over a window ledge (I was very short then) and saw flames shooting from the stairwell landing window. I've always been terrified of heights but I crawled out onto (I heard the sound of glass breaking behind me) and over the window ledge and wound up hanging there for what seems like a very long time but was probably a few seconds. I let go but didn't fall very far as I landed first on the roof of the outside entrance to the basement chapel and then rolled off that to the ground. Jimmy Krajewski hit the ground about the same time I did. I learned later that both his legs or ankles were broken. I sprained my left ankle..that was it. When I was still a boy, I often wondered why I was so lucky because of the hole in the roof over where my desk was.

The first thing I did after getting on the ground was run into the grocery store across the alley and call my parents. I remember the first ladders being brought up to the building as I was running to the store. Mom told me years later that my dad ran all the way to the school. We lived in the 1200 block of Pulaski then and that's easily a mile or a bit more from the school. I know I ran around looking for my brother who was in 2nd grade on the first floor on the Iowa St. side of the school. I eventually found him or he found me. Somehow, we wound up in someone's house toward the north end of Avers. I don't remember much else after that. Dad took us home when he found us and wouldn't let us go near the school until after Christmas. I went there anyway.

After the fire there were the bus rides to Help of Christians for half day sessions and I was in the group sent to finish out the year at Orr school on Keeler (or was it John Hay school on Laramie Ave?). My parents bought a house out of the parish in the 1400 block of north Kildare the following April. OLA wouldn't let me finish 8th grade the next year because of that so I attended Sts. Cyril and Methodius school at Kildare and Walton.

I attended OLA from 2nd through 7th grades and classes in the north wing of the school just twice. The first time was 5th grade and Room 210 with Sister Mary Albia (I'll never forget her). The second was 7th grade and Room 208. My best friend back then was Gary Wassinger. Gary's sister was in Room 210 at the time of the fire and I know she was burned some but got out safely down a ladder. The fire has stayed with her these many years and with Gary. He was in the south wing in Sister Andrienne's room.

As the years have passed the fire has come back to me in a few unique ways. Our family doctor was a Dr. Olechowski, Janet Olechowski's uncle. During the late '70's and early '80's I was living and working in the Dallas area and found Michelle McBride's book quite by accident in an obscure bookstore. Sometime in the spring of '96 I stopped at the Barnes and Noble bookstore across Rte. 83 from Oakbrook Centre for no reason I can remember and found Cowen & Kuenster promoting their book. I had no idea the book had been published. I bought the book that day with their autograph and finished reading it that evening. I spoke with them after their presentation and they told me about a group known as 'Friends of OLA' that was driven by Joseph Maffiola's younger sister, Linda. She was three at the time of the fire but founded and drove the group because her childhood and family were destroyed by the fire. I recall going with the group to the mass grave in Hillside in December of that year for a memorial service. I lost track of them as I was travelling quite a bit then. Sometime in the late 90's I came across a website that was offering a music cd dedicated to the fire victims. The proceeds went to some fireman's fund.

I remember the tragedy but I also remember the happier times of a young boy in a city neighborhood in the '50's. Those also stay with me. There were the years as a patrol boy at the Division and Hamlin intersection and the years as an altar boy. In third grade, Sister Andrienne was to have been the teacher but I remember her introducing Miss Tristano as our teacher. That must have been her first year at OLA. All I can remember of her is her legs .. and I was in 3rd grade ... ooboy

I can recall Sister Andrienne picking me and one or two others out of class one day and dragging us upstairs to her class and making us read aloud from the big blue American history book. I think it was to show her class that 3rd graders could read better than her class was.

We lived at 1231 N. Pulaski back then and directly across the street from the Crystal Bakery.

Andy Lego - Hoffman Estates, IL
ajlego@yahoo.com

Joe DiPiazza

Madison, WI