Personal experiences with Our Lady of the Angels School Fire on 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:

Kelley B.

On:

12/11/2003

ID:

136

At OLA on 12/1/58?	Born before or after 12/1/58?	Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No	After	n/a

I was born about eighteen years after the fire at OLA. My father however, was a fifth grade student at nearby Saint Agatha's at the time of the fire. My mother was in the fourth grade at Saint Columbanus on the south side. My father remembers hearing about the fire when he got home that day. He says that he also remembers hearing the sirens and seeing the fire trucks race down the street towards the school. Both of my parents remember the changes that took place not long after the fire. Saint Agatha's and Saint Columbanus were both two story, brick but very old buildings, probably built around the same time as Our Lady of the Angels. Monthly fire drills became routine for them as well as brand new sprinkler systems.

I myself attended a parochial school in the south suburbs, but it was a much newer building, and it was also a single story structure. I do remember, my principal, Sister Mary Marcella, explaining to us why we had fire drills. She mentioned often, a school on the north side that caught fire and most of the children had died. It was often among the hushed stories told by my nuns. They never mentioned the name of Our Lady of the Angels, nor did they ever mention that the building was structurally unsafe. We didn't have fire drills during the winter months, probably because during the 1980s, the winters in Chicago were bitterly cold and snowy. During the fall and spring months, fire drills were a regular routine, especially during the infamous Fire Prevention Week in October, when we could not only count on a visit from the local firemen to host an assembly on fire safety, but we could also count on, like clockwork, a fire drill every day during that week. Now that I am grown up, I believe that Sister Marcella made us have those regular fire drills because she might've been afraid that what happened at OLA might happen to us.

One memory that is vivid in my mind, that sounds a lot like the Cheesebox classroom, is that when I was in third grade, we had a special fire exit. Unlike the Cheesebox though, it was held shut by simple bolts that could be lifted out in seconds. When the fire bell rang, instead of going into the main hallway with the other grades, we went into our coatroom and climbed up four wooden stairs to a door, walked across a concrete landing, and down six steps to another door that led to the outside. So if anything did happen, we could very easily escape. One thing that I do want to mention is that what happened at OLA could've very easily happened at my father's school, or at my mother's. I thank God each and every day that He kept my mom and dad safe when they were attending these still "unsafe" schools. For those that perished though, I do pray for their souls and for their families that were left behind, that they find peace with what happened. Honestly, I believe that the tragedy at OLA occured so that it wouldn't happen to other children. I believe that God allows bad things to happen to teach us valuable lessons. I have a saying, "Out of tragedy comes triumph." And I believe in this situation it did. No one ever took fire safety for granted again. Because of those ninety two beautiful little angels and those three brave nuns, it shouldn't have to happen again.

I also wanted to say this in defense of the nuns that were in those six classrooms that day. I read the book "To Sleep with the Angels" several times, and I have heard the rumors that the nuns had the students pray rather than try to escape. From what the authors of the book describe, by the time they were aware of the fire, the hallway was filled with so much smoke and flames that escape through it was impossible. Most of the time, it is the smoke, not the fire, that kills you. In this case however, the fire and the smoke worked together to make a deadly inferno that nobody, not even a fireman wearing protective equipment could've walked through and come out alive. If the teachers had tried to lead their children through the hallway, chances are that a lot more than ninety two children would've died. The second that they hit that door, they would have been asphyixiated before anyone could blink. It sounds to me like they were praying to try and keep some control and calm in an awful situation. I believe that they did the best that they could, given the circumstances. For the nuns who died, they did what any mother would've done, sacrifice her own safety for that of her children. That to me, is a true act of selfless love...

To the survivors, God bless you and keep you always in perfect peace.To those that lost their lives, may God bring you eternal rest and ressurect you to the place that He has called you.

Amen

Posted by:

Darlene

On:

12/11/2003

ID:

135

At OLA on 12/1/58?	Born before or after 12/1/58?	Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No	After	n/a

(Entry removed - please confine messages and discussions to the Message Board)

Posted by:

Vanguard friend

On:

12/1/2003

ID:

134

At OLA on 12/1/58?	Born before or after 12/1/58?	Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No	Before	Lakeview neighborhood (near Belmont/Damen)

I was only four years old when the fire struck and have no personal recollection of the tragic event. However, both of my parents know exactly what they were doing when the story of the fire broke. Within a year of the fire, my family moved to Des Plaines. About eight years later, my brother and I joined the Des Plaines Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps. It was there that we became acquainted with a beautiful young lady in the corps who my mom told me was a survivor of the fire. I think I remember that she had a scar on one of her arms. I still didn't know the depth of the tragedy until a couple of months ago when I came home from a night class I am taking and found the program about the fire on Channel 11. I was stunned by the depth of the tragedy and have kept you all in my prayers since then. I have been visiting this website frequently. Yesterday in my church bulletin, (St. Matthew in Glendale Heights) was an invitation to your mass tonight. So the word is getting out about the tragedy. As you reflect on the events of 45 years ago, I pray that you find peace. God bless you all.

Posted by:

Nancy H.

On:

11/29/2003

ID:

133

Enrolled on 12/1/58?	Present on 12/1/58?	Injured?	Age	Grade	Classroom	Teacher
Yes	Yes	No	6	1	hamlin ave	Sr. Serena

Our first grade classroom was housed in the annex on Hamlin. Although not directly in the fire, it still affected me. My family were Italian immigrants and my mother spoke barely any English. That cold wintery day, she was coming to school to pick me up and do some grocery shopping on Chicago Ave. But as she approached the school, she noticed the black smoke and the fire equipment that was beginning to arrive at the main school. She ran up the stairs to my second floor classroom screaming "Sister, Sister, the school is on fire". The nun tried to convince my mother that all was well, not knowing what was happening outside. She let my mother take me and I remember the sky covered with black smoke. We ran home to Avers only to find out what was happening. My heart will always go out to those fellow students who were killed, hurt and emotionally scarred.
I remember not talking about it and being out of school for a while...No counseling or acknowledgment of what we little survivors were going through...going to Help of Christians and having a half day of school with a free lunch...then going to John Hay Public School until we moved to the new school in third grade.

Posted by:

Mary

On:

11/24/2003

ID:

132

At OLA on 12/1/58?	Born before or after 12/1/58?	Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No	Before	Chicago (Roseland neighborhood)

I was just a preschooler when tragedy struck OLA, so I don't have personal memories of the day.

When I grew up, I became a teacher, and one of my fellow teachers was an OLA survivor. We would use his experience as a reason why our kids had to be quiet, pay attention, and know how to escape in case of fire in their school.

Like the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, it took a horrible event to tighten up safety standards. We can never fully eliminate the possibility of fire in homes, schools, stores, or workplaces, but perhaps now we collectively have a better chance of escaping death than the poor OLA kids did.

My prayers are with the survivors and anyone who lost a loved one.

Posted by:

Rick DiPompeo

On:

11/14/2003

ID:

131

Enrolled on 12/1/58?	Present on 12/1/58?	Injured?	Age	Grade	Classroom	Teacher
Yes	Yes	No	5	K	Mary Hall	Sister Mary St. Denise(?)

I was in kindergarten in Mary Hall down the block on Hamlin Ave. I was also in the morning class, so I was home for awhile when the fire broke out. My sister, Lois, was in 3rd grade and was in the fire. She survived. The 8th grader that used to walk her to school, didn't make it out, though. We lived on Christiana just south of Chicago Ave. I remember hearing and seeing the fire trucks, with their sirens whaling, going west on Chicago Ave. I thought I had seen alot of fire equipment at my young age but I remember seeing fire trucks that I never, ever saw before. I thought, "There must be a big fire somewhere!" It wasn't until my sister came home, without her coat on, that I learned that "The big fire" was at OLA. I don't remeber much after that. What I do remember is that my mom & dad had saved all of the newspaper articles and pictures about it. It seemed that about once a year, for a awhile, we would pull them out and look at them.My dad has since passed away and every time I go to the cemetery, I am reminded of the fire because he is buried at Queen of Heaven and they have a special section for kids who died in the fire there, right across from where he is buried. I truely do believe that God got 98 angels that sorrowful day, 01 December 1958.

Currently, I am a police officer with the Oakbrook Terrace Police Dept. I hold the rank of Det. Sergeant. Since I became a police officer in November of 1974, I always responded at a quicker pace to fire alarms at schools.

Posted by:

On:

11/14/2003

ID:

130

At OLA on 12/1/58?	Born before or after 12/1/58?	Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No	After	n/a

About six months ago, I was taking an Elem. Edu class and we had to do a teach a 30 minute lesson. This class is for beginning students whom are going to be our future teachers. Now with a clasroom of future teachers I thought this would be a great time to teach some history and point out some of these safety features that all their classrooms should have in place. I started the lesson out with everyone getting up out of their chair,pushing it under their desk, and quickly getting into line adn had them follow me a few steps to safety. I immediatley got them seated and started the lesson with the tragic fire and alot of students stated to get teary eyed. I then went on by explaining all these nifty safety precuations we have in place and how they were not around back then. I finished up by answering questions and explained to them to teach their students about these fire drills. Teach the students about history, safety and how they all relate to each other. I asked when the get out in the world to teach, that they take the time to know the FIRE EXITS and how they were going to respond in an emergency.
I know I gave them alot of information that was whizzing by them, but in my mind I know I passed on some knowledge to at least 25+ future teachers of our children. Let's keep our children safe.

Posted by:

Rose L.

On:

11/6/2003

ID:

129

At OLA on 12/1/58?	Born before or after 12/1/58?	Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No	Before	Chicago Ridge, IL

My father was an officer on the Chicago Fire Dept. and one of the first to respond to the fire alarm. I remember his anger and grief about how hard it was to rescue the children. His company could only raise ladders on the alley side of the school because there was no access to the side where the children were. On the side where his company was located there wasn't much they could do. Many of the children were already dead or the rooms were so completely involved in flame rescue was impossible. He would rant about how unprepared the nuns were in dealing with a fire. He raved that they, the nuns, didn't do enough to save themselves and the children. He was haunted for many years with what he saw that day. His wife said that he had nightmares for a long time. This was a man that had been on the fire department for almost 20 years and had also been in battle in Europe during WW2. He had a lot of experience but this fire was the worst of all his years on the fire department.
At the time I was a young mother and I just sat and cried while watching the TV. My husband who was with the Fire Insurance Patrol at the time but not working that day, sat there and just kept saying "Oh no, oh no".
For many years you could not talk to my father about this fire without him getting angry all over again at the Catholic school system, the church and the nuns who decided to pray rather than get their children out of danger.
In our house we always had an emergency system worked out in case our house caught on fire. When I had children we also talked to them about what to do if there is a fire. All parents need to teach their children how to save their own lives when they are in danger. We can't always assume that there will be a responsible adult in charge of their safety.
My opinion of the nuns lack of taking charge was because of their religious training that teaches them strict disipline and not to act on their own without instructions from a leader, such as the mother superior. I hope that nuns, and all teachers in every school are better trained these days and nothing like that will ever happen again.

Posted by:

Linda

On:

11/6/2003

ID:

128

At OLA on 12/1/58?	Born before or after 12/1/58?	Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No	Before	Chicago

My father was a Chicago Policeman at the time of this horrible incident. He was the first Policeman on the scene prior to even the Fire Department arriving. We have photographs of him at the fire with the Cardinal, who I believe was Cardinal Stritch.

At that time, I remember the TV reporting this on the news and my father should have been home from work, but of course was not. He was a 3-wheel motorcycle traffic policeman in that area and had a very good friend who was a policeman that lived on the block of the school that had children in that school. The stories he told us were devastating about that day and night. I remember him telling us how he was catching children jumping out of windows.

He arrived home very late that night and his clothes and boots were still actually frozen. It was such a cold night and with the water being used to control the fire everything was frozen.

On Anniversaries of this tragic event, when the TV channels show old films, my Dad is shown in uniform with his white hat very briefly. It was the most devastating experience he had in the 25 years he served on the Chicago Police Department.

My heart goes out to all the families that lost their loved ones. I will never forget that night.

Posted by:

Johnna Uting Mass Bovenzo

On:

11/6/2003

ID:

127

Enrolled on 12/1/58?	Present on 12/1/58?	Injured?	Age	Grade	Classroom	Teacher
Yes	Yes	Yes	10	5	212	Sister Mary Clare Therese Champagne

I was a surivior of OLA school, in room 212 at the time of the fire. With the rest of my classmates, I also jumped out of the window, I don't remember how exactly I got to the window as I was in the second row, third to the last seat. I only remember almost getting ready to close our books, and we started to smell the smoke and I saw some smoke coming from the front transome glass above the door in front of the classroom. I thought the firemen were trying to get us nervous and see what we would do. Right after that I wished it were only a test!

I do remember getting more nervous and everyone starting for the windows, as I saw sister in front of the classroom she was at the front door, I think I called to her and I remember her telling me to get to the window and get out, but I don't remember how I did get towards the window only that by that time black smoke (very hot) was floating just above our heads. It was hard trying to breathe, I was having a hard time as there were alot of the kids there already. I unfortunately remember having pulled a boy's head back and I put my head out just to get a breathe of some air and it was so hot, the next thing I remember as I was trying to get out and some of us were so tight it was difficult to do anything.

The next thing I remember is that I was hanging on the outside of the window sill with my hands barely hanging on. My hands hurt and it was hard to hang on. The smoke and flames then started to come from the first floor below me, and I could feel the brick being so warm, I thought I was going to start on fire or the whole side of the building was going to collaspe with me holding on, I could see the firemen coming but they could not reach us and so I just let go, the next thing was I looked up and down fast and then I was laying on the ground. A girl Rosemary I suppose had just fallen next to me and her face was all red, with blood. I tried to get up but my leg was hurting, when I took off my shoe I tried to get up again, I couldn't. Then I looked back at the building and saw Charlene up at the window standing there, all of a sudden her grandma was there and she was calling to her. Then she came falling down. As Charlene said her grandma went quickly and picked her up. I called to her and she said that she'd come back for me. Someone then carried me off into the candy store, and set me up in a chair.

I saw all of us kids crying and calling out to each other. Someone put a blanket around me, and then they packed us in a paddy wagon (black) then they took us to Franklin Blvd. Hospital. I was put on a chair and I kept on seeing kids being brought in with broken limbs and it looked to me like skin flaking off them, as with most of our bodies all blacken by the smoke. At that time, I realized later that it was burned flesh hanging from them. We spent a lot of time there then we were taken to rooms if available. Later we were all put on one floor.

I was released just a few days before Christmas, and I had to go back now and then for checkups, as I had broken my right ankle they said with five broken bones. I had to have other cast put on later as the setting was not working, being that the first one had been done when my leg was so swollen, the bones were not being kept in place. I would like to keep in touch with all of you, sorry to say I do get a little emotional at times, mainly when I get close to my birthday Dec 14. I do not look forward to them as it reminds me too much of the sad time in 1958. I had my 11th birthday in the hosiptal. We have a memory during the time of our lives when all of that time should have been only good memories. But who said life is always good.

I call myself a survivor victim, as I'm sure alot of you agree. I would love to hear from my former classmates or who is interested and please keep my informed on upcoming get togethers. I now live in Woodridge IL, and I have a loving husband (Domenico)of 35 years together and counting, I'm blessed with two wonderful sons Dominic and John and one married with a great daughter-in-law. The best thing is we have a beautiful granddaughter names Marissa Rose Bovenzo. 5 1/2 years old, and we charish every moment with her and our family. God did bless me with a great family to care for, and that is what my life is, in doing what I can for them. I also work for a Senior Center in Downers Grove, IL and I am the manager of the office. I help those who are in need, and being there for going on eight years now, my life is full of helping those for whatever I can help with. Maybe that is why God choose not to take me that cold day in December, to be here to help others, this is my life and I'm glad to be alive.

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