| Posted by: |
Dan Minutillo |
On: |
3/28/2004 |
ID: |
170 |
| Enrolled on 12/1/58? |
Present on 12/1/58? |
Injured? |
Age |
Grade |
Classroom |
Teacher |
| Yes |
Yes |
No |
8 |
3 |
Not sure |
Sister Mary Rayme---may be misspelled |
At the time of the fire, I was eight years old. I will never forget that tragic day. I live in California now, so not many people that I meet have heard of OLA but each time I meet someone my age from the midwest, I ask if they heard about this fire. Every once in a while, I get a positive response and we chat a bit about it.
My younger sister and I were both at OLA that day. Fortunately, we both made it out alive, only to carry the memory of that horrid day. I lost two cousins and many close friends in the fire. Their parents have never recovered. My family rarely talks about the fire because of the pain that it brings.
As I recall, on this day, we were to purchase candy bars as a fund raiser for OLA. I brought a coin to school to buy my candy. As an 8 year old, this was a very important day. I really looked forward to buying my chocolate and eating it later in the day.
When the fire alarm rang, I thought it was just a fire drill, a practice for the real thing that would probably never happen. My teacher, Sister Mary Raymee (probably misspelled) heard the alarm and asked all of us to stand up and move toward the doorway in single file. She asked me to make sure that every student filed out of the room. She was a wonderful teacher and a very nice person so I was always glad to help her. She stood right with me, gathering a few things as the students filed out of the room. I was the last student out and she walked right behind me.
I remember turning out the light as I left the room. I also vividly remember flipping the coin that I held in my hand which was supposed to be used to buy my candy that day. I flipped it a few times thinking that this was only a drill and there was nothing to be worried about. Sister made sure that all of us stayed calm and walked out of the room as quickly as possible. She did a great job.
I remember going down some stairs and not seeing any fire but just some smoke. I still thought, for whatever reason, that this was just a fire drill. I thought this until I got outside the main door of the school. Fire trucks were quickly moving up and down the street. Fire hoses laid across the street, about four inches thick. Children were burned and leaning up against the wall of the school screaming for help. I didn't know what to do, so I started to run toward the annex building that my sister was in. I ran into her classroom, grabbed her and against the wishes of her teacher, I pulled her with me. Her teacher did not want to let her go with me but I told her that if she didn't my mom would go into the burning building looking for us. I knew that my mom would come to the school and try to find us if I didn't get to her first. The teacher was still reluctant to let her go, so I yanked my sister's arm hard and pulled her away. The whole area was in total choas. We started to run toward our home. We lived at 949 Montecello Avenue, near the school.
I still held my coin in my hand as we were running. I remember being on a sidewalk running toward home and passing my mother who was running the opposite direction on the sidewalk. We ran right past each other but my sister noticed her (I didn't even see her) and we ran back to her. She took us home. My dad arrived home very shortly after we got home. He looked freightened, which made me freightened.
My mom had cooked up some "mock chicken legs" for dinner that night. These were my favorite. As I remember they were pieces of cooked, breaded meat put onto a thick stick. As much as I enjoyed them, I could not eat. We were all very upset because of the fire and because we had just gotten a call that two of my cousins and a friend from our neighborhood who were also in the fire could not be found. Later, I remember my dad telling me that he went from hospital to hospital trying to find them. We found out late that evening that they had died. This was like a nightmare. I could not believe it. My sister and I were lucky. We made it out of the fire without injury. Many of our friends and memebers of our family were not so lucky. They did not make it.
I remember that we were put into another school for a long time. We had our classes in that school. The most vivid memory that I have of that school is that at noon time, they would serve us sandwiches. The only reason that I remember this is because the sandwiches were loaded with butter, spread right over the meat. I had never eaten a meat sandwich with butter on it. It didn't taste very good but everyone at this new school was very, very nice to us. I can't recall the name of the school but it was a great place. They seemed to really care about us. We moved to California the next year. My parents could not bear the constant reminders of the fire so we moved west to start a new life.
That's about all that I can remember. I'm sure that I blocked a lot of it out of my mind because it was so terrible. There are not many positive things that come out of a tragedy like this except to realize that you need to make the best of your life while you are here; try to help as many people as you can--just as people helped us cope with this tragedy.
Thanks for keeping up this web site. Dan Minutillo (Carmen Daniel Minutillo, born 1950, minu@flash.net)
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