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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: Tom On: 12/2/2002 ID: 18
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before northern Ohio
My memories of our grade school teachers’ reactions to this tragedy and the impact it had on the students and atmosphere at the parochial school I was attending in northern Ohio persist to this day. The times and climate in parochial schools were different in 1958 than they are today. The nuns were rigid, demanding, and masterful at controlling the 45+ students in each classroom. We had 1600 students spread over three buildings. My third grade class was on the third floor of “The Guardian Angel” building built in 1900. It was full of wood transoms, stairs, floors,wainscotting, etc. and every bit a firetrap as Our Lady of the Angels. Our nuns’ knee jerk reaction to this tragedy was horrific and pervasive. They constantly and tersely reminded us to, “be in a state of grace,” “God could take you at any moment”, and many of the victims “died at their desks, their hands folded in prayer”. An additional trauma was the incessant fire drills which required leaving our desk without a coat, and being forced onto an exterior iron fire escape, during howling December snow storms so that “the same thing did not happen to us.” I remember clutching the fire escape and looking down three stories through the spacers at the sidewalks below. A coal-fired boiler fueled the furnaces and periodically the smoke would waft across the window. This went on for weeks in the winter of 1958.The tension and stress were enormous. Believe it or not this building is still in use. Based on my own experiences at some distance from Chicago, I simply cannot imagine the pain and suffering endured by those closest to this terrible event. I think and pray for them often. I think that this tragedy had an enormous impact on an entire generation of parochial school attendees


Posted by: Mary On: 12/1/2002 ID: 17
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before 1245 NORTH LaSALLE ST.CHICAGO
I did not attend OLAS School.

I attened BEN FRANKLIN.But I remember that tragic day they let us leave school early.The teachers didnt tell us why we were being dismissed early.I was eight years old. Can anyone tell me if this is the same School that was close to Ben Franklin or not? This has been on my mind a lot lately and I was young I cant remember a lot about it. There was a catholic school around the corner from Ben Franklin.Just wanted to say my my thoughts and prayers are with the familes of this tragady.If anyone would like to share A copy of the docamentry that was shown on television I would like to have a copy .I am 53 years old now and I live in ALABAMA we get one Chicago Station and that is WGN channel 9 it did not carry the special..

Mert35754@yahoo.com


Posted by: Greg Boyle On: 11/29/2002 ID: 16
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Midland, Michigan
Hello, my freinds. I was only two years old when "OLA" became more than just initials for a school. Eleven years later, I was attending school as an eight-grader in Midland, Michigan at one of the towns' two Catholic shcools, Saint Brigids. The other school, Blessed Sacrament, was a newer-style single-floor school, while Old Saint B. was built early in the 20th century, a two-and-a-half story brick building along with an addition built on in the late 1940's (Gee, do we see a pattern developing here?) We had the normal fire drills that everyone here is familiar with: Stand up beside your desk, file to the door, and down both sides of the good ol' wooden staircases to the ground floor. In the fouth grade, we thought we heard the fire alarm go off, so the teachers in the newer end of the building (You know, the one WITH the fire escape) start us out of the classrooms, and it turns out the "fire alarm" was a city worker with a jackhammer (Go figure!) outside the school, cutting into the sidewalk. Red faces on our parts! Four years later, as an Eight Grader, in the OLD part of the school...Yeah, you're right, the part with NO fire escapes....One rainy, cold afternoon, after lunch and recess, the fire alarm goes off. "What is THIS?!?" was the thought of the moment, for we only prepared for the unthinkable in warm, dry weather. We did as we were told, fall in for the drill, open the door to leave, and..."What's that smell?" "Is that smoke?" "SMOKE?!?" Needless to say, we cleared the top floor (Where else would we be at, ask any fireman!) in record time, and went to the church. Then the sirens. "What in the WORLD IS GOING ON?!?" Us children had no idea, but I'm POSITIVE the nuns and preists had only ONE thing on there minds...Our Lady of the Angels. We were allowed to go back into the school later for a rather disjointed remainder of the day. I remember some of the boys in my room opening the windows with the long poles (Any of you who went to the old-law type schools know what I mean) to let the smoke smell out, while other boys were trying to shut them again saying it would make the fire get worse....Funny, considering the danger was over, but, hey, we were just stupid kids..... Later, we found out a boy from my class, R.(for the sake of legal purposes) had set a fire in the waste basket in the Boy's room next to the boiler room in the basement. I would be willing to believe, in the days before P.C., he got a beating that lasted him 'til he graduated High School! In the years following, I learned of Our Lady of the Angels, and contrasted it to our situation. OUCH! Doing research at the Public Library, I found the Midland Fire Department Cheif was interveiwed by the Midland Daily News on December 2nd, 1958 saying tha "such a thing could not happen here". Riiiiight......And this was 11 years later, with most things in place that were at OLA, and we had all the same negatives working against us. Ten minutes of going undiscovered may have made a repeat of OLA, maybe not. Why? Hindsight may be 20/20, so now as an adult, I can see how money can get in the way of things, and how someone will ALWAYS think, "Oh, that will NEVER happen to MY little Johnny/Janie!" Maybe you can't keep lighters/matches away from kids. Maybe there will be a cure for the common cold. Maybe it will NEVER happen, so why worry? Why.....I remember in the early 1980's, my wife-to-be and I passed by Saint Brigids, or rather, what was left. It was in the process of being torn down. The old shool, which bore more than a passing resembelnce to the old OLA, was replaced with a NEW Saint Brigids school complex....with more than just a LITTLE resemblence to the NEW OLA. I do hope I haven't bored you all by being so long-winded! My prayers are with all of you. Take care, and make sure you remember to tell your family that you love them. Regards, Greg Boyle.


Posted by: Dennis O On: 11/24/2002 ID: 15
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Milton, Massachusetts
I have the deepest sympathy and empathy for both the victims and survivors of this terrible tragedy. I was in the first grade of a Catholic school in Massachusetts when our nuns showed us the newspaper headlines about the fire in Chicago. The nuns blamed the children for panicking, not knowing the full details. This disaster gave me nightmares as a child because I thought my school was equally dangerous. Only years later, after studying the history of this fire and reading "To Sleep with the Angels," did I fully understand that my newer school had all of the fire safety standards which were missing at Our Lady of the Angels. I visited the rebuilt school last year and I corresponded with the authors of "To Sleep With the Angels," congratulating them on their superb book. I think the Archdiocese of Chicago deserves most of the blame for the suffering which transpired on December 1, 1958, and during the years that followed. Even if a young boy with pyromaniac tendencies may have provided the ignition to this fire, a safe building would have allowed adequate time for the students inside to escape safely. The Chicago fire department did all it possibly could under the circumstances. My thoughts and prayers go out to the survivors and their families, and to all those whose lives were blemished. If anyone wishes to contact me, my e-mail is DennisJOBrien@yahoo.com.


Posted by: Bill V. On: 11/19/2002 ID: 14
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Somerville Massachusetts
I remember the day like it was yesterday when Sister Maureen Joseph, my first grade teacher, was telling us about the fire at Our Lady of the Angels. I was attending a Catholic School in Somerville Massachusetts. The news really affected me. I remember feeling totally helpless. I still have that feeling today when I think of the fire. I had nightmares for weeks after the fire and to this day I still think of the tragedy often. Whenever I hear fire engines off in the distance or when there is a chill in the fall air I am reminded of the fire.


Posted by: Anonymous On: 11/14/2002 ID: 13
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No After n/a
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Posted by: Johnnie Ann Tasmer (Fuller) squeakysma@aol.com On: 11/12/2002 ID: 12
Enrolled on 12/1/58? Present on 12/1/58? Injured? Age Grade Classroom Teacher
Yes Yes No 11 6 Room 205 ?
I remember sitting in class and someone had opened the door and yelled something. The nun had gone to the door to see what was going on and before I knew it, we were all pushing, tripping and hanging on to the one in front of us and flying down the stairs - two and three steps at a time. We were all sent to the church, but allowed to leave shortly after....I didn't know what to do, so I stood on Iowa St. and watched and waited...for what, I don't know. It became so congested with people, noise and calamity, so I just left. I didn't know till the following day about how the other side of the building had burned so bad, and it was then I found out how many kids did not make it. I had had a crush on the boy down the street from me and I found out he didn't make it either. His name was John Jajkowski.

At the time my Mom and I were living with my grandmother and we didn't have the money to buy a new coat for me....no matter how much that coat was cleaned, the smell never came out and I had to use that coat for however long...and I can still smell it. My Dad had passed away the year before and this made things more sad than I could ever have imagined. I remember having a slight red mark on my forehead - a heat burn - which of course was nothing compared to others. When I go to Queen of Heaven cemetery, I always visit the 'kids'.


Posted by: parbuth442@aol.com On: 11/10/2002 ID: 11
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Chicago, IL
I was a sophmore in the Academy of Our Lady Catholic Girls High School at the time of the fire at Our Lady of The Angels School. To this day, I remember the shock and horror felt by me personally and most of those who saw the story on TV or read it in the newspapers. Although only 15 at the time, I can still remember the feeling I got when I saw the pictures in the paper, and so many little girls in First Communion veils. It brought tears to my eyes-it was horrible. I was also in a school that was built before the turn of the century, and probably as much of a fire trap as was Our Lady of the Angels, but that was the way things were then. A fire of this magnitude was the last thing in the world anyone expected, and this was not only true of the Catholic schools but also of most of the public schools at that time, and most of the schools, both Catholic and public were older buildings.

And unfortunately, they didn't know about the lasting affects of this kind of trauma, on children or anyone else. It's understandable that many of the survivors of this tragedy have lasting bitterness and anger-yet according to the book, several of the surviving children, some seriously injured, in the fire somehow overcame alot of the negative feelings and have gone on to lead highly productive lives. I wish all of you the best and if anyone still has lingering feeling of anger and bitterness, hopefully that person will find a way to let it go. And, as I noticed as I went through the list of fatal fires, this is the only Catholic school that had a fire, while there are several public schools listed, a few that have an even greater death toll than Our Lady of the Angels.


Posted by: Nick Adamson On: 11/8/2002 ID: 10
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No After n/a
I first heard about this tragedy a few years ago from a person that I work with. He lost a cousin in the OLA School Fire. Neither of us were aware that this website existed. I found it just 3 days ago. The site has been searched by my eyes from top to bottom and side to side. My eyes filled with tears several times while looking at the pictures. This site will haunt me forever. The image of little John being carried out by the firefighter is burned into my mind. This is a story that needs to be told. A movie would be a great way to let these "little angels" know that they have not been forgotten. I know I will not forget them.

Nick Adamson

Madison, Wisconsin


Posted by: Nancy O On: 11/7/2002 ID: 9
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Quincy, IL
My mom was raised in a Chicago suburb but moved to Central Illinois when she married my dad. We received the Chicago Tribune newspaper by mail every day to help her keep in touch. I was in the fourth grade but I read the Trib every day, at least the comics and the back page that was all photos.

I also attended a Catholic school. I remember to this day the photos on the back page of the Tribune, especially First Communion headshots of girls who had died. My own photo looked just like those. This is probably the first news event that I remember. It made such an incredible impression on me - these were children just like me and their nuns were from the same religious order as my teacher - and they died.

I don't remember any fire drills in my school before the OLA fire but I sure remember them afterwards. I don't know whether they occurred before and I didn't notice or whether they were increased after OLA.

Two years after the fire we moved to a different city and were enrolled in a Catholic school there. The thing I remember most about this school? Every classroom was on the first floor and had its own door to the outside so no children would ever need to evacuate through a smoky hallway.

My prayers for the students, faculty, family and parish of OLA continue.