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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: Michelle On: 5/2/2013 ID: 623
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 not alive at the time of this tragedy but my cousin, Beverly Burda, perished in this fire. I do not know a lot of the details as it was not really talked about in our family much that I can remember. But I do remember my grandmother talking about it one time and showing us pictures. Ironically I work in the fire alarm industry and after reading all the deficiencies it saddens me to know such an event could have been avoided.


Posted by: Jean Kennedy Hunter On: 4/12/2013 ID: 622
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Stamford, Connecticut
I don't even know how this event came to my consciousness today, but I saw some mention of a Chicago parochial school fire in 1958, and it stirred a vague memory. At that time I attended a parochial school that had been built in 1906. After reading the site, I mentioned to my husband that when I started school we did not have stairwells protected from smoke, but this was fixed later. Then I mentioned that when I was in second grade, we had the old-fashioned desks with the wrought iron and inkwells. I told him they remodeled the school at the end of that year and
we had the modern desks the next year. It then hit me that they remodeled the school's interior the summer after the OLA fire. Like the Triangle Shirtwaist disaster and the Hartford circus fire, one legacy of these tragedies is that new regulations go through and people pay attention. The rest of us benefitted from the sacrifice of the children of OLA.


Posted by: Carolyn Willard (Kedzior) On: 4/6/2013 ID: 621
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before 1145 N Long Ave
I attended elementary school at Our Lady Help of Christians all 8 years. I was 10 years old when the fire happened. I remember it well because afterward we were asked to share our desks with those students that were displaced. So, every day I remember hauling all my books home in the afternoon, with work that had to be finished by the next morning. I was pretty young but remember how sad I felt for those that lost their lives and the families that were left behind. I really can't remember how long we shared our school this way. But I imagine it may have been until their new school was finished.
I am now 65 and I haven't thought about this incident from my life for some time. Amazingly enough, I woke this morning remembering my grade school, the next moment being that of Our Lady of Angels fire. Which led me to this Web Site. This site is fantastic and I want to commend those responsible for keeping the memory alive. 55 years is total dedication and I thank you for that.


Posted by: Johny goldmanson On: 4/3/2013 ID: 620
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before 3452 n Washtenaw
I was making fun stuff and other thing but it is very touching. Rock on!


Posted by: Jorge Calderon On: 4/3/2013 ID: 619
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No After n/a
I am doing a project on this fire and all of your story's really help! Thank you sooooo much!


Posted by: sharon blumenstock On: 3/20/2013 ID: 618
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Pekin, Illinois
I was a senior at Pekin Community High School at the time. Being young, you just don't realize the tradgedy of it. Now I think about it often and it just breaks my heart for so many children to perish in that horrible fire. We live less than 10 miles away. Such a tragic loss of lives.


Posted by: Lyn On: 3/14/2013 ID: 617
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Chicago Rogers Park
I remember that we were expecting a TV repairman ( really obsolete today) and he arrived late but explained that he was held up by a huge school fire. The next day when I arrived at my Rogers Park school for my third grade class we were told we needed to wait in the hall because there was an emergency teacher's meeting, which I soon learned was about the previous day's school fire. Though I know this didn't affect me personally, it has always stuck with me as a lesson that the world can be a dangerous place.


Posted by: MVED1951 On: 3/8/2013 ID: 616
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Northern Wisconsin, Small Town
I was in my first year of an old-style Catholic grade school in 1958. It was second grade, and I had transferred from a newer public school to a rather fearsome dark red building with only four classrooms. It was a Polish parish, and the name of the school was carved in Polish on a lintel above the main door, which was accessed by a steep flight of steps. The surrounding neighborhood felt very urban to me: Lots of housses with two-decker porches, a corner store, other churches nearby. When I heard a school in Chicago (where I had relatives) had burned, I was terrified that the same thing would happen at our school. My mother talked about it, so did our school's nuns, who had a motherhouse in Chicago. Although I don't recall reading or hearing much about OLA throughout my life, I remembered the stories I'd heard in 1958, especially the woman named Barb who worked at the nearby store. After I retired, I read a book in which the OLA fire was mentioned, and then found this site. Anyone who attended Catholic schools in the late 50s/early 60s is part of a vast family with a collective memory.


Posted by: illinoismichael On: 3/1/2013 ID: 615
At OLA on 12/1/58? Born before or after 12/1/58? Where Lived on 12/1/58?
No Before Decatur, Illinois
I attended St. James Catholic School in Decatur, Illinois in the 60s and 70s. One thing I remember vividly in the first grade in 1963 was the poster of the fireman carrying the dead boy. That poster hung on the supply closet door in my classroom, and it absolutely terrified me! I remember how frightened I was of the fire drill, hearing the alarm sound in my first grade mind I thought for a long time that there was a real fire somewhere in the school building! All these years, I never knew of the real story behind the poster until seeing quite by accident the story of the fire on Wikipedia and then this website.


Posted by: Edward Jones On: 2/26/2013 ID: 614
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 after this event in 1961. My experience is that I came upon this site in the course of fire information related research. My entire life has been spent building commercial and industrial infrastructure and after twenty years I have worked another decade as a commercial plans examiner in a population over one million. I am specifically tasked will the more challenging design reviews which includes schools of all types. I never really felt nervous about my job until now. It is clear to me these children did not have a chance for various reasons and this is not the first example I have reviewed or seen in training sessions. All of the details are important but I only want to say this. I posted two randomly chosen files on these children on my wall taped to my fire plans examiner certification. The purpose? To forever remind me to avoid complacency or distraction of duty. I hope the families are not offended but their faces compelled me due to my related duties. I do not bend, flex, compromise or negotiate the code minimums for fire life and safety designs in our great state of Oregon. I believe I am not alone in this belief in our industry. If I am not sure of anything I do, I will look at these two faces again then ask myself, is there anything else I may have missed. I can't undo this story but I can certainly help prevent new ones. To Mary Ellen, and Richard Bobrowicz, I promise to approve designs where heroes won’t be necessary.