The severity of the fire shocked the nation and surprised educational administrators of both public and private schools. Pope John XXIII sent his condolences from the Vatican in Rome.
25 ft.).The disaster was the lead headline story in American, Canadian, and European newspapers. Many more were injured when they jumped from second-floor windows which, because the building had a raised basement, were nearly as high as a third floor would be on level ground (c. A total of 92 pupils and 3 nuns ultimately died when smoke, heat, fire, and toxic gasses cut off their normal means of escape through corridors and stairways. The elementary school was operated by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago and had an enrollment of approximately 1600 students. The fire originated in the basement of the school near the foot of a stairway. John Callaway * WTTW * The assemblage of all the disparate bits of the story in Remembrances makes for a heartbreaking montage of sorrow, horror, acceptance, regret and anger-and for a page-turner of a book.On December 1, 1958, a fire broke out at Our Lady of the Angels School in Chicago, Illinois, shortly before classes were to be dismissed for the day. This book honors not only those who died and were seriously injured, but it will save lives in the future. No one who reads this book will ever forget what happened that bright, cold, tragic day fifty years ago. Now John Kuenster, to mark the 50th anniversary of this tragedy, has followed up his earlier masterpiece investigation of the fire, To Sleep with the Angels, with a new volume of remarkable eyewitness recollections. Burke, Alderman, Chicago City Council In the aftermath of the Our Lady of the Angels School fire of December 1, 1958, many survivors and their families were told to forget the tragedy and go about their lives.
It is my prayer that the mercy of God continue to strengthen all those who survived. Chicago Tribune reporter Bob Wiedrich presents a view almost too horrible to read. Anguished parents and young school-age victims of the blaze recall a moment in time never to be forgotten. Each reflection in this book gives the reader a fresh piece of truth. Even fifty years after the disaster, we remain in shock and pain at the terrible loss of life at Our Lady of the Angels.
Remembrances of the Angels is a heartbreaking, sobering reflection on life and loss, faith and hope.
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