Angels Too Soon: The School Fire of '58 — A Chicago Stories Documentary

[Music] coming up a devastating school fire that claimed 95 lives shook a parish's faith and stunned Chicago and the nation with sorrow there wasn't a street that didn't lose a kid and I kept asking God why survivors finally tell their story after 65 years what black smoke billowed in like lightning would strike it was so hot we were choking I didn't think I was going to die I knew I was going to die are you going to jump or are you going to burn to death some scars faded it was like third Dee Burns here but the emotional wounds never healed did I do things in life that merited my surviving this this is a story about tragedy and loss I couldn't save my younger sister that's something I had to live with my whole life and a lesson in Courage the power of community and the resilience of the human Spirit we want people to know what happened and why it happened angels too soon next on Chicago stories lead support for Chicago stories is provided by the nagani foundation major support is provided by the Elizabeth Morse genius charitable trust the towani foundation on behalf of the pritsker military museum and library and the Donna van Ean Foundation funding for Chicago stories angels too soon the school fire of 58 is provided by John salino in honor of Al and Carol salvino it is my honor to induct these gentlemen tonight into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and it's about damn time ladies and gentlemen Journey Journey's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was the culmination of a longstanding dream the band had racked up 18 top 40 singles including cherished anthems like Don't Stop [Applause] Believing for keyboardist and songwriter Jonathan Kane the dream began decades earlier in Chicago good evening I'd like to begin by thanking my father he prophesied success from the time I was 8 years old after a terrible school fire and later said to me son Don't Stop Believing even on Rock's biggest stage K never forgots the school Blaze that took so many of his classmates lives lit a fire inside him and sent him on his own Journey to the Hall of Fame this cold Sunny December 1st day would turn into this cloud of sadness and there was like a mushroom cloud over the school you know that it looked like nuclear bomin off Chicago was booming in 1958 it was the world's busiest steel and rail Center the nation's leading industrial Red Basket and livest doc area mayor Richard J Daly launched an ambitious plan to rebuild Chicago's downtown there is a huge amount of of energy going on uh in this city a lot of things are happening the population hits a high water Mark it's over 3 million nearly 2 million were Roman Catholic making the arch dasis of Chicago the largest in the country it guided a collection of 200 in 62 parishes each covering one square mile of the city Chicago has been called a city of neighborhoods but it's also a city of parishes people knew where you were from by what parish you belong to one of Chicago's most vibrant parishes flourished on the city's West Side Our Lady of the Angels they'd ask you where you're from and you'd say our related the Angels it was a close net Parish you'd walk down the street and people would say [Music] hello I remember playing at midnight and all the neighbors would watch each other everybody knew each other people helped each other it was absolute home for us Our Lady of the Angels opened in 1894 to serve the neighborhood's Irish Catholics but by 1958 the parish was largely Italian I didn't know what a blond-haired person looked like until I moved out of that neighborhood I'd see him on TV but typical Catholic Chicago everything was Parish oriented and you felt the sense of belonging Serge Etta's family immigrated from a small Italian town near triest after World War II they settled three blocks from the church and felt right at home Sundays were busy our lady the Angels Church had masses every hour they were packed if you didn't get there early you didn't get a seat you had a stand you could smell the pasta sauce strolling down the block after church Sunday after noons were largely family get togethers that was the Feast of the day even Carlos Lozano's family one of the few Mexican households in the parish picked up the custom we try to eat it like once a week you know we'd ask our mom you know you going to make spaghetti [Music] today families in this workingclass area lived in bungalows in traditional two and three-story apartment buildings a lot of the moms and dads either worked in factories or in Services trades luchiana mardini's family was literally fresh off the boat when they moved down the block it was overwhelming I mean i' had never seen cars I'd never seen buses and to walk out on Chicago Avenue and there were people everywhere Chicago Avenue was comprised of a lot of uh shops bakeries some restaurants but all Italian American oh my gosh that was Heaven to us everything we needed was there our favorite Bakery was anona Bakery they made the best Italian bread there was the Alamo Theater which was a great oldtime Chicago movie theater and if I did my chores and I got my quarter I had money to go to the show then Jonathan Cain lived above an Italian deli and found artistic inspiration not at the movies but at church I was in the choir and I I really fell in love with the conversation in Latin with the priest the way the priest would sing and we'd sing back to him I thought God I would I would love to do that kids could always count on a smile or a nickel from a young priest named father Joe Oni Ben hello father Joe loved father Joe I still do he was he was the nicest man she could throw a football farther than any of us and the girl thought he was very [Music] handsome while the church commanded Sundays activities shifted to classrooms on weekdays Catholic Education was so important particularly to Immigrant Catholics my American cousin took me to meet my new teacher and I'm standing in front of the room and I wet my pants right in front of the whole class so that was my introduction to Our Lady of Angels I did not speak English until probably the beginning of fifth grade the none spoiled me the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary were the foot soldiers of Chicago's parochial schools dedicated to teaching and easy to spot in their long black habits they taught in almost 40 schools I may be biased but I I would argue that the BBM sisters were some of the best teachers but even the best teachers had their hands full after World War II when over 1500 Baby Boomers swelled the school some classrooms held up to 60 kids we take turns sitting down during class and we'd have to get up you know and they say Okay shift and then I get out of my seat and give my seat to somebody else and then we probably did that three times four times a day uniforms were required we had to wear a tie Navy jumpers with white blouses yeah the nuns were strict at that time you had to do what they said I mean you know they came around with that ruler their initials were bvms and that we called them Black Veiled monsters I know it sounds terrible but they weren't but that was the worst thing we said about them that wasn't too bad I think sisters did their best to educate children who weren't always Angels the boys were bad I give those teachers a lot of credit I laugh because I guess I wasn't the I should I the most well behaved I happened to be really into uh rocket ships and astronomy so I would bring in my little plastic rocket ship I shot it off in class and almost broke the clock the nuns after school they weren't going to their kids soccer game we were their family you know they were very close to us the sisters were no strangers to hardship their mother house in debuk Iowa burned to the ground in 1849 and they offered prayers to be spared from fire ever since sister Gerald da Enis petite and witty was one of two dozen teachers at Our Lady of the Angels one of her mantras was always keep your soul ready cuz you never know when God's going to come and take it the building's 24 classrooms were spread across two Wings connected by an Annex like many red brick School houses built in the early 1900s the interior was made of wood its Floors doors and stairways polished to a gleaming Perfection with flammable soaps and waxes we were so proud to see this varnished floors beautiful a fire inspector that October noted a second floor stairwell lacked a fire door Chicago's Municipal Code required protective devices like fully enclosed stairways and sprinkler systems but the code did not apply to schools built before 1949 so our lady of the Angels was exempt from adopting improved safety measures it's hard to Fathom and to use Catholic parament it was a sin it was a sin that had Grievous consequences the school conducted six fire drills that at fall without a problem seemed so simple so easy until it really [Music] mattered it was the Monday after Thanksgiving I remember it was a sunny cold day very cold it was just like any other day the only difference was when you're 10 years old and it was December 1st it was magical because December was the month of Christmas as it got closer to the the dismissal time where you know looking at the clock at on the wall you know it's almost there we're almost [Music] there no one had any idea that a fire had started in a cardboard trash can filled with school papers in the basement I look down at the floor and I saw a whsp of smoke I said sister there's smoke coming in under the door so she calmly walked over to the [Music] door and she opened the door and the blackest of black black black smoke billowed in like lightning would strike the smell was like burning rubber it was so hot we were choking I wanted to get out I wanted to get here kids jumping on each other walking on desk some kids just sat at their desk and didn't move they were like paralyzed people are all around me pushing and trying to get out the window and and I'm sorry I need a [Music] minute the fire had burned undetected for 20 minutes billowing up a stairwell feeding off wooden floors walls and ceiling tiles the fire is a monster that seeks oxygen and when it got up to that second floor and there was no fire door it just raged smoke heat fire and toxic gases consumed the hallway outside second floor classrooms of the north Wing where more than 300 students were finishing their day evacuation routes that teachers and students had practiced using during fire drills were impassible heat shattered glass transoms above classroom doors we were trapped and the only way out of this place was out the window or the firemen had to [Music] come 3 mil away at Engine 43's House fireman Joe Murray was discussing a kitchen renovation when the alarm sounded Murray knew the address immediately I went to school there in fact my whole family all my my brothers and sisters went there [Music] [Applause] too in room 208 sister kice Ling tried to calm her seventh graders while waiting for firemen to arrive sister started walking down the aisle saying you know stay in your seats and this is the truth I still remember to this day pray and God will SA save you and she passed me and she had the rosary beads on her habit and the beads kept hitting the desks as she passed I don't think I waited more than a couple of seconds when I jumped up and said I'm out of here I'm not waiting to be saved what can I do to save myself I just remember walking to the window and getting up and I think I was holding on to something and the next thing I knew I fell out and there was like a little building and I I fell on my leg and I hit my head Lucy's classmate Serge useta slung his feet over the window sill but hesitated to jump after seeing another boy hit the ground it looked high no question about it probably a good 20 some feet one of the janitors came by holding a short ladder so I threw my glasses at him and that got his attention and he put the ladder under my window Ron Sarno and his sister Joanne had been studying arithmetic just moments earlier in room 210 there was flames in the room already and they were balls of flame kids were standing on the window sills jumping on each other stepping on each other and that's when I thought I got to get out of here I mentioned to my sister that I think the the only way out is if we jump and she didn't want to jump and at some point my sister and I with all the panic and Chaos we lost each other I I either was pushed out or I fell out of the window and I recall doing the somersault in the air seeing the first floor window go by real quick and I landed on my feet and fell [Music] backwards [Applause] in room 212 10-year-old Carlos loano struggled to pull himself over the sill I can't see anything it's total darkness and I can't breathe and at that moment I thought I'm going to die so I remember inching myself forward and forward and then I fell out of the window head first and I remember seeing the ground come up fast I fainted in room 207 sister jalita raced to unlock a back door leading to a fire escape she pulled her vestments apart went to look for the keys it was complete Panic on her when she realized she had forgotten the keys sister Geral LED students in the rosary as smoke enveloped the room she threw a plastic flower pot at the rectory window to summon help and told the students to lie on the floor as heat overwhelmed them kids were screaming for Mommy and Daddy and God to save them I think a lot of us felt our lungs were going to explode I didn't think I was going to die I knew I was going to die my spirit actually felt like it left my body I was about 3 ft up and I said in about 2 minutes this body is going to be burned to a CH but my spirit is going to be intact it was one of the most euphoric experiences of my life with that there was a whoosh by the back door that back door opened it was the School Janitor with another key he and a priest guided the class to a fire [Music] escape hundreds of students in the South Wing had safely evacuated by the time firemen arrived they battled Flames engulfing the northwing while parents who had come to pick up their children watched helplessly it looked like a nuclear bomb went off Smoke's coming out crazy Flames are leaping up a gal had uh her hair on fire and she had jumped just laying there in a puddle of blood these were all kids that I knew and recognized and walked to school with it was horrible firemen were forced to rescue children from Windows Joe Murray climbed into room 210 where conetta balino gasped for air someone grabbed me the ladder wasn't t enough but he somehow got me and uh he put me on the back of the ladder he says you got it I said I just grabbed a hold of him and caught him and stuff and did what I had to do to save him and uh what I couldn't do I couldn't [Music] do the fire had been raging for more than a half hour when it finally burned through the tar covered roof I heard uh I heard Timbers caving in the sound of the roof collapsing thundered across the parish changing our lady of the angels and hundreds of lives forever it was obvious that the roof caved in on on all those kids you know I knew that because of the sound and you you you heard this just these screams mothers and fathers crying out for their kids there was just so much weeping and so many [Music] screams Murray and and other firefighters breached the walls of second floor classrooms only to discover they were too late in room 212 several fifth graders slumped at their desks with hands folded in prayer asphyxiated by toxic gas in room 210 lifeless fourth graders clung to Sister sarfa Kelly's corpse in classroom 208 they found the badly burned body of sister kenice draped across her seventh [Music] graders a reporter said it was the first and only time he saw Mir Daly a father of seven children cry in public more than 200 firefighters from across the city responded to the blaze they rescued 160 kids they did an amazing job but it offered little Solace to firemen many of them World War II veterans who were haunted by images of children they couldn't save what could we say you couldn't describe what we had seen nobody [Music] could these were vibrant young people and we had lost [Music] [Music] him Winnie C was a 19-year-old nursing student working at St an's hospital when the first ambulance arrived parents were coming just hundreds of them were coming St ANS admitted three nuns and 34 children many whose parents had searched all afternoon for them the smoke came over would couldn't breathe the wouldn't come in so kids started jumping out the window decided to jump out to a fireman came and he and he got the ladder and he told and he let us out on the ladder 75 students suffered broken bones or Burns though some children were too badly hurt to even tell nurses their names what do I remember most of all the smell smell of burns it's not a good [Music] smell I was burnt in my right arm uh from holding on to the frame of the window it was from my elbow to part of my back it was third Dee down here and then second and first degree is you go back parents who couldn't find their kids at hospitals made the unimaginable trip to the Cook County morg to identify the bodies of their sons and [Music] daughters they took father Joe and I into the room where all these kids were covered on these tables and then father started to cry and breaking down and then he went out into the area where all the parents and people were that were there identifying their children and crying and everything he tried to comfort [Music] them here at the morg tonight father of course it's a scene of almost unbelievable grief what can you tell a parent when he comes down to identify his child he have a lot of faith uh it's happened it's the will of God and this is where their faith plays a very important part in their life to try to uh understand why we'll never know the reason why most probably but uh I think that the good Lord will help him through this tragedy one mother observed it looked like there was blood on the moon that evening [Music] Ron Sno lost not one but two siblings my brother William we used to call him Billy and my sister Joanne Billy had a tremendous talent in [Music] art Joanne was more of a townboy her gift was she made friends real easy everybody loved Joanne that's something I had to live with my whole life was well until I accepted it that I couldn't save my younger [Music] sister the death toll reached 92 children and three nuns the third deadliest blaze in City history surpassed only by the Great Chicago Fire in the iroy theater tragedy there wasn't a street that didn't lose a kid and sometimes more than one kids playing marbl on the sidewalk one day were gone the [Music] next thousands attended a Mass for 27 children at a National Guard Armory [Music] [Applause] we have seen hope in the tear stained faces of the b as they knelt in prayer to and communion with him thousands more filled the Parish Church to mourn the nuns who had died sister kice Ling sister Claire theres champagne and sister sarafa [Applause] Kelly the nuns were buried at Mount Carmel not far from their students Graves at an adjacent Cemetery Queen of [Music] [Applause] Heaven it was a tragedy for the BBM Community all over the United States and particularly back at the mother house in debuk Iowa the sisters there sent a telegram talking about how they were stunned with sorrow sisters arranged for students to resume classes at a neighboring Parish one week after the fire but getting back to some type of routine proved nearly impossible the first thing everybody did we all went to the windows to look at how far the jump was kids were like losing it bad behavior just interrupting just it was like one fleu with a cuckoo's nest we were all crazy I remember walking in that classroom and there were only 11 of us left out of 55 so we knew the rest of the children that were in our classroom were either in the hospital or dead Carlos Lozano and Lucy Morini spent most of December in the hospital so it turned out that I had a fra pelvis there was a photo of me in the paper propped me and took my photo with the Rosary in my hand we had The Cisco Kid visit us and bked from the TV series called Maverick Lucy cheered up at the sight of a familiar face father Joe he would come to the hospital in the middle of the night and open our doors and I would remember opening my eyes and he would just like wait he was so concerned about all of us Lucy went home on Christmas Eve she was still recovering from Burns but discovered the emotional scars could be even more painful I would be at church at Our Lady of Angels and my scars would be noticeable and you'd hear people whispering Angelo God saved her I hated that and I started wearing long sleeve shirts for many the holidays would never be the same the sweet scent of burning Ule logs triggered painful Memories the smoke never seemed to go away something Jonathan Kane discovered when students retrieve winter coats they had left behind on the day of the fire so I went to get the bomber jacket that I wore that day and I had all my father's Army patches on it I was very proud of it it R so I came home mom said where's your jacket I said I can't wear that Mom can't wear there hardly anyone in the parish neither parents nor priests nor sisters seemed willing to discuss the fire don't talk about it don't talk about it to anybody it was like it was like why there wasn't counseling available to kids who felt felt traumatized by the event back in those days that wasn't done as much I mean that's the way things were it's unfortunate it's like squeezing a balloon you squeeze it down here it gets big up here squeeze it here it's it's going to come out the loss of so many innocent lives LED some children to question their faith and I kept asking God why why why did they have to die like that it just seemed unfair it seemed cruel I was haunted by that how does God will 90s something kids and three nuns to die what kind of God is that I was confused they would say that God took the best kids they're little angels now God needed them why did he need them that's what I would say why did he need [Music] them Parish nuns and Priests put on a brave front but were suffering just as profoundly I remember Sister Gerald saying God how could you let that happen and those were good kids and then I heard some of the girls scream and I looked back and she had knocked her habit off the girls ran out of the room two nuns came in and sister Gerald was still mumbling to herself that she wants to see God about this and the two nuns said sister we're going to take you to see God now and that was the last we saw of her nuns made convenient scapegoats even those who acted heroically like sister davidus Divine she spoke to reporters after being treated for burns I told around see way back of me I thought the room was in Flames sisters were criticized for telling students to stay at their desks and pray accused of trying to save children's Souls rather than their lives the sisters did the best they could under terrible circumstances that they never foresaw [Music] coming they died trying to protect their kids [Music] period the Cook County coroner's office LED an official investigation into the cause of the fire 9 days [Music] later what could I say I mean it happened but you have the right to you happen again you feel you have other children you're going to send other children to school you we don't want to be afraid again everybody has their empty feeling within themselves and we just don't want it to happen again well maybe maybe out of this may come a lot of good that's the one thing that I hope that my son didn't lose his life for nothing speculation arose that students had been smoking in a stwm they brought the police in and we were questioned by the police do you know who smoked did you smoke did you see anybody loitering around we took police crime lab photographs of a scene we obtained physical evidence such as a stair from a step from the stairwell that L down into the area where the fire per started the investigation concluded without providing any real answers but the National Fire Protection Association ation issued a scathing report one year later accusing authorities of housing children in fire traps there was no fire alarm that was connected to anything it was just a bell that rang in the building no sprinklers the fire extinguishers were 7 ft where no one could get to them a private inspector made a startling conclusion about the cause of the fire he called it arson but the public never learned about his findings M was angry at the church for not giving us more more information and not you know it just seemed like they wanted to wash their hands with it you know the trail went cold for years until law enforcement questioned a 13-year-old boy about setting fires in cisero a Chicago suburb the boy took a polygraph test and confessed to starting another fire when he was a fifth grader at his previous School Our Lady of the angels He said I'd asked the teacher for permission to go to the bathroom instead of going to the bathroom I went to the school basement I found a 55g cardboard drum he said I threw four or five matches where till it really started going and then I went back to my classroom judge Alfred salela dismissed the boy's confession in Family Court ruling it had been improperly obtained I want to be very sure in this case I took the entire matter under advice in my opinion from everything I've read I feel he was the one I think the criminal justice system has an obligation to protect innocent people from people like this the criminal justice system failed cila exonerated the boy of starting the school Blaze but found him guilty of setting four other fires in cisero the judge ordered the youth sent to a Juvenile Detention Facility he denied setting the school fire before passing away in 2004 if this person did it he should have somehow paid for it but maybe he did he probably had his own torment the official cause of the fire remains undetermined the arch dasis paid $3 million in wrongful death and personal injury lawsuits mayor daily set up a fund with contributions from all over the world to cover victims medical costs I remember my father saying you know this doesn't bring my kids back the sad truth is that many other schools parochial and public lacked adequate safety devices the fire might have happened at any one of them but it was our lady of the angels that suffered the tragedy led to a Nationwide overhaul of fire safety laws at schools I don't think that's quite Redemption uh but it is Grace a Grace that came out of a tragedy not a single child has died in a Chicago school fire since those kids their lives weren't in vain they made great change happen the Arts dasis built a new school with steel glass and reinforced concrete on the ashes of the old one despite the best intentions to move forward a profound sense of loss settled over the once vibrant Parish the whole neighborhood was like a cloud of Gloom went over it all people walked around like zombies I swear to God they looked so unhappy there wasn't a happy face anywhere it was too painful for my mother and father to stay there too many memories I think a lot of people moved out of that neighborhood then the Exodus grew when the parish's ethnic makeup shifted in the 1960s as many of the italian-americans like the Irish before them moved out of the parish as new people moved in there were resentments this was combined with just racial unrest and demographic change in the city more generally but I think the parish as it was on that day in 1958 it was really it was really the end [Music] we grew up there my mom and her Generations had gone up there was our neighborhood and our parish and we hated to [Music] leave father Joe moved on too assigned to several other parishes in the Chicagoland area but he never forgot our lady of the Angels he passed away at 77 he was heartbroken by what happened I think it it I think it changed him for the rest of his life though the fire broke sister gerod DA's heart too her mind healed from her nervous collapse she resumed teaching another 30 years in Iowa before passing away in 1997 sisters continued to teach at Our Lady of the Angels until 1999 when the Catholic School closed due to low enrollment the church was crumbling and the neighborhood fell on Hard Times a Survivor moved a memorial honoring fire victims from the school to Holy Family Church for safekeeping the pedestal was made out of granite and that had the kids' names and the nuns names on it Our Lady of the Angels would Rise From the Ashes once more the arch dasis recruited Father Robert Lombardo to create a Mission Outreach to the needy in 2005 today the mission of our Lady Lady of the Angels distributes clothing provides youth services and runs food pantries serving more than 3,000 families a [Music] month help have you been okay watch your step honey we really believe that this is sacred ground because of the tragedy that took place there's always new life and so even though there was a tragedy from that good can still spring up [Music] slowly but surely father Lombardo and a devoted team of franciscans renovated the buildings of the former Parish including the church which was rededicated in 2012 the church it looks exactly like it did back in 1958 you go there you just feel the love around you they've been doing a miraculous job miraculous Our Lady of the Angels suffered an unthinkable tragedy on December 1st 1958 the fire tore apart Family and a parish but it also bound survivors many alumni gather on anniversaries to remember their teachers and classmates we became closer I think after the fire I think we were typical kids before it's carefree and all this stuff but after the fire we became caring caring for each other Rosalie guzo even found in autumn love at a school reunion well I ended up marrying Bill O'Brien the love of my life he was in my class and he got out the same window I did but he got out sooner he says the only thing that happened with the school fire it brought us together later in life conetta Bolino also married a classmate who escaped the fire demonstrating these are truly Ties That Bind like many survivors she recalls The Blaze as if it was yesterday sometimes just thinking about it I feel I'm back in that room and just a thought of trying to get out again you know like I got out you know though each person experienced the fire differently a Common Thread emerged when we were starting to have our reunions we started asking everybody what they were doing we heard so many nurses firemen few doctors a lot of us were in professions that were extending their help to people Anette Deni worked in a hospital and police department Matt Panic served 43 years in law enforcement most of them as detective I wanted to give back and I looked at how the firemen and the policemen reacted that day and it was service it's it's in your blood after that Carlos Lozano also became a Chicago police officer but it took him 65 years to discuss the fire with his family he says the trauma affected his relationships and made him question his selfworth you know did I did I do things in life that that merited my surviving sometimes I would like to think so sometimes I realize [Music] no Serge useta earned an engineering degree and became a NASA contractor A fitting career for a boy who had set off Rockets inside his seventh grade classroom it's difficult at my age even now thinking back to the kids that I knew that are gone and the fact that they haven't lived a life like I've lived and seen their own kids grow up and things like that that they uh they lost it out on that experience in life so early it's tragic when Lucy Morini started her career she feared working in offices above the third floor but overcame her anxiety to become a project manager at a Cosmetics firm it made me speak my mind it made me go for the things I wanted to go for it made me not be afraid Ron Sarno struggled for years to make sense of his brother and sister's deaths a lot of guilt I had a lot of self-pity and a lot of fear from that day on I always had the fear of dying and dying in a fire I wherever I would go I would stare stare at the door waiting for the smoke to come in Sno raised two children and ran a successful Furniture business but numbed his pain with drugs and alcohol he got help and sponsored dozens of other people in need I'm 35 years sober and uh that's why I keep going to meetings for two reasons to stay same myself and to uh if I can help somebody every now and then it helps [Music] [Applause] [Music] me Jonathan Caine also struggled to make sense of the tragedy but found peace through his keyboard music healed me it healed me in a big way I found freedom I found Escape [Music] Joy the hardships Kan and endured and his father's reassuring words inspired the lyrics to Journey's classic Anthem Don't Stop Believing I'd lived through a fire but there is a fire burning now inside to be something to prove to Dad that I was worth it maybe to prove to [Music] God though touring often kept him on the road kan's mind never strayed far from his childhood perish nor the fire that sparked his Hall of Fame music [Music] career he returned to the church with a song he had written to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the tragedy an intimate moment captured on cell phone I spent 2 weeks practicing so I wouldn't break down the title is the day they became angels [Music] B I'm real proud of it I like it and all that's are memories though the church had been restored to its former glory survivors had one final job to return the memorial honoring fire victims to Our Lady of the Angels she had been kept safe nearby at Holy Family Church for two decades until a special ceremony in May 2022 they mounted the statue on the front of a fire truck and brought her our the angels with the horns blaring and A procession of fire trucks taking her back [Music] so she has a home back where she started from and we're so happy about that we as survivors must never forget all of us were surrounded in an umbrella of Grace in tragedy this is Chicago History I would like my brother my sister the children that died the three nuns I would like their legacy to go on they became [Music] angels [Music] [Applause] [Music] lead support for Chicago stories is provided by the nagani foundation major support is provided by the Elizabeth moris genius charitable trust the towani foundation on behalf of the pritsker military Museum and library and the Donna van Ean Foundation funding for Chicago stories angels too soon the school fire of 58 is provided by John salino in honor of Al and Carol salvino

Channel: WTTW

Views: 501,394

Keywords: angels too soon, full documentaries, full documentary history, chicago history, our lady of the angels, our lady of the angels fire, american history, fire documentary, catholic school, angels gone too soon, church fire, chicago church fire, chicago fire, chicago stories, angels too soon wttw, full documentaries real stories

Id: PSlvcLAyRw4

Length: 56min 44sec (3404 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 30 2023