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Oct 18, 2006 4:50 pm US/Central

Nun Who Saved Dozens In Historic Fire, Dies
92 Students, 3 Nuns Died In 1958 Fire

Vince Gerasole
Reporting

(CBS) A Chicago nun, who led dozens of school children to safety from the tragic Our Lady of Angels fire, has died.

92 students and 3 nuns died in that 1958 fire. Still, the actions of Sister Mary Davidis were heroic.

CBS 2's Vince Gerasole talked to a survivor about the woman who saved her, and many others.

In one of Chicago's darkest hours, when smoke and flames killed 92 schoolchildren at Our Lady of the Angels school, a 52-year-old nun came shining through.

"She was great through it all," said Donna Laterza.

The grace under pressure of Sister Mary Davidis is credited with saving the lives of all but two of the 55 children in her classroom. 61-year-old Donna Laterza was one of them.

"I was scared, but I felt like she was there so that was ok. We would be alright. We would get out of it," said Laterza.

Survivors say Davidis was quick-thinking enough not to evacuate her students into a fiery hallway. She ordered them instead to shove books against doorway crevasses to keep the smoke out, and motioned them all to the classroom's second floor windows to call for help.

"I remember she described the smoke like bails of black cotton coming in there," said author John Kuenster, who has written about the tragedy in his book To Sleep With Angels.

Sister Davidis told him she would think of the fire daily for the rest of her life.

"Sister Davidis kept pushing the kids towards the window saying, 'Stay there,' 'Get the air,' because she herself, at one point, felt she was gonna pass out because of the smoke," said survivor John Laterza.

"She got the kids out of the room and down the ladder and she waited until everyone was out," said Donna Laterza.

She remembers Davidis' courage beyond the that day, when weeks later she encouraged her surviving students to open up about their struggles.

"The whole class was like, 'Sister, what's going to happen to us?' and 'What are we going to do?' and she said 'Don't worry, it's in God's hands. We'll be fine. We'll stick together.'"

http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/local_story_291175239.html

Thanks for sharing this inspirational story. Thanks be to God for giving Sr. Mary Davidis the presence of mind to know the best thing to do. And thanks be to God that her students lived to tell the story.

Eternal memory...

In Christ,

Porter

God be praised for the good this woman did !

Eternal Memory !

-- John

Glory To Jeus Christ!

What a strong witness of Faith in God to those children!
May God be merciful and accept her sacrifice. - Gv

Anybody who was a schoolkid in Chicago in the 1960s -- as I was at St. Mary's Byzantine Catholic School -- was scarred by that fire. I recall our nuns talking about it all the time, and running fire drills -- which scared the heck out of us.

Here\'s [olafire.com] a site dedicated to the tragedy, if you're interested.

Tim

You must be from the Back of the Yards also. I graduated from Fulton, about 6 blocks from St Mary's, and I know the neighborhood quite well, The Brabec building (now gone) Fleischmann's Malting Co, Oakley Park, Satala Funeral Home, the Free Fair etc. Even in public school it was not uncommon to hear teachers warn students who talked during fire drills, "Do you want to end up like the children in the Our Lady Of Angels Fire ?"

The OLA website is packed with information. A few years ago I had dinner with David Cowan the author of the book about the fire. Sadly, he's fallen on very hard times and is currently in prison.

Larry,

We lived west of there (51st, east of Kedzie), but I spent lots of my time Back O'The Yards from kindergarten through eighth grade at St. Mary's.

We shopped on Ashland at Goldblatt's and Meyer's and the like... I played flag football at Cornell Park and bowled at Brabec's (with human pinsetters).

And, of course, there was the Free Fair.

Thanks Tim, I get back there frequently with my camera, as I work with several authors on Chicago History and crime stories. Cornell Park was one of my haunts, as was the Brabec Building. The site of the Free Fair was formerly the site of one of the City Dumps. The Damen Overpass has been torn down, but you probably know that. It was always the preferred route for boys ditching school to take to McKinley Park to go fishing.Sadly, the Peoples theatre has also been torn down.

I was a 7th grader in Boston at the time of the fire at Our Lady of Angels and I remember well the effect it had on all of us to be asked to pray for 92 children our own age who had died so horribly.

Sister Davidis was 100 years old at the time of her death and probably remembered, for these past 48 years, the one child she didn't manage to save, as much or more than the 53 she did save. She was truly a heroine.

O God of all spiritual and corporeal beings, You Who trampled death, broke the power of Satan and granted life to the whole world, now, O Lord, grant rest to the soul of Your departed handmaiden, Sister Davidis, in a place of light, freshness, and peace, where there is no pain, sorrow, or mourning.

As You are a gracious God and the Lover of mankind, remember her years of service to You and forgive her every transgression committed by her in word, deed, or thought, since there is no man alive who has not sinned, for You alone are without sin and You are the Resurrection and the Life, O Christ our God, and we render glory to You, together with Your Eternal Father, and Your most Holy, gracious, and life-giving Spirit, now and ever and forever. Amen.

May the memory of this brave woman be eternal.

Video tribute [cbs2chicago.com]