Excerpts from the ChicagoSunTimes.com:
When the alarm sounded for a fire at Chicago’s Our Lady of Angels School, Joe Murray felt an overwhelming sense of dread. It was his old elementary school, a place he knew inside and out—every hallway, every staircase, every classroom. As he approached the building on Iowa and Avers, he saw thick, black smoke rising, and he knew things were worse than he could have imagined.
The 1958 fire claimed the lives of 92 children and three nuns. The tragedy left the Humboldt Park community in deep sorrow, as it seemed that almost every family had lost someone who never got to grow up.
John Raymond, one of the survivors, remembers Joe Murray as a true hero. “He pulled kids out as fast as he could,†Raymond said, recalling how he was around 11 years old at the time. “At first, he was grabbing them and putting them behind him so they could climb down the ladder.â€
But as the heat intensified, Murray realized a flashover was imminent. “He started grabbing the boys because he could see their white shirts,†Raymond explained. “He’d reach in and throw them down to the ground.â€
“Some firefighters tried to catch them with nets, but there were just too many kids,†he added.
Murray's heroic actions during the fire were later recognized by survivors in 2008. A website dedicated to the memory of the Our Lady of Angels fire describes how he climbed a ladder to a window in room 210 and began pulling children out. “It was hard to get them out because they were packed tightly at the windows,†the site notes. “He then went inside and continued pushing them out onto the ladder.â€
“Fire was pouring in through the transoms above the doors and burning across the ceiling, getting lower and lower in the room,†the account continues.
“Suddenly, he sensed the room was about to flash over and headed back out the window. On his way out, he grabbed two children next to the window and tossed them out ahead of him. He felt bad about it, but it was their only chance to live.â€
“Just as he got onto the ladder, the room flashed over, sending flames shooting out all the windows with a roar.â€
Joe Murray, who passed away on March 24 at the age of 88, is buried at Queen of Heaven Cemetery, just 100 feet from where many of the victims of the fire were laid to rest.
“When my mom died, that’s where they chose to bury her,†said Mary Gersch Marchlewski, his daughter.
Murray lived a full, happy, and accomplished life. He and his wife, Rosella, had 11 children together, and he had loved her since the day he first saw her at a roller rink in 1947.
After a nearly 40-year career, he retired as a battalion chief with Battalion No. 11, having been honored multiple times for his bravery. He came from a long line of firefighters—his father was a division marshal.
But the fire left a lasting mark on him. “He had constant nightmares after that, terrible ones,†Marchlewski said. “Every year, on the anniversary of the fire, the nightmares would come back.â€
In 1963, he helped save a 2-year-old girl who had driven a screw into her head after falling on a radiator handle. “He sent someone down the block to get a fine saw blade to free her,†Marchlewski said. She recovered after surgery.
In 1966, he was recognized for rescuing a firefighter trapped under debris from a roof collapse.
In the mid-1980s, he noticed a chief hadn’t shown up for work and, along with other firefighters, checked on him at home. They found him suffering from carbon-monoxide poisoning and saved his life.
He is survived by his other daughters—Susan, Kathleen, Jayne, Patti Jo, and Charlene; his sons—Michael, Timothy, and James; 39 grandchildren; and 30 great-grandchildren. His wife and two sons predeceased him. Murray was buried in his Knights of Columbus tuxedo.
Thanks, Dan
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