Retired CFD Battalion Chief Chief Joseph V. Murray

When the alarm rang out 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 as well as his own home. As he approached the building on Iowa and Avers, he saw thick, rising smoke, and he knew immediately that things were dire.

The 1958 fire claimed the lives of 92 children and three nuns, leaving the Humboldt Park community in deep sorrow. Every block seemed to carry the weight of loss, as so many young lives were cut short before they could grow up.

John Raymond and other survivors who escaped the school regard Joe Murray as a true hero. “He was pulling kids out as fast as he could,” Raymond, who was about 11 at the time, recalled. “At first, he was grabbing them and holding them behind him so they could climb down the ladder.”

But as the heat intensified, Mr. Murray realized a flashover was imminent. “He started grabbing the boys, because he could see their white shirts,” Raymond said. “He would reach in and throw them down to the ground.”

“Some firefighters tried using nets to catch them, but there were just too many kids,” he added.

Murray’s heroic actions, which were recognized by survivors in 2008, are documented on a website dedicated to remembering the tragedy. He climbed a ladder to a window in room 210 and began pulling children out. The room was packed with kids, making it hard to get them out. He then entered the room and pushed them onto the ladder.

“Fire was pouring in through the transoms above the doors and burning across the ceiling,” he described. “It was getting lower and lower in the room.”

“Suddenly, I sensed the room was about to flash over, so I headed back out the window. On my way out, I grabbed two kids next to the window and tossed them ahead of me. I felt awful about it, but it was their only chance to survive.”

“Just as I got onto the ladder, the room flashed over, sending flames shooting out all the windows with a roar.”

Mr. 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 were laid to rest. “When my mom died, that’s where they chose to bury her,” said his daughter, Mary Gersch Marchlewski.

Joe Murray lived a full and happy life. He had 11 children with his wife, Rosella, whom he fell in love with when he first saw her at a roller rink in 1947. He retired as a battalion chief after nearly 40 years of service, earning multiple honors for his bravery. He came from a family of firefighters—his father was a division marshal.

However, the fire left a lasting emotional scar. “He had constant nightmares after that, terrible ones,” Marchlewski said. “Every year, around the anniversary of the fire, the nightmares would come back.”

In 1963, he helped save a 2-year-old girl who had driven a screw into her head after falling on a radiator. “He sent someone to the hardware store to get a fine saw blade to free her,” Marchlewski said. The girl recovered after surgery.

In 1966, he was honored for rescuing a firefighter trapped under debris during a roof collapse. In the mid-1980s, he noticed a chief hadn’t shown up for work and went to check on him, discovering he was suffering from carbon-monoxide poisoning. They rescued him just in time.

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. Mr. Murray was buried in his Knights of Columbus tuxedo, a symbol of his lifelong dedication and service.

Thanks, Dan