CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A survivor of the deadliest rail disaster in Chicago history said she’s hopeful that a day of healing — held fifty years after two Loop-bound trains crashed into each other — could become an annual tradition.
“I don’t think it’s ever been formally honored in Chicago before,” said Lisa Klare, one of the final survivors removed from the Illinois Central train crash, in which 45 people were killed and hundreds of others were injured.
Klare and other survivors of the 1972 crash held a memorial service and day of remembrance at the First Unitarian Church of Chicago.
“I think that we’re doing this just to honor all of the people that were lost, all of their families that suffered so greatly,” Klare said. “Also, very importantly, the first responders that were on the scene within two minutes.”
She said a day has not gone by when she hasn’t thought about the experience.
“The way that I’ve described it over the years, is that it’s sort of like having an out-of-body experience while being horribly stuck in the body,” Klare said.
Still, the ceremony evoked plenty of emotions for Klare.
“I didn’t realize that it would be quite as moving for me as it is, but it’s brought it all back after all these 50 years,” she said. “I mean, I’ve lived it every single day. I had injuries that still haunt me to this day, it's still a challenge in my life.”
The hope, Klare said, is to never let the tragedy be forgotten.
“We just want this to be part of Chicago’s history in some, really, more permanent way,” she said. “We would love to start a fund to build a memorial of some sort — however small — near the site of the accident.”
Ald. Sophia King (4th) read a Chicago City Council proclamation declaring Oct. 30 as an official day of remembrance of the Illinois Central rail disaster.
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