I hope when I die people will remember the style I developed in life. I hope they remember how much fun we had and the troubled times we shared. And I hope I'm not completely forgotten. 

It was an event that informed the next four decades of her life, filling her with anger and depression and bringing her, in time, recovery and redemption. Michelle Rose McBride never flinched from the pain of the disaster or from the effect it had on every day of her life. 

But after years of fighting, the agony of her wounds took their toll. Ms. McBride, 56, died Wednesday at Weiss Memorial Hospital. 

It might not be appropriate to say the fire has claimed another victim because she did not want to be known by that term, said her brother-in-law, Jack Frawley. 

But it is fair to say that "The Fire That Will Not Die"--as she called it in her book about 
the Dec. 1, 1958, blaze--has claimed another life, he said. 

Among the deadliest fires in American history, the blaze at Our Lady scarred many families, emotionally and physically. 

And in a newspaper interview, Ms. McBride mourned the fact that she was never able to be a normal teenager. 

She did not apologize, however, for not softening her feelings about the tragedy. "I learned that disaster does not breed those strong, jolly, humble heroes that we read about in newspapers and books," she wrote in The Fire That Will Not Die, published in 1979. 

"Real survivors experience anger, panic, jealousy, guilt, self-doubt--all those feelings people never like to talk about, but which are as important and as powerful as bravery, kindness and love." 

Ms. McBride graduated from Mundelein Cathedral High School and Mundelein College. Later in life, Frawley said, she battled for what she felt was right and what she believed was just. 

She fought for compensation for her injuries and to launch the Phoenix Program--a rehabilitation center for burn victims. 

She worked with makeup mogul Marilyn Miglin to develop cover for men and women suffering from burns. And she battled to make people aware of the devastation wrought by fire. 

But the memory, and the pain, of the disaster never strayed, Frawley said. "She suffered her entire life," he said. "She had 75 percent burns over her entire body. "She just carried on through. She fought it as long as she could." 

The Phoenix Program survived for a time, and Ms. McBride dreamed of centers across the country. But she lost her zest for the aggressive tactics required to keep grants coming, Frawley said--that, and she never wanted to leave the North Side of Chicago. 
She spent her last years, he said, keeping up with friends and in continuing treatment, particularly for problems with her legs. 

She also continued confronting the defining moment in her life. "Being a fire victim has caused me much grief," she wrote in her book. "But it has given me unique opportunities as well. 

"Having endured a traumatic experience and having discovered a lasting peace has brought me to terms with death." 

Survivors include her sisters, LaVelle Frawley and Dae Hannah.