A former Evanston 8th Ward alderman, Betty Ann Papangelis, died last Thursday in Quincy, Massachusetts, at the age of 94.
Papangelis was born on Feb. 9, 1925 in West Palm Beach, Florida to Herbert and Ruth Seidel. She was raised in Boston and was a 1946 graduate of Boston University and earned a master’s degree in social work in 1950 from the University of Chicago.
She had lived in Evanston for over 50 years, was chair of the city’s Mental Health Board from 1969 to 1974 and served as 8th Ward alderman from 1975 through 1983 and as a member of the Civil Service Commission from 1983 to 1987.
From 1989 to 1997 she was on the board of the Evanston Community Foundation, serving as its chair in 1996. She directed the steering committee that developed ECF’s Leadership Evanston program.
She worked for many years with the Children’s Home Aid Society of Illinois where she had been a caseworker, assistant director of the Evanston Children’s Home and director of professional education training.
She was married to the late Gustavius Papangelis and was the mother of the late Michael P. Papangelis.
About five years ago she moved to Quincy to be near her sister, Nancy L. Morton. She is also survived by nine nieces and nephews.
She died at the Hancock Park Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Quincy. Private services were conducted at the Sweeney Brothers Home for Funerals in Quincy. Donations in her memory may be made to Saint Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105.