“I started out in Montana,” she explains. “My dad was killed in a car accident when I was 10. I was the oldest of five children.”
Her mother, moved them to Nebraska to be close to family.
“She went to work and we all lived with my grandparents.”
By age 20, Angel was married and starting a family of her own. In 1965, the family, including three children, moved to Miamisburg for the area’s job opportunities.
Angel began volunteering as an aide at the Bear Elementary School library. She found the fit perfect and began taking classes at Miami University, earned a bachelor of arts degree and took a job as library supervisor.
Later, she got her principal’s license and held other jobs in the Miamisburg City School district: public relations, early work on the district’s technology program and as curriculum director.
But Angel is probably best known for her last job in education: principal of Kinder Elementary School. She held that position until her retirement in 1998.
With 32 years in education, that wasn’t the end of her involvement. In 2003, she ran for the Board of Education. Against a slate of incumbents, Angel lost the race.
But two years later, she ran again and won.
She’s held a seat on the board ever since. In the election last November, she was the top vote-getter.
While in the early years she ran an aggressive campaign, she now prefers running on her record. “I’m running on what people have seen me do,” Angel said.
One early change Angel wanted to bring to the board was to have the meetings recorded for cable broadcast. Along with Joe Idzakovic (current board president), the idea was pressed and became a reality.
School financing is a current emphasis, “We’re struggling with that, just like every other community,” she said.
The board laid off 24 teachers before spring break and they won’t be coming back.
The current financing methods have been ruled unconstitutional in Ohio, but Angel doesn’t see anything happening soon. “I think at this point, for the next five, 10 years, we’re depending on the local taxpayers.”
Angel also serves as chairman of Miamisburg’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. She’s particularly proud of the riverfront park and downtown revitalization.
“I feel very strongly that this will be good for Miamisburg,” she said.
Angel, 70, lives with her husband, Denver, in Miamisburg. The couple have three children, two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
She also serves on the Baum Opera House Board and on the committee that is planning the 100th anniversary celebration of the Carnegie Library. But everything goes back to education, Angel said.
“It’s the key to my success.”
Contact this columnist at (937) 696-2080 or williamgschmidt@ verizon.net.
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