Betty Ann Papangelis was born February 9, 1925, at West Palm Beach, Florida, the daughter of Herbert E. and Ruth Hyed Seidel. She took a B.A. degree from Boston University in 1946 and a Master of Arts degree from the University of Chicago in 1950. A social worker by profession, Papangelis was an administrator with the Children’s Home and Aid Society of Illinois. With the Children’s Home and Aid Society she served as assistant director of the Evanston Children’s Center, as personnel director, and as director of professional education and training. Long active in Evanston community affairs, she chaired the city’s Mental Health Board (1969-1974), and was a member of the Evanston Civil Service Commission (1983-1987) and Mental Health Association. Papangelis was a member of the Evanston Welfare Council and chaired a controversial Council committee to study Evanston’s township assistance program. From 1989 through 1997 she sat on the Board of the Evanston Community Foundation; Papangelis chaired the Board in 1996-1997. She also directed the Foundation-funded steering committee that developed the Leadership Evanston Program. Papangelis ran for a seat on the Board of Community Consolidated Schools District 65 in the contentious and widely-publicized election of 1970. She sought and won election to the Evanston City Council and served as alderman from the Eighth Ward from 1975 to 1983.
Papangelis married her husband, Gustavius, on August 27, 1955. The couple had one son, Michael.
From the guide to the Betty Ann Papangelis (1925- ) Papers, 1965-1970, (Northwestern University Archives)
