Acton Boxborough Colonial Club
Jeanne Steele Kangas
This outstanding three-sport, thirteen-time letter winner joins teammates Sylvia Beaudoin-Hughes and Irene Kazokas-Bry in our Hall of Fame. Excelling in all three sports, basketball was her dominant sport. As captain of the 1955-56 team honored here this evening, Jeanne exhibited her skills and leadership abilities that serve her to this day in her many capacities in the business and political arenas.
Led by hall of fame coach Issy Stearns, Jeanne and her spirited and talented collection of teammates showed the Acton-Boxboro and surrounding eastern- Massachusetts' communities - that girls could excel on field and court. Jeanne's post high school career is extraordinary. In 1970 and 1972 as a republican candidate, Jeanne was our State Representative. She received her B.A. from Simmons College in 1975 and her law degree from Suffolk University in 1983. From 1970 to 1983, she served as Boxboro's first woman selectman. From 1974-76, Jeanne served on the Governor's Commission on the Status of Women. In 1978, Jeanne was the acting Deputy Director of the Mass. Dept. of Public Utilities. She founded the law firm of Arnold and Kangas, P.C. of Concord in 1981. Jeanne is an active member of the Appalachian Mountain Club from 1984 to date, including serving on the Board of Directors.
Starting in 1991 to date, Jeanne has accomplished the following - Cofounder and member of Network for Women's Lives. Corporator Emerson Hospital. President Mass Council on Family Mediation. V.P. for Legal Affairs Charles River Wheelman. Board of Directors Boxboro Conservation Trust. Board of Managers Timothy Wheelhouse, Concord. Foundation Board Emerson Hospital.
What this shows, is that athletics play an integral part in the development of leadership, teamwork and hard work. Jeanne displayed all of those traits as an athlete at AB. Jeanne resides in Boxboro and is proud of her children Wayno and Zoe, attorneys at Arnold and Kangas, and Clifton and Benjamin of Fitchburg and Boxboro respectively. Jeanne's most memorable moment at AB were earning those 13 letters, having Issy Stearns as coach, and winning the 55-56 championship with her teammates.