Jeanne Steele Kangas, a loving and beloved wife, mother, grandmother, sister, and aunt, died peacefully on January 10, 2023 surrounded by family after a recent diagnosis of late stage cancer.
Jeanne was born in August 1940 to Avery Walker Steele and Anne Louise Kirby Steele Atwood. She is survived by the love of her life, Robin Lazarow, with whom she shared a 24-year partnership (marrying in 2009). Their life together was full of adventure, world travel, hiking, golf, tennis, cooking, museums, Shaker history, and gardening. They enjoyed annual trips to the California desert and weekends at their second home in West Stockbridge.
Jeanne was a lifelong resident and indefatigable volunteer in Boxborough, Mass. She was the first woman elected to the Board of Selectman, the President of the Boxborough Historical Society, Chair of the Steele Farm Advisory Committee to preserve the 1784 Levi Wetherbee (Steele) Farmhouse, a 20-year Board member of the Boxborough Conservation Trust, and received the prestigious Golden Fife award in 2016 for her lifetime of service to Boxborough. During her remaining days, Jeanne helped secure a parcel of land donated by a generous Boxborough resident to be used for a softball field. She was also a member of the Boxborough Grange, Old Concord Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, a Corporator and Foundation Board member of Emerson Hospital, and a former Board member of the Appalachian Mountain Club and of the Charles River Wheelers. From 1974 to 1976, Jeanne served on the Governor’s Commission on the Status of Women and co-founded the Network for Women’s Lives. Jeanne was also very active in state and local politics, having served as Interim Chair and Vice Chair of the Massachusetts Republican Party for many years.
Jeanne is a graduate of Simmons College (1975) and Suffolk University Law School (1983). She started her own law firm, advertising “client-centered legal services” and practiced family law until 2017.
In addition to her wife, this extraordinary woman leaves behind four children, Waino Kangas of Boxborough; Zoanne Kangas Bouche and her husband Marc of Cincinnati, Ohio; Clifton Kangas of Fitchburg, Mass.; and Benjamin Kangas of Boxborough. She also leaves behind four grandchildren and three sisters. She was predeceased by her brother and parents.
Visiting hours will be held on Wednesday, January 18 from 3 to 7 p.m. in the Acton Funeral Home, 470 Massachusetts Ave. (Rte. 111), Acton, MA. A funeral service will be held on Thursday, January 19 at 10 a.m. in United Church of Christ Congregational Church, 723 Massachusetts Ave. Boxborough. Burial will follow in South Cemetery, Boxborough.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to any of the following (with a notation that it is in Jeanne Kangas’ memory): Boxborough Historical Society (to preserve Steele Farm) and mailed to 29 Middle Road, Boxborough, MA 01719; Emerson Health Care Foundation, 133 Old Road to Nine Acre Corner, Concord, MA 01742 (or online); or Boxborough Conservation Trust, 650 Massachusetts Avenue, Boxborough, MA 01719 (or donate online).
Share condolences with the family at Jeanne’s memorial page.
