2025 Jubilarian of the Year

Ann Bonness Angel, DS ’70, has lived her life asking herself what she can do to make the world a better place. An example of accepting the gospel call to lead a life that makes a difference, Angel has devoted herself to her students, her writing, and more.

One of nine children, Angel was the first of her siblings to attend Divine Savior High School. She felt DS was a place she could be “who I wanted to become,” she shared. “It was a beginning for me to discover who I was.”

A young voracious reader, Angel started writing for the DS Literary Journal, then called The Word, and contributed original poetry and short stories. Outside of her love of storytelling, she was involved in the visual arts courses at DS, and thought she would become an artist. With faith-formation at the forefront, Angel knew she wanted to be of service to others and contemplated receiving her bachelor’s in art education to share what she loved with children.

Impacted by the all-girls environment, Angel headed to Mount Mary after graduation. “I loved being in a room full of women and helping to empower them to use their voices,” she stated. “You’re not only feeling your own power, but the power of the women around you.”

While taking a large number of art courses at Mount Mary, Angel also became the Student Publication Advisor of the newspaper. Falling in love with writing, she switched her major to secondary education, English, and English professional writing. Upon graduation, Angel then received her MA in journalism from Marquette University.

After receiving her master’s, she had two goals: To teach a course at Mount Mary, and to write a book. She achieved both by the age of 40, having accepted an English teaching position at Mount Mary in 1989, and publishing several books, including Real for Sure Sister, John Glenn: Space Pioneer, and more. Additionally, she became a mother during this time, having adopted her four children, and wrote several parenting guides for Adoption Resources of Wisconsin. Later, she published Silent Embrace: Perspectives on Birth and Adoption with her daughter, Amanda Angel, DSHA ’96.

With those two major accomplishments, she realized she “needed a new goal.” She shared, “I wanted to publish with an East Coast publisher, so I got my Master of Fine Arts in writing from Vermont College of Norwich University (now known as Vermont College of Fine Arts) in 1999.” She then published Janis Joplin: Rise Up Singing in 2010.

The book, a nonfiction story for young adults, was published by Harry N. Abrams, now known as Abrams Books, with headquarters in New York. It received the Young Adult Library Services Association Award for Excellence in Nonfiction in 2011, which recognizes the best nonfiction book published for ages 12-18. “It’s essentially an Academy Award for my category of writing,” Angel explained. “It was amazing.”

While receiving these writing accolades, Angel was also serving her students as a beloved professor at Mount Mary for over 30 years. She started numerous new courses for students wanting to explore professional writing, received the Mount Mary University Teaching Excellence Award in  2011, the Mount Mary University Alumnae Madonna Medal in 2012, and more. She taught and volunteered for several writing workshops, including a 10-week workshop at Sojourner Family Peace Center.