Jean Blettner Angell

1944 - 2021
Jean Blettner Angell, mother, wife, grandmother, friend, lawyer, and fierce survivor of a terrible illness, died at her home in Portland, Maine, on New Year's Day. Jean had lived with ALS for 22 years. When she was diagnosed at age 53, she was told she would survive a few short years, but with her characteristic grace and steady resolve, Jean determined to live as long as possible. She adapted first to life in a wheelchair and then, in 2002, she elected to go on a ventilator. Over the next 18 years, she lost the use of nearly every muscle. She embraced the adaptive software that allowed her to speak through a computer, and until the very end was able to communicate with a few facial muscles. She lived to see her children finish school, marry wonderful partners, and find work they loved. She met and cherished all six of her grandchildren, and died the day after her 50th wedding anniversary. Raised in Winnetka, Illinois, with her sister Elizabeth by Edward and Margaret Maw Blettner, Margaret Jean graduated from New Trier High School and Wellesley College. She went on to Harvard Law School, where she met her husband, Christopher Angell, and was one of only 26 women in a class of 550. She practiced law in New York City, beginning at the firm of Donovan Leisure, where she was the second female lawyer. Anyone who encountered her professionally - she was often the only woman in the room - will recognize the courage and focus that defined her later approach to chronic illness. Jean went on to be a partner at Richards and O'Neil, and before she retired, to lead the Trust and Estates group at the law firm of Bryan Cave. She served on many boards, including those of the Brearley School, the Allen-Stevenson School, Milton Academy, the Mountain School, Planned Parenthood of New York City, and New York Public Radio. In the last years of her life, she lived by the ocean in Maine, listened to hundreds of books, sent vital moral support to Democratic candidates around the country, and planned all the meals served in her home. She will be remembered for her wonderful dinner parties, beautiful taste, unflagging generosity, the best advice, and for not forgetting a single detail. She is survived by her husband, Christopher; her children, Elizabeth, Margaret, and Christopher, and their spouses and children. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to New York Public Radio or the Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins.