When she was a student at Maryvale High School in Cheektowaga, Angeline Woodworth’s teacher asked everyone in her advanced placement English class to name the one burning question they wanted answered. “What is beauty?” was Angie’s response. After a thoughtful pause, her teacher retrieved his copy of James Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. “Read it,” he told her, “and report to me on what you find.”
Looking back, it may seem like a curious lesson. Imagine a high school teacher assigning that book today. But for Angie, our Operations Manager, the moment fit neatly into her lifelong journey of personal discovery and self-expression. Born in Santa Fe, NM, she spent her earliest years moving around, from there to Buffalo to Houston and back to Buffalo, where she finally settled for good. Though she never met her biological father, nor anyone in his family, her mother–a loving woman who passed away a few years ago–was her rock. She helped fill the void.
Angie spent a lot of time traipsing around the forest near her parents’ and grandparents’ homes. Being outside and exploring nature helped her get through many difficult times, she says. Picture a pigtailed and freckled little girl pedaling her bike down the road, digging her fingers in the dirt while helping her mother garden, or pretending she was a mermaid as she splashed around in a pool on a hot summer day. Sometimes she’d venture into the woods and find a mossy spot on which to sit and absorb the silence. There, she recalls, she heard “the rushing, peaceful sound the leaves made when the wind blew.”
This was the kind of restorative breeze that makes a forest feel like a sublime experience, and it gave her a powerful reverence for nature and kept her coming back for more. During moments like these she wondered about beauty and the role it played in her life. As she grew older, she began to collect the stones and shells and feathers that she found especially attractive, a collection she maintains to this day. Because she saw beauty all around her, she started to draw, paint, and take photographs of nature in order to capture its essence. Eventually, her interests took her to the Rochester Institute of Technology and a degree in graphic design with a minor in psychology. “Because I’ve experienced ugly parts of life and emotionally hard things,” she says, “I want people to always find the beauty, or the silver lining, in their lives. Doing so throughout my life has helped my spiritual and mental health immensely.”
Nothing sums up Angie’s warm, generous spirit better, and it’s why we all love working with her. Although some of her photography and artwork have been featured in our promotional materials, her primary role at the Land Conservancy is as what she calls the “mini rudder that helps keep our ship steady.” Behind the scenes, she handles many of the important administrative tasks that keep our operations running smoothly (including processing more than 6,000 donations over the past three years!). Since there are many moving parts to her job–and sometimes even critters sneaking into our offices–balancing everything is a challenge. But as her three kids and husband will attest, Angie’s good at keeping things in shipshape.
The next time you send us an email or make a donation, you can rest assured knowing that you’re in great hands with Angie. And in case you were wondering, she did finish reading A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and she did report back to her teacher. But like all the biggest questions in life, the search for an answer remains. It’s an ever-evolving part of the journey.
To view a sampling of Angie's art, click on the slideshow below.
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