Angel Richardson Aug 1, 1921 - Jun 9, 1997
Chronically Mentally Ill & Homeless
A Madison woman died penniless in June at the age of 75. She was frequently on campus, in
campus buildings, and on State Street. University workers knew her, Taxi-cab drivers knew
her, restaurants found corners for her. Even strangers helped her out. At the UW-Madison
Memorial Library, where Angel liked to sleep and read, students would leave money for her.
Angel wouldn't take it. She would turn it in as lost-and-found and say "someone left this
by me when I was sleeping." They would put it in lost-and-found and then after six weeks,
the money goes to the person who found it, which would be Angel.
After she died it became known that there was no money available for her burial. Madison
police officers had begun raising money to mark the
Forest Hill Cemetery grave of the woman who also frequented the halls of the
City-County Building. Goodwill Industries created a memorial fund for a gravestone, more
than $1,000 was donated, then Spellman Monuments donated a gravestone. The epitaph: "Angel,
who touched us by her being, has gone home." The already donated money, and any additional
money donated in Angel's name, was instead given to the Salvation Army's homeless program.
For Sons, Angel is gone, Again
Twin sons Graham & Paget had no idea their mother was a bag lady in Madison. Born in 1945 they had
not seen their mother since they were 2 or 3. They were put in an orphanage when they were 4 years
old. They were told their mother was sent to a mental institution and died of a brain hemorrhage.
They kept in touch with their grandmother (Angel's mother), who never mentioned Angel.
After they were grown, all of a sudden one Christmas they got a card from her. It shocked them.
It's not known if the boys tried to contact her. Until contacted by a reporter, Graham had no idea
his mother had lived on the streets of Madison or that she had died.
