Angella M. Bandla

OSWEGO – Angella M. Bandla, 54, of Oswego, passed away unexpectedly on February 21, 2026, surrounded by her loving family.

Born and raised in Oswego, she was the daughter of Philip and Patricia (Bugow) Natoli.

Encouraged from the start by her father to pursue creative endeavors, and taught to be strong and independent by her mother, she found a passion and talent, from a young age, for writing, Theater Arts and Dance. Always driven to meet the next challenge, Angella graduated a semester early from Oswego High School in December of 1988, and completed a double-major of English and Theatre from SUNY Fredonia only 2 ½ years later, during which time she wrote and directed her own original one-act play, and became a well-respected stage-manager. She went on to receive a Master’s Degree in Deaf Education from SUNY Geneseo in 1994, with the goal of teaching students with special needs, a mission that her firstborn son, Will, has also embraced. After completing her education, Angella continued her family’s tradition of service as a firefighter and EMT for the Scriba Fire Department, and worked for the Tri-Cities Opera Company in Binghamton, NY.

Almost in spite of herself, in 1995 Angella agreed to marry her longtime boyfriend, Scott, the following year, and the two of them began their beautiful adventure together in one of her favorite places, Denver, Colorado, where Scott chose to pursue his Master’s Degree. There, she worked as an itinerant teacher and long-term substitute for several school districts, and embraced her love for all things Disney (Winnie-The-Pooh and Eeyore in particular) by working in the evenings at the Disney Store in Denver’s Cherry Creek Mall. Angella and Scott started their family in 1999 with the arrival of baby Will, and returned to their home town of Oswego in December of 2001, to be closer to their families.

Once back in Central New York, Angella’s family continued to grow with Parker in 2003, and Quinn in 2005. Despite facing extreme medical challenges during this time, Angella’s drive and determination to perform meaningful work made her a much-loved substitute teacher all around the Oswego City School District. She spent several years stage-managing Oswego High School’s well-renowned musicals as well as those of several elementary schools, and taking on the role of OHS Drama Club Advisor and director. During this time, she was also a Girl Scout Leader. She, along with her family, has been very active with the Oswego Players community theatre at Fort Ontario, where she stage-managed many plays, and returned to directing with a one-act play for the McCann Showcase in 2025.

Angella was a voracious reader and audiobook listener, almost always having at least one earbud in at all times to keep listening to the latest book as she went about her daily activities. She loved spending time with her family, whether it was something as simple as watching TV together or playing tabletop and video games with them, living out rock-goddess dreams singing and pounding on plastic instruments with them in Rock Band, or traveling with them to Walt Disney World and on Disney Cruise Lines to the Bahamas, to Universal Studios for a one-on-one excursion with Parker while Scott took Will and Quinn to Oga’s Cantina in Galaxy’s Edge because they’re all geeks, to New York City to take in Broadway musicals, or taking a cross-country road trip to see sites like the Rock-N-Roll Hall of Fame and Mount Rushmore on the way to showing them her old stomping grounds in Colorado. In recent years, Angella and her family fostered kittens for the Oswego County Humane Society, dedicated to giving strong starts and loving homes to her favorite animals (next to otters, which she collected frequently in plush form).

Angella is survived by her devoted, goofy, Muppet of a husband of nearly 30 years, Scott , their equally Muppety children, Will, Parker, and Quinn Bandla, each of whom made her proud beyond her ability to express, and their beloved cats Charlie and Lola, and Mulder and Scully. She is also survived by her mom, Patricia Natoli, and brother Philip “Rusty” Natoli (Cheryl), along with their adult children, Christopher, Kyle, and Kelsy, and her adult nephews, Derek and Dylan.

She was preceded in death by her father Philip Natoli in 2019, and her brother Billy Natoli in 1993.