Minneapolis, MN - Jane Anne Scallen, beloved wife, mother and grandmother, sister, aunt and friend, died peacefully on August 27, 2025, at the age of 73 at the Little Hospice, after a nearly three-year struggle with atypical parkinsonian disease. Jane was a beautiful tangle of compassion, generosity and intelligence. She was justifiably proud of her work as a public health nurse (RN) for Health Care for the Homeless clinics, at times fearlessly combing wooded homeless encampments at 4 a.m. in December to deliver life-saving healthcare. Jane was a gifted writer. She looked at the world differently than the rest of us, and Jane's world came alive in short stories about her experiences (as, for example, a professional dancer and lab technician) and in a young adult novel about a girl living in a homeless shelter who was, as everyone knew, Jane.

But as important as her professional accomplishments were to her, Jane's life centered on her family and friends. She and husband Steve were married for 38 years. If a book were written about their relationship, it would be 500 pages, and every page would say the same thing: she loved him, and he loved her. Their boys, Joe, Danny and David, were the object of Jane's unstinting devotion, pride, and love (and the not-so-occasional lecture about perdition). She and her sisters, Kathy and Mimi, were closely bonded throughout their lives, always supporting and loving each other. Jane became a grandmother late in life, but the energy she focused on grandson Kilian - driving him to school, making his lunch, kicking a soccer ball - was that of a much younger woman.

Jane's friendships were legendary for their intensity, loyalty and sheer numbers. Her friends knew that when you were with Jane, no one else mattered. What a gift to the world she was.

Jane attended the University of Minnesota, Columbia University and graduated with a B.S.N. with honors from St. Catherine University where she was the only nursing student ever to win the University's creative writing award. She was inducted into the Honor Society of Nursing in 2007. She leaves behind her husband Steven Wells, sons Joseph (Crysten Nesseth), Daniel and David Wells, grandson Kilian Wells (mother Jazmin Robinson), sisters Kathy Wilde (Bob) and Mary ("Mimi") Goplen (Dave), brother Joel Scallen (Judy) and dozens of nieces, nephews and cousins who adored her. She was predeceased by her mother Ruth Groff, father Joel Scallen and stepfather Robert Groff.

Jane loved her birthday, and there will be a celebration of her life on October 18, 2025 (her 74th birthday) at Lake of the Isles Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, with a visitation starting at 10 a.m. Donations in Jane's honor and memory can be made to Minnesota Community Care/Health Care for the Homeless. Jane's family thanks the dozens of caregivers from Comfortkeepers and Sisters in Harmony who cared for her around the clock for the 18 months she was in home hospice; the staff at Little Hospice; and for the hospice workers from Park Nicollet, and in particular, outstanding hospice nurse Nina.