Janet Fleming Ingalls

SOUTH PORTLAND – Our Mom, Janet Fleming Ingalls, died on Oct. 23, 2022, at the still young age of 90. She has gone on to meet her mother for the first time.

Jan was an amazing, loving, giving, and funny soul who spent much of her life trying to live by the golden rule that was so close to her heart through her Christianity.

She was born in Barre, Vt., to Alexandrina (McDonald) Fleming and Howard Blair “H.B.” Fleming. Tragically, her mother died within hours of Jan’s birth, and yet she had the good fortune to be loved and cared for by her extended maternal family – the McDonalds – until Howard married Norma Thurston. In an almost unspeakable repeated tragedy, Norma and her newborn son died in childbirth, and young Jan lived with Gramma Thurston and our beloved Aunt Dottie, Norma’s sister, spending much of her childhood at Gramma Thurston and Dottie’s home in West Milan, N.H., visiting often with the McDonalds in Barre, Vt. Those years were very formative, giving her a foundation of loving attention, an endless sense of humor (thank you, Aunt Dottie) and establishing Mom’s inextinguishable joy in life. When we were young, Jan and Dick would take us to visit family in both Barre, Vt. and West Milan, N.H., providing us with an expansive view of, and love for, all New England.

Jan eventually came home to Maine to live with her dad, H.B., and his third wife Mildred. They gave her the gift of three amazing sisters, Judy Baker, Nancy Buck (who predeceased Jan), and Barbara Fleming. The sisters remained close through all the years and have created a large loving family that is now spread across the country.

In her sophomore year at South Portland High School, Jan met Dick Ingalls. As she dryly recalled their first encounter, “it was not exactly love at first sight.” They were, however, quite a romantic item by the time Jan graduated in 1949. Dick had already left for Maine Maritime Academy, and Jan went off to college, first to the business school her dad wanted for her, and then on to the Maine General School of Nursing she had always wanted to attend.

Following their graduations, the two were married in a lovely ceremony in the Congregational Church on Meetinghouse Hill in South Portland, in the summer of 1953. They quickly had three children, Leigh, Jim (known in Maine as “B.J.” – Big Jim), and Andrew – who drove them crazy for about two decades before launching forth on their own paths. Jan and Dick were married for 69 wonderful, occasionally challenging, but always loving years.

Jan’s career path took her from many years as an R.N. at Maine Medical Center and physicians’ offices, to a career as a real estate broker. For a while, she and Dick ran Ingalls Realty, with a Big Eagle logo. She then worked for many happy years at Harnden Realty and its successors. She taught real estate courses at the University of Maine, and eventually worked at Keller-Williams.

Jan was an active and engaged member of the First Congregational Church on Meetinghouse Hill in South Portland. There, she chaired the Holiday Bazar for several years, served on the Mission Board, and was a trustee and vice president of the Church. In 2004, she established the Children’s Closet in Guptil Hall that, to this day, provides free gently-used children clothing for families in need in the South Portland area.

Jan has been a fixture at that Church for nearly 70 years, and the friendships formed there were deep and wide, as have her bowling friendships in recent years.

Jan’s love and unfailing support for her three children expanded through the years to include all of their spouses, and nine grandchildren, every one of whom was her “favorite grandchild.” She is a great-grandmother to four beautiful children.

Jan is survived by her husband, Richard; and her sisters Judy Baker and Barbara Fleming. She leaves behind her children, Leigh and Bill Saufley of Portland, and their children Ben and Jelena Rakic Saufley, and Jenny Saufley and her fiancé, Maxine Jackson; Jim and Cathy (McCormick) Ingalls of Gardendale, Ala. and their children Candice French, Aaron and Kathleen Ingalls, Courtney and Josh Cornutt, and Bobby Ingalls; and Andrew and Anne (McMonagle) Ingalls of Cape Elizabeth and their children Lydia Ingalls, Nate Ingalls, and Alison Ingalls; and Jan’s beloved great-grandchildren in Tennessee and Alabama, Olivia, Harrison, Ellie, and Jack.

Jan wanted to leave us all with these rules:

Pray every day;

Love those you live with;

Do what needs to be done;

Leave the rest up to God.

Visiting hours will be 4 to 6 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 27, at Hobbs Funeral Home, 230 Cottage Rd., South Portland. A memorial service will be held at 12 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 29, at the funeral home. Interment will be at Mount Pleasant Cemetery, South Portland.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a contribution to the First Congregational Church – Community Crisis Ministries, in South Portland.

Janet Fleming Ingalls