Jessica B. Scalley

Mary Jessica Brennan Scalley of Wakefield, MA, and formerly New Castle, NH, passed away peacefully surrounded by her loving family on May 19, 2025. Known by family and friends as Jess, she was 78.

Jess was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Ruth (Chisholm) and John Brennan, spending her early years in Somerville before moving to Wakefield as a child. She attended Nazareth Academy and then earned a secretarial degree at Fisher College in Boston.

Her first corporate job was at Raytheon in Burlington, but Jess had eyes on city life and took a new position at Scudder, Stevens & Clark in downtown Boston. To cover her Commonwealth Avenue rent and allow her to start exploring the world, Jess took on a Saturday side job at the coffee shop inside the Sheraton Boston Hotel.

It is there where she met her future husband, Bill Scalley, the hotel's food and beverage manager. A whirlwind romance led to wedding bells in Boston followed by three decades in hospitality that would take Jess and Bill to eight hotels on three continents.

Highlights included the Sheraton Center in midtown Manhattan; the Royal Hawaiian Hotel on Waikiki Beach in Honolulu, where Jess also served as general manager at the outpost of Paris based Chaumet Jewelry; the Sheraton Auckland in New Zealand; and Beijing, where they helped break ground on China's first 5-star American hotel, The Beijing Club. A return to Hawaii and The Manele Bay Resort and The Lodge at Koele on Lanai was their capstone assignment.

Jess and Bill settled into a split-season retirement in New Castle, NH, where Jess played golf at the Wentworth By the Sea Country Club and honed her crochet and needlepoint crafts; and in Naples, FL, where they spent 20 snowbird years escaping New England winters. For many years their cabin in Hillsdale, NY, was a quiet retreat for them.

With a chic fashion sense and her frequently stamped passport, Jess also had a wicked sense of humor - down to earth and with a deep love and pride for her family, both immediate and extended.

Jess is survived by her loving husband of 46 years, William Scalley of Wakefield, MA, her sister Ruthanne (David) Schoetz of Harwich, MA, her brother John (Janet) Brennan of Melrose, MA, niece Elizabeth (Greg) Schoetz Mays of Amissville, VA, nephew David (Adrienne) Schoetz and his children Alexander, Adelaide and Piper of Wilton, CT, her uncle Lawrence (Judy) Chisholm of Danvers, MA, aunt Judy (late Bill) Chisholm of Duxbury, MA, lifelong friend Susan Green of Williamsburg, VA, and a wonderful and wide circle of cousins and friends.

She was predeceased by her beloved parents as well as many cherished aunts, uncles and cousins.

Family and friends are invited to gather in Jess' memory at Robinson Funeral Home, 809 Main Street, Melrose on Tuesday, May 27 from 4-7 PM, and on Wednesday, May 28 at 9 AM before leaving in procession to Most Blessed Sacrament Church, 1155 Main Street, Wakefield for her Funeral Mass at 10 AM. Gifts in her memory may be made to Mission of Deeds, 6 Chapin Avenue, Reading, MA 01867 or www.missionofdeeds.org/