Alayne Julie Van Erem

Alayne Julie Van Erem Livestream, Available 8/22/25 at 11:00AM: Livestream Link

Alayne Julie Van Erem, 73, of Arden Hills, MN, died of complications due to advanced dementia, on August 11, 2025.

Alayne was born in Jamestown, North Dakota, in 1951, to Shirlee and Harvey Van Erem. As a child, Alayne spent endless hours outside, curious about the natural world, plants, and animals. Some of her most prominent memories of childhood were set on the farm homestead in Jamestown, ND, where her maternal grandparents lived, and involved unsupervised adventures, no doubt some of them dangerous, and many of them messy. Alayne was also creative, like her mother, and inquisitive and intuitive about how things are put together, like her father.

After graduating at the top of her class at Jamestown High School in 1969, Alayne attended the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, MN on a merit-based scholarship. At St. Kate's, she enjoyed a liberal arts education and studied biology in preparation for medical school. She also met and formed lifelong friendships with other bright, independent women who shared a passion for learning and adventure. Alayne attended medical school at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, ND, where she met Kevin Ruggles, her first husband and the father of her two children. True to her high-achieving nature, Alayne also excelled in medical school. Following medical school, Alayne spent her first year of residency in pediatrics at Milwaukee Children's Hosptial. She then earned entrance into a prestigious pediatric residency at Georgetown University in Maryland.

After a few years of practicing pediatric medicine in Maryland, where her first daughter Emily was born, and then California, where her second daughter Molly was born, she moved to Marshfield, WI, where she spent the majority of her years of medical practice at the Marshfield Clinic. Early on in that practice she received advanced training at Duke University to further specialize in Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. This specialty aided her in working with children and families with complex needs, including Cerebral Palsy, ADHD/ADD, and Autism. Alayne also became the Director of the Residency Program in Pediatrics, a position which allowed her to mentor and support physicians in training.

Her knowledge and skill in pediatrics were only secondary to her core desire to help and care for others. She put all of these qualities to use in her relationships with patients, families, and colleagues. Those of us in her personal life often received the benefit of these qualities as well through her willingness to offer professional input about how to help a baby poop, how to safely remove a cactus needle, and the best way to relieve the pressure from an injury to a thumbnail -- spoiler alert -- it involved a paperclip and a candle flame.

Outside of her professional life, Alayne had many hobbies, including gardening, sailing, and enjoying lazy weekend mornings watching the birds, otters, and deer visit her property in Marshfield. She spent a lot of time in Bayfield, WI with her second husband, Stanley Szczytko, and enjoyed many sailing adventures over the years, including sailing to most of the Apostle Islands, checking out the sea caves, hiking to the lighthouses, and even sailing across Lake Superior to Canada on several occasions. Alayne also owned a property in Arizona and successfully avoided Midwest winters for a number of years. After the births of all three of Alayne's grandchildren, she just couldn't stay away and moved to Shoreview, MN to be closer to her two daughters and their families.

When Alayne was admitted to the hospital in July 2025 due to advanced dementia, the attending physician said, "your mother is very intelligent and very fierce". This is a statement about Alayne that rings true, from the very beginning to the very end. After a burst of lucidity, where Alayne was able to have tearful goodbyes with many of the important people in her life, including several sweet visits from each of her grandchildren, she died peacefully at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, MN.

Alayne was preceded in death by her parents, Shirlee and Harvey, her brother, Philip Van Erem, Baby Boy Van Erem and Paul Richard Van Erem, both of whom were stillborn, and her second husband, Stan Szczytko. She is survived by her sister (Kay Ann Van Erem), her brother (Greg Van Erem), her daughters (Emily Ruggles Johnson and Molly Ruggles), and her three grandchildren (Anneliese Johnson 11, Lukas Johnson 13, and Iver Novacek 10).

**A visitation, service, and reception will be held for Alayne on August 22 at Willwerscheid Funeral Home in St. Paul, MN. Service to start at 11:00 AM, with a visitation one hour prior.

If you would like to make a donation in honor of Alayne, please consider the following organizations:

Tuberous Sclerosis Complex Alliance: TSC Alliance

Democratic National Committee: Donations - Democrats 

National Public Radio: NPR - Breaking News, Analysis, Music, Arts & Podcasts : NPR 

Public television (PBS): PBS: Public Broadcasting Service