Don Russell Wells was born at home in the farthest north house on 12th St. in Lawrenceville IL, on Armistice Day (11 November) 1929 to his parents Harry A. and Joy Johnson Wells.
He attended Old Central, New Central, and Arlington grade schools, Lincoln Junior High, and Lawrenceville Township High School, graduating as a National Honor Society member in 1948. Then came study at Washington University in St Louis MO, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in June 1952. In later years he studied history with the University of Maryland at overseas and US locations, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in 1977.
While at Washington U. he received an Army Commission as a 2nd Lt in the Quartermaster Corps upon graduation. He entered active Army duty in September 1952. In the following 31 years his assignments were in Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Texas, Alabama, Virginia and Maryland in the USA. Overseas assignments included multiple years in Germany, France, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. Army schools attended over the years were at the Quartermaster and Artillery Schools, and the Command and General Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth, KS. His assignments were varied and progressed from company/battery command, through battalion command in Vietnam, Eighth Army staff in Korea, and the Army staff at the Pentagon. He retired with the rank of Colonel in 1983.
After retirement from the US Army he worked in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with the Vinnell Corporation, involved in training the Saudi National Guard. In his eight plus years there he was initially the supply manager for equipment fielded to the units forming for training and later, advisor to their Logistics Management Center.
He was a life member of the Elks Lodge at Lawrenceville, as well as the VFW post there and the Military Officers Association of America chapter in Columbia, where he served for many years as chapter Secretary. A longtime member of the Lawrenceville United Methodist Church, he transferred to Broadway Christian Church in Columbia 1995-2010, and then to Olivet Christian Church, also in Columbia.
Don married Norma Jean Kirkwood in 1993. She was his high school sweetheart and she survives. After their marriage he relocated to Columbia, MO.
Other survivors include six children: Dr Thomas Wells of St Petersburg FL, Attorney James Wells of Philadelphia PA, Mary Teter of Elizabeth CO, Diane Basinger of Columbia MO, Catherine Haist of Atlanta GA, and Carol Gaddey of Tuscola IL; and many, many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held in the Eppel Chapel, Lenoir Village in Columbia MO on Sunday, September 19, 2021 at 3:00 p.m. Burial will be in the Lawrenceville City Cemetery in Lawrenceville, IL by Cunningham-Young Funeral Home also of Lawrenceville, with graveside service by the Elks Lodge and a military delegation at a later date.