Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana Archives

Rev. Wallace Lewis Wells

The Rev. Wallace L. Wells was born in Waco, Texas, on 17 September 1908, the son of the Rev. Henry Augustus and Mary Jane (Daugherty) Wells.  He graduated from Prairie View State College in 1933 and married Henrietta Pauline Bell, a member of the famed Wiley College debate team, on 19 August 1939 in Alameda County, California. He taught school in Gary, Indiana, and attended Seabury Western Theological Seminary, graduating in 1951. Bishop Reginald Mallett ordained him a deacon in 1950 and a priest in 1951. Wells served as vicar of St. Augustine's, Gary, from 1951 to 1963, during which time he led the drive to build a new church under an acclaimed design by Chicago architect Edward Dart. He left Gary in 1963 to be rector of St. Luke's Church in New Orleans. In 1964 he became chaplain of Dillard University, serving there until 1966. He then became rector of St. Mark's Church in Birmingham, Alabama, from 1966 to 1967, and later served the diocese in a non-parochial capacity. He died in Houston, Texas, on 19 May 1984 and was buried in Paradise North Cemetery.

Papers at Tulane University


 

This page references: