John G. Wells

John G. Wells, of West Kingston, died Friday, April 23 at South County Hospital in Wakefield. The son of the late Herbert C, Wells and Frances (Taft) Wells, he was born on June 23, 1944 in Washington, DC, and grew up in Providence and Matunuck, RI. After graduating from Moses Brown Academy, he went on to earn a BA with a concentration on painting from Lawrence University in Kansas. His dedication to abstract expressionist painting continued to the end of his life, first in New York City, where he lived for 20 years and later in South County where he resettled with his family in the mid 1980s. Descended from a distinguished New England family, "Jody" traced his ancestry back through Herbert Johnson Wells, the first president of the Rhode Island Hospital Trust, to some of the earliest settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In addition to his painting and to his many efforts on behalf of the larger art community, he worked as a General Contractor and helped to build a number of notable homes in the South County area. He was a founding member of the Courthouse Center for the Arts and served a term as its president. He was a lifelong member of the Willow Dell Beach Club in Matunuck. He loved the game of squash, also tennis, chess, and the Red Sox. He is survived by his wife of 35 years, Sally Odell Wells; by two sons, John G. Wells, Jr. and Hazard Wells, both of West Kingston; and by a sister, Karen Taft Wells of Juneau, Alaska. A second sister, Barbara Shipman Wells, predeceases him. Cremation will be private. A memorial celebration of his life to be held in late spring will be announced. Donations in his memory may be made to the Courthouse Center for the Arts in West Kingston, or on-line to the American Lung Association.