- Date Of Birth: December 25, 1935
- Date Of Death: June 27, 2016
- State: Colorado
George Murray Wells
December 25, 1935 to June 27, 2016
On the morning of June 27, 2016, George passed away of natural causes at home with his loving wife Maria. He was 80 years old.
George Murray Wells was born in Denver, Colorado on December 25, 1935. He was the only child of Gladys Imogene Wells nee Gow and Reginald Harry Wells.
George grew up in the Sloan Lake neighborhood of Denver, and graduated from Denver’s North High School in 1954. He attended the University of Colorado at Boulder from Fall 1954 until withdrawing on September 20, 1958. He received a letter from the President of the United States that Fall and was drafted into the United States Army.
Upon returning to the States in the Spring of 1961, George re-enrolled at the university and by Spring 1963 graduated with a B.A. in Political Science. He could have picked from one of several majors, however, having amassed 447 credits–nearly enough for three degrees.
Among George’s other passions, perhaps none were more evident or long-lasting then his love for good music. In particular, that of Perry Como. He produced dozens of mix tapes for sharing with his family–oftentimes with a brief recorded message of love or commentary like a DJ at the beginning of each tape.
Besides music, political and international affairs were George’s primary intellectual interest. George believed passionately in a strong and confident United States actively engaged in world affairs. He grew up during World War II and saw the successful postwar rebuilding of Europe and Japan as the template for a just and engaged America. He told the story of hearing playground taunts during the 1948 election–“Dewey in the White House, Truman in the ashcan”–and beamed with joy describing his return to school after Truman had triumphed. He remembered seeing the front pages of Denver newspapers as a fourteen year old, showing the North Korean armies sweeping across South Korea in the Summer of 1950. A life-long Democrat, George supported Adlai Stevenson for President in 1952 and 1956–before George was old enough to vote. He reported on Stalin’s death in a high school sociology paper–and noted that no one went to the tyrant’s rescue for several hours as he lay dying. He was a supporter of Hubert Humphrey in good measure for his early advocacy for civil rights for all Americans–a cause that George worked for in every aspect of his own life–and was dismayed as the party of working people, civil rights, and international engagement struggled in the 1970s and 1980s.
George married Kathryn Ruth Keadle in 1967, living on San Miguel Drive in Grand Junction. They had two children together–Randolf Murray Wells, 48, and Kristina Ann Wells, 47, both now living in Gainesville, Florida. George and Kathryn divorced in 1969, but in that short time George and his father Reginald built loving relationships with Kathryn’s other seven children–Carmela, Paula, Phillip, Darryl, Russell, Margery, and Keith. The older children spoke of their love and appreciation for George, and shared this with their own children.
George moved with his father Reginald and son Randy to Montrose in 1972, living first on Ridge Street and then Avon Avenue.
George married Maria Elena Sanchez in February 1974, at a ceremony attended by their sons Randy and Angelo in Delta, Colorado. In 1976, George and Maria moved their family to 1009 Centennial Drive in Montrose.
George was also proud of the fact that for the better part of seven decades, he had hardly needed the help of a doctor and had never been admitted to a hospital. He joked that his middle name was the last name of the doctor that delivered him in 1935, and that the first care he received was when his mother asked to have his big ears pinned back so as not be made fun of.
That changed dramatically in the last decade of his George’s life, and Maria carried the overwhelming responsibility of care for him for several years.
George and Maria loved and cared for each other very much. They built a strong and loving marriage of more than 42 years.
George was preceded in death by his mother, Gladys Imogene, in 1972 and his father, Reginald, in 1985.
George is survived by his wife Maria of Grand Junction, his son and daughter-in-law Angelo and Karla of Ft. Collins, his son and daughter-in-law Randy and Ondine, daughter Kristina, granddaughters Shaunita and Aleida, and grandson Eli, all of Gainesville, Florida.
George chose to donate his body to science and medical research, as did his mother.
