Richard Marshall Wells

1929 - 2015

Richard Marshall Wells was welcomed into the arms of his Lord and Savior on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2015, in Grapevine. Service: Inurnment service will be at 11:30 a.m. Friday, Oct. 30, in Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery in Dallas with military honors. A celebration of Richard's life will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at St. Paul Lutheran Church, 703 N. Elm St., Denton, Pastor Russ Tieken officiating. Memorials: In lieu of flowers, donations in Richard's name may be made to Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, diabetesfoundation.jdrf.com or jdrf.org/donate, Leukemia And Lymphoma Society, www.lls.org; Christ Lutheran School, www.clsphx.org; or the West Point Association of Graduates, www.westpointaog.org. He was born at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 28, 1929, to Brig. Gen. and Mrs. Gordon Wells. The son of a career Army officer, he spent his childhood on various Army posts around the world. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in June 1951, and in 1952 was deployed to Korea where he commanded two combat engineer companies on the front lines throughout the remainder of the war. Upon returning to the United States, Richard served with the Army Corps of Engineers, Seattle District, at the construction site of the Chief Joseph Dam. Following this assignment, he served as post engineer at Camp Hale and Fort Carson, Colo., where he met the love of his life, Marilyn Hermanson, whom he married in July 1955. They moved to Ames, Iowa, where Richard earned his MS in civil engineering at Iowa State, ultimately moving to West Germany where he was actively involved in the design and construction of U.S. military facilities authorized under the NATO Treaty. Over the course of 33-plus years, Richard served his nation around the world from Asia to Europe to the Middle East where he commanded various Army engineer and Joint Service organizations and was the recipient of numerous awards and decorations, including the Bronze Star, Legion of Merit and the Army and Defense Distinguished Service medals. Notable assignments include command of the 84th Engineer Battalion in Vietnam, the first commanding general of the Army Corps of Engineers, Middle East Division, in Saudi Arabia, and commanding general and division engineer of the Northwest Division of the Corps of Engineers, where he was responsible for much of the clean-up of federal lands following the eruption of Mount St. Helens. Maj. Gen. Wells retired from the Army in 1984 as the deputy chief of the Army Corps of Engineers and settled in Paradise Valley, Ariz., where he worked for the Arizona Department of Water Resources and the HNTB engineering firm. Richard was an avid outdoorsman who loved to bird hunt, hike, fish, and canoe. He and Lynn were very active members of Christ Church, Lutheran in Phoenix, Ariz., for nearly 30 years where among other ministries, they led Bible studies in their home for many years. Richard was also a Fellow of the Society of American Military Engineers, a member of the West Point Society of Phoenix and a member of the Mayflower Society. In 2013 they moved to Southlake to be closer to their children. Survivors: His wife of over 60 years, Lynn; children, Gordon Wells and Christina Hildenbrand; his brother, Wes Wells; five grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.