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Individual Record for: William Terry Wells (male)

Notes:

!NAME:William Terry Wells

!NAME:Bill Wells - Source - Wells Family Cemetery Northeast of Douglas, Arizona approx., 8 mi les. - Source - Cochise Genealogical Society - www.mycochise. com

!BIRTH:Bill WellsBirth:[ no dates ]., - Source - Wells Family Cemetery Northeast of Douglas , Arizona approx, 8 miles. - Souce - Cochise Genealogical Society - www.mycochise.com

!DEATH:Bill WellsDeath:[ no dates ]., - Source - Wells Family Cemetery Northeast of Douglas , Arizona approx., 8 miles. - Source - Cochise Genealogical Society - www.mycochise.com

!DEATH:William Terry WellsDeath:07 April 1995., - Source - Selitsa Vakalakis of Sierra Vista , Cochise, Arizona

!OBITUARY:W. T. Wells dies at 75; made 'fireplace furnace.' By Jim Erickson. The Arizona Dai ly Star. William Terry Wells, inventor of the "fireplace furnace" that bears his name, die d Friday at his home near Sunizona. He was 75. Several thousand Wells firepalces have bee n sold from the company's Tucson manufacturing plant since 1976, when Popular Science magazin e labeled the invention an "energy-efficient fire-place." Conventional fireplaces draw air f rom inside the house and lose a lot of heat up the chimney. Well's fireplace furnace takes i n exterior air for combustion, and heated air is directed through ducts to warm the house. W ells was born Dec., 11, 1919, in Elfrida. He studied engineering at the University of Arizon a for two year working summers at the Douglas smelter, until he entered the U.S. Army Air For ces in 1944. During World war II, wells flew a C - 47 cargo plane across the Atlantic and spe nt about a year in Europe. He received the Air Medal on four occasions and earned the rank o f First Lieutenant, according to a nephew, Mike Sutherland. After the war, Wells worked a s a flight line inspector for Boeing Corp., then as a quality control engineer at Hughes Airc raft Co., in Tucson. In 1959 he started his own washer rental business and began to devote m ore time to inventions. He sold the first Wells fireplace furnace in March 1976. Wells Fire places is at 1221 W. Monte Vista Drive in Tucson. In 1982 Wells and his wife were named co-c hairs of Evan Mecham's Southern Arizona Mecham For Governor Committee. Wells had many leader ship positions in The Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints, including Bishop of Tucson 's third ward. In addition to his wife, Ruth Crum Wells of Sunsites, Wells is survived by sev en daughters: Sheila Cottrell of Tucson; Berna Vakalakis of Sierra Vista, Mary Gibbons of Sun sites, Michelle Rickles of Albuquerque; Rhonda McHaley of Salt Lake City; Becky Preiss of Sie rra Vista, and Marsha Rogers of Atlanta. He is also survived by two brothers, Ray & Warren W ells of Phoenix; two sisters, Donna Bonds of Prescott & Doris Sutherland of Tucson; 27 grandc hildren, and three great-grandchildren. A Funeral Service will be held at the LDS Chapel i n Sunsites at 10 a.m. tomorrow. Wells will be buried with full military honors at the privat e Wells Cemetery nine miles northeast of Douglas. - Source - Arizona Daily Star Newspaper dat ed Tuesday April 11, 1995 - azstarnet.com

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