Dr. John Anderson Wells Jr.

COLUMBIA - A funeral service for Dr. John Anderson Wells, Jr., 81, will be held at 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, October 10, 2018 at Shandon Baptist Church. The family will receive friends following the service at the church. A private burial will be held. Dunbar Funeral Home, Devine Street Chapel, is assisting the family.

Dr. Wells passed away Monday, October 8, 2018. Born in Columbia on April 23, 1937, he was the son of the late John Anderson Wells and Evelyn Haltiwanger Wells. He attended Schneider School, Hand Junior High School and Dreher High School. He was Mayor of Hand in 1952 and president of the student body at Dreher, where he was First Team Allstate basketball player in 1955. John received his Bachelor’s Degree from Clemson College on a basketball scholarship, where he was a member of Bluekey, Tiger Brotherhood, Numeral Society, and Phi Kappa Phi fraternity. He married Ann Carlyle DeLaney on August 24, 1957.

John attended medical school at MUSC in Charleston from 1958 to 1962 and received his Medical Degree on July 7, 1962. He served an internship at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida from 1962 to 1963. After joining the U.S. Army Medical Corps, he was a Captain at Fort McPherson, Georgia from 1963 to 1965. John did his fellowship in Neuro-Ophthalmology at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami from 1965 to 1966. After his fellowship, he was a resident in ophthalmology at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia from 1966 to 1969. Upon completing his residency, John opened a private practice of ophthalmology in Columbia for 43 years until 2012.

He was Chief of Staff at Richland Memorial Hospital in 1985, Chairman for the Board of Visitors at Clemson University from 1987 to 1988, Medical Director at the S.C. Commission for the Blind, and President of Emory University Eye Alumni from 1995 to 1996. John was an active member of Incarnation Lutheran Church and taught adult Sunday School Class for many years. He later became a member of Shandon Baptist Church. He was great man of faith and lived by it every day. On his 50th birthday, being a part of the Billy Graham Crusade, he was asked to exam Billy Graham’s eyes. That personal time he had with Mr. Graham strengthened the faith he already had giving him new desire to serve the Lord.

Surviving are his wife, Ann Carlyle DeLaney; daughter, Catherine Wells Reynolds (Bill) and their children, William “Billy” Reynolds IV (Grace), Nancy Reynolds Hull (Will) and Catherine Wells Reynolds; son, Dr. John Anderson Wells III (Muffie) and their children, Whaley Wells Connell (Barnes), John Wells IV (fiancée, Margaret Womble) and Richard Wells; son, David Wallace Wells (Mary) and their children, Elizabeth Wells, David Wells, Jr. and Anderson Wells; son, Jeffrey Mason Wells and his daughter, Delaney Wells; daughter, Angeline Wells Mealing (Bret) and their children, Bret Mealing, Jr. (fiancée, Caroline Hudon), Ann Mealing and Wells Mealing; great-grandchildren, Annie Hull, Mary Margaret Hull and Bee Connell; brother, William Buist Wells (Charlene).

In addition to his parents, John was predeceased by his grandson, Christopher Gadsden Wells and brother, Ames Haltiwanger Wells.

The family would like to thank Carrie Alston, Sandra Drummond and Ray Sanders for their loving care and support. Memorials may be made to Shandon Baptist Church, 5250 Forest Drive, Columbia, SC 29206; Camp Joy S.C., 511 Meeting Street, West Columbia, SC 29169; or Samaritan’s Purse, P.O. Box 3000, Boone, NC 29607.

Memories may be shared at www.dunbarfunerals.com.