Barbara Jo Wells

Barbara Jo Wells April 10, 1928 March 17, 2013 Barbara Jo Wells passed away peacefully at Providence Hospital in Waco on March 17, 2013, after a short illness. Funeral services will be 1:00 p.m., Friday, March 22, at St. Paul's Episcopal Church with the Rev. Chuck Treadwell officiating. Burial will follow at St. Paul's Episcopal Church Columbarium. Visitation will be 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., Thursday, March 21, at Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey. Barbara was born April 10, 1928, in Dallas, Texas, to Joe Wesley and Edna Mae Hunt. She attended Woodrow Wilson High School in Dallas where, at a high school dance, she met a skinny, bespectacled Texas Aggie engineering student named Jim Wells, who would become the love of her life. On the day he returned from the Pacific after World War II, she joyfully agreed to marry him, and their adventures began. Shortly after the birth of their first child, Kathleen, they moved to Pennsylvania, then to Fort Worth. A daughter, Susan, and son, Joe, followed. Summers were spent on road trips through the American West, where this city girl from Dallas learned to pitch a tent, build a campfire, and expertly catch, clean, and fry rainbow trout. She was never able to avoid feeling guilty about hurting the fish. Barbara and Jim moved to Utah before settling in Waco, where Barbara earned a bachelor's degree at Baylor University. Upon graduation, she prayed for God to "send me where I am really needed," and she became an English teacher at South Junior High School in Waco. Barbara also taught at Richfield, Vanguard, and Midway High Schools in Waco. She influenced countless young lives, many of whom know her to this day. Somehow, she was able to juggle teaching and a growing family, while earning a master's degree in American Studies from Baylor. Barbara was a seeker and a lifelong student of religion and spirituality. Seventh and James Baptist Church and Saint Paul's Episcopal Church were formative in her spiritual growth. She was trained and served as a spiritual director and also spent many years ministering to inmates at the Murray Women's Correctional Unit in Gatesville. A strong advocate for women, she volunteered at Planned Parenthood in Waco. An avid Anglophile, Barbara traveled extensively throughout Great Britain and Western Europe and had just returned from a trip to the Isle of Iona, Scotland, in September 2012. Barbara is survived by her three children, Kathleen Wells of Fort Worth, Susan Wells of College Station, and Joe Wells and wife, Catherine, of Fort Worth. She is also survived by her brother, James Hunt of Waco; her beloved grandchildren, Andrew Billingsley of Fort Worth, Laura Sheffield of London, UK, Rebecca Sheffield of Denver, Colo., Susan Baum and husband, Seth, of McKinney, Shannon Smith of Carrollton, and Courtland Canterbury of Fort Worth. The family requests that, in lieu of flowers, any memorial gifts be made to Caritas of Waco, Inc. or Providence Hospice in Waco. The family invites you to leave a message or memory in our "Memorial Guestbook" at www.WilkirsonHatchBailey.com.