Ernest Hillery Wells, 91, died April 6, 2008, in Dodge, Texas, on his beloved ranch, very near the spot on which his grandfather settled over 100 years ago. He was born on Aug. 14, 1916, to Ruben Hillery Wells and Bessie Watts Wells.
Hillery attended Sam Houston State College (University), and retired from Shell Oil Company, having worked at the Deer Park refinery for 42 years. He was a life member of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Association, serving on the calf scramble committee for over 40 years, and a lifelong participant in the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. He was a member of South Main Baptist Church in Pasadena for many years and of First Baptist Church of Dodge since his retirement. He was a member of the Masonic Lodge of Texas for over 50 years. He served the Dodge-Oakhurst Water Corporation as president and as a member of the board of directors for many years, was president of the Dodge Cemetery Association, and was a committeeman for the ASC branch of the USDA in Walker County.
He was preceded in death by his wife of 51 years, Johnnie Sue Boney Wells. Hillery is survived by his wife, Eloise Fowler Calvin Wells, his daughter Linda M. Wells and husband William Kimball, daughter Shirley Sue Wells, granddaughter Emilie Sue Buske, granddaughter Hillery Hugg and husband Gregory Press and their children Asher Wells Press and Milla Press, and his first cousins Jerry Dell Gimarc, Mary Jane Clark, and Harrol McClinton, as well as stepchildren Donnie and Sharri Calvin, Linda Turner and husband Howard Ohnesorge, and Becky and Pat Murphey, and their children and grandchildren, and his brother-in-law Bob Fowler and wife Yvonne.
Friends are invited to a visitation with the family from 5 to 8 p.m. today at Sam Houston Memorial Funeral Home in Huntsville. Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Sam Houston Memorial Funeral Home Chapel with interment to follow at the Dodge Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to the First Baptist Church of Dodge.
An online guest book is available at www.shmfh.com by selecting the Ernest Hillery Wells obituary.
Arrangements by Sam Houston Memorial Funeral Home, Huntsville. ∞
