Cleone Elizabeth (O'GRADY) WELLS

OGRADY, WELLS, THIBODEAU

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 3/4/2009 at 13:50:08

Peninsula Clarion
Kenai, Alaska
Monday, September 10, 2007

OBITUARY - CLEONE ELIZABETH (O'GRADY) WELLS

Longtime Alaska resident Cleone Elizabeth WELLS died Sunday, August 26, 2007, at Providence Medical Center in Anchorage. She was 92.

A celebration of life will be held at 2 p.m. Monday, September 17, at Our Lady Of the Angels Catholic Church, 225 S. Spruce St. in Kenai. A reception at the Kenai Senior Citizens Center will follow the service.

Mrs. WELLS was born September 14, 1914, to William and Bertha O'GRADY in Ellston, Iowa. She attended public schools in Mitchell, S.D., and two years of college in South Dakota. She became an Alaska resident in 1946 and lived in Fairbanks for a year then moved to Anchorage and lived there for six years before moving to Kenai in 1953, where she lived until her death.

Mrs. WELLS was a teacher in South Dakota, worked for the Civil Service in Washington, D.C., and California and owned and operated Kenai Supply from 1953 to 2000. She was a member of Our Lady Of The Angels Catholic Church, the Kenai Senior Citizens Center and a member of the Homemakers Club. She enjoyed reading, writing stories and gardening.

"Mom was an Alaska pioneer, living in a tent and then a one-room cabin, while developing the family business, Kenai Plumbing and Heating, which later became Kenai Supply. She cheerfully raised five children in the 1940s, '50s and '60s, coping at first with a generator and outhouse," her family said.

"She was known to family and friends for her sense of humor. She was delighted to move to her new home on Kalifornsky Beach Road in the late '70s, where she always had beautiful flowers in the summer. We all miss her very much and treasure her memories."

Mrs. WELLS was preceded in death by her husband, William WELLS; and granddaughter, Maria THIBODEAU.

She is survived by sons, Kevin and his wife, Cary WELLS, of Wasilla, Keith WELLS of Wasilla, Kent WELLS and his wife, Becky, of Madison, Wis., and Kerry WELLS and his wife, Lisa, of Kenai; daughter, Anne THIBODEAU and her husband, Emery, of Kenai; six grandchildren; and one great-grandson.

Arrangements were made by Peninsula Memorial Chapel.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, March of 2009