Dee Wells
May 18, 1930 - May 20, 2021
Dolores Virginia Wells, known to her friends as Dee, passed away on May 20th, 2021 in Edmonds, WA at the age of 91. Beloved daughter of Virginia M. Wells, she was born in Los Angeles, California where she spent her childhood and early adult years. Dee possessed an unconquerable mind, curiosity, and spirit. She won statewide poetry competitions in primary school, and fully explored the arts in high school, taking fine arts courses, practicing modern dance, and learning the viola. After graduation Dee aimed for technical college, where her complementary and practical nature led her to ever more complex courses in accounting, data analysis, and business machines.
In the early 1950s Dee moved to San Diego as a master of punch card technology that was being adopted for use with mainframe computers. Dee learned the COBOL language and became a computer programmer at San Diego Navy Base. Her skills soon caught the attention of the US Marine Corps, where she was hired as systems analyst at Camp Pendleton during a time when few or none of the enlisted and commissioned men knew how to operate their new computers. It was not all work and no play for Dee Wells, however! Dee enjoyed the cultural life of the town and thanks to her steady income was able to open her own art space, Tipton Gallery. She developed friendships within the artist community of San Diego, raised sheepdogs, and lived a bon vivant lifestyle. One day she met Jim Paul, the notable musician and San Diego City College professor who also happened to be an avid sailor. Jim and Dee became sailing partners, and he would eventually become her husband.
Leaving the military behind, Dee’s culminating role would be to serve the government of the County of San Diego, where she programmed and ran the software for county employee payroll. When she met Jim, Dee had already begun a third career as an interior design consultant for her artist friends and patrons: Wells’ Cargo. Dee and Jim deepened their friendship and soon moved in together sharing a canyon home that Dee expertly furnished with objets d’art.
The pair inseparably traveled the globe, sailing the California coast and the Mediterranean, driving through Europe, visiting museums and hearing concerts in dozens of cities. At the time of Dee’s first retirement, in 1990, they moved north together to Edmonds, WA. There they bought land and jointly funded the building of a new house, with original design by Ed Huri, and with Dee’s and Jim’s optimizations for the display of art and giving home concerts.
To fulfill a long-held dream of a preparatory music school and supporting gifted youngsters, Dee and Jim entered partnerships with other local teachers and professors to found first the Seattle Conservatory of Music, in 1995, and then the Academy of Music Northwest. Together these have served more than a thousand young people from their beginnings through 2017. Dee found much personal satisfaction working alongside both Jim and her good friend, Dr. Dorothy Klotzman, the Provost and third guiding light of the Academy, until her passing in 2014. Dee was particularly proud of her roles as registrar, treasurer, and recital presenter through all these years.
Dee Wells is survived by her husband, James Paul of Edmonds, and loving friends.