Dennis Wells

Weslaco-Dennis Wells, 82, passed away on Monday, June 8th. He was a Weslaco native, born in Harlingen in 1932 to Ferris and Blanche Wells. His family started Wellsworth, later to become Wells of Weslaco in downtown Weslaco in June, 1933. Dennis is preceded in death by his loving wife, of 55 years, "Jimmie" Schwarz. He is survived by his sons, Doug (Cyndy) and Chuck (Leah) Wells, his grandchildren, Brandon, Kristin, Dylan, Daryl, Blair, Wendy, and Malarie Wells and four great grandchildren, Leo, Chloe, Myla, and Knox Wells.
Dennis will be most notably remembered by his love of photography. He was very interested in photography, even as a child. He graduated in the class of 1951, half a year early, so he could join the Air Force at the same time as his friends where he served four years, including the Korean War as a camera repairman, attaining the rank of staff sergeant.
Dennis attended Pan American University, as well as photo school in Indiana and East Texas State at Commerce.
In April of 1955, he married “Jimmie”, who would become the mother of his two children and his life partner.
Dennis took over his father’s position as CEO of Wells Fashions, Inc in 1987, where he continued to thrive and the store is still a vital part of downtown Weslaco. As a lover of photography, Dennis was naturally in charge of advertisements, displays and modeling runways. As successful as he was as a CEO, his true passion was photography and he spent much of his time at Wells Studio, which was his photo studio. In 1994, Dennis became a partner with Glamour Shots at La Plaza Mall, which he enjoyed a great deal.
He continued his love of photography throughout his career and was very talented in the field of decoration, building sets and painting for Wells Fashions. He was also sought after in the community and he donated his talents to the Miss Weslaco Pageant, Harvest Night (the annual fundraiser for Knapp Medical Center), just to name a few.
Dennis not only loved photography, but developing the photos was just as intriguing to him. He had a dark room in his house where he spent countless hours developing and perfecting his work. He realized early on that he needed help, so he attended numerous conventions in order to improve and even perfect his work. He learned from the best and he began to enter contests, just to see where he stood in the ranks of other professionals.
He became a master photographer earning numerous awards, including his “Femme Avec Des Fleurs”, one of which has been loaned to prestigious museums, such as Epcot at Disneyworld, Las Vegas and Germany.
He was a member of Rio Grande Valley profession photographer’s guild, where he served as President for many years.
Dennis also loved water skiing.
Weslaco was truly blessed and changed to have a native like Dennis Wells, he was truly talented and will be eternally remembered.
Visitation will be held on Friday, June 12th, from 5pm to 8pm. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, June 13th at 10:00am at McCaleb Funeral Home chapel. Interment will take place at Highland Memorial Park.
Serving as pallbearers will be grandchildren, Blair, Wendy, Mallory, Dylan and Daryl and Brandon Wells.
Arrangements are under the direction of McCaleb Funeral Home.