Carol Aldredge Wells

CAROL ALDREDGE WELLS

Brandon, Mississippi

At Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta, on November 25th, 1949, God gave Ottis and Frances Aldredge a baby girl, the youngest of three children. They named her Linda Carol, and called her Carol. The name Carol means “joyful song.” Her life lived up to her name.

Her baby blue eyes soon turned brown like her father’s, inherited from Cherokee blood on his side of the family. She grew up in the home her father built with his own hands, where “Mr. Ott” and “Miss Frances” spent their entire life together.

Carol was “smart as a whip,” as folks would say. She was voted “Most Intellectual” by the Senior Class at Campbell High School in 1967, and everybody expected her to do great things in college. In later years, after the kids were in school, she did complete two “straight-A” years at McLennan Community College (Waco, Texas). But her heart wasn’t in it; it was in her home, her family, and her Lord.

She married Richard Wells, a skinny farm boy, on November 29th, 1968, a year and a half after high school. They had been an item since their junior year. In almost 57 years of marriage, they moved 19 times, thanks to the military and the ministry. And God blessed them with three wonderful children.

Carol accepted Christ as a young girl at Mt. Vernon Baptist Church (Fairburn, Georgia) where she grew up. And her heart was devoted to serving the Lord. Even as a teenager, she felt God was calling her to be a pastor’s wife. When she met her future husband, however, “pastor” was the last thing on earth he wanted to be. He intended to be a scientist. Maybe she had prophetic vision, but she didn’t give up; and, sure enough, before they married, he had surrendered to the ministry.

Carol was a “joyful song” to the Lord wherever she was. First as a military wife, then as a pastor’s wife, she took moves in stride, always ready to go wherever God led. She was always there for her children. In later years, so often far away from them, she wanted nothing more than just to “see the kids”—and their kids. But she gave herself, heart and soul, to help people wherever she was—from the palm trees of Florida to the plains of Texas, from the hills of Birmingham to the snows of South Dakota. She had the gift of helping (1 Corinthians 12.28), so she was almost always the first to arrive and the last to leave.

She loved and worked with children—but she especially loved and cared for older people. She was in fact a daughter to many who had no children, or none nearby. When an elderly widower in Rapid City moved to a nursing home, Carol labeled his clothes . . . and visited him every day until he died.

Carol stepped into the joy of her Master (Matthew 25.23) on Tuesday, August 5th. She leaves behind her husband, Richard, her three children—Melanie (Ronnie) McMillan, Paul (Andrea) Wells, and Philip (Dee) Wells—and seven grandchildren: Jake McMillan, Kyle McMillan, Cody Wells, Hayley Wells, Maggie McMillan, Evie Wells, and Stella Greene. She is also survived by her sister, Anne McGouirk, and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, Ottis and Frances Aldredge, and by her brother, Allen Aldredge.

Her children rise up and bless her; Her husband also, and he praises her, saying: “Many daughters have done nobly, But you excel them all.”

Proverbs 31.28-29

Our family is deeply grateful to God for the nurses and staff of Baptist Hospice in Jackson, Mississippi—and for our beloved friend, Belinda Bell (“BB”), who cared for “Miss Carol” so lovingly in her last days.

A visitation for Carol Wells in Brandon, Mississippi, is scheduled for 4:00-6:00 pm, Thursday, August 7th at Ott & Lee Funeral Home.  A second visitation in Georgia is scheduled for 9:00 am, Saturday, August 9th, at Mt. Vernon Baptist Church in Fairburn. Her Memorial Service at Mt. Vernon will follow at 10:30, with Dr. Lou Koon, Pastor Bob Wells, and Pastor Richard Wells, officiating. A graveside ceremony will follow at Holly Hill Memorial Park in Fairburn.