Dorothy Wells

Dorothy Alexander Wells, musician, teacher, beloved wife and mother, died peacefully on August 13, 2021, in Idlewild, New Mexico. She was 77 years old. Born in Abilene,Texas on September 18,1943, Dottie was graduated from Amarillo High School in 1961, where she met and married the love of her life, Ron Wells, a tall, rakish drummer, who kept her life interesting the entire 59 years they were married. Dottie received her BA in Music Education from West Texas State University, having completed college while raising two pre-pill babies in the era of cloth diapers. Dottie’s professional career began in Amarillo, TX, where she played flute and piccolo in the Amarillo Symphony, taught elementary school orchestra, and taught private flute and piccolo lessons to a select group of exceptional students. Her career culminated at Bradley Middle School in San Antonio, where her orchestras won sweepstakes at UIL and festival competitions throughout her tenure. In 2004 Dottie was named Orchestra Director of the Year by the Texas Orchestra Director’s Association. Competitive to the core, Dottie crushed at Scrabble and believed deeply that memorizing the Scrabble dictionary did not count as cheating unless she did it during the game. (Pro tip: quipu is a legit word. Save it for the triple word square.) Though her body was broken by her decades-long fight with multiple sclerosis, Dottie maintained endless good humor and never stopped silently correcting people’s grammar. Proceeded in death by her parents, Forrest and Dorothy Alexander and her brother Don Alexander, Dottie is mourned by her husband Ron Wells of San Antonio and Idlewild, NM; her son, Mike Wells, his wife Alissa, and grandson Chance Wells, of Katy, TX; daughter Melanie Wells and her spouse Dennis Ippolito, of Dallas, TX; sister Lucia Alexander of Mesquite, TX; and brother Bill Alexander of Amarillo,TX. She is survived by nieces and nephews David Alexander, Sharla Alexander, Kenny Alexander; Kathy Bell, Joe Alexander, and Dan Alexander, as well as many great-nieces and nephews. She will be dearly missed by her numerous friends and by the countless students whose lives she changed forever. A celebration of life will be held at a future date. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Multiple Sclerosis Association of America.

Arrangements by Rivera Family Funeral Home. To share a memory, please visit our website at www.riverafuneralhome.com