Reverend David Wells named pastor at LaCrosse UMC

The Rev. F. David Wells was appointed to serve as pastor for the LaCrosse United Methodist Church as of July 1.

He and his wife Georgia have returned to the area from Massachusetts where he served as pastor of the East Douglas United Methodist Church in Douglas, Mass.

Wells first came to this area in 1966 from the University of Idaho to serve as band leader and music teacher for Endicott schools.

As a new teacher, he was a guest soloist at the church Thanksgiving dinner and directed Easter choir.

He and Georgia Despain of Winona, who came from Pullman to sing in the choir, were married in June of that year, and they moved to Berkeley, Calif., where he accepted a sixth grade teaching position and built a strong, after-school elementary music group that toured in the Bay Area.

He became director of music and Christian education at the First Baptist Church in Vallejo, Calif.

After a semester of theological studies with Golden Gate Theological Seminary in Mill Valley, they came back to eastern Washington.

Their son, Jon Andrew, was born here.

On return to the Despain farm here, David became the music teacher for LaCrosse and found himself in the LaCrosse pulpit on multiple occasions.

They moved to Kahlotus where he served as a lay pastor for the Methodists, a music teacher for the district and developed a vocational agriculture program. In 1974, they returned to his family's farm at Buhl, Idaho, and resided there for several years. Daughter Rae Alison was born at Buhl. He then accepted the music faculty position at Cambridge, Idaho.

From there, the call to seminary became inescapable, and with support from area churches, Berkeley and part-time teaching, became a reality. Their first church was in Fowler, Calif. In 1985, David felt led to build a new church, in Blackfoot, Idaho. Along with doctoral studies at Northwestern Theological Seminary, the Wellses were called back to McArthur Baptist Church, the church of their seminary internship, as pastor of a busy metropolitan church in transition.

In 1992, they returned to Idaho and purchased a ranch at Indian Valley. In 1996, David became the instructor for Farm and Ranch Business Management program at Boise State University with classes throughout the Pacific Northwest. With both children now on the other side of the country, they sold the ranch in 2005, and he commuted between BSU and New Hampshire.