Charlotte W. Wells

Charlotte (Wheaton Dudley) Wells, 100, of Walpole, MA, formerly of Red Bluff and Sacramento, CA, Flossmoor, IL, and Cleveland Heights, OH, died peacefully December 1 in Norwood, MA, after a short illness.

Born in 1913 in Montclair, NJ, Charlotte was educated in public schools in New Jersey and New York State, and in 1935 received a Bachelor's degree in English Composition from Wellesley College, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa. She held lifelong interests in writing, religious education, social history, and genealogy. In 2005, she published Daughter of Adena: Margaret Worthington's Personal Papers, 1836-1839, from diaries and letters handed down in her first husband's family, with co-editors Laura R. Prieto and Jennifer C. Davis; this book was the culmination of a long study of these personal papers in the context of Ohio's early history. All of her efforts were capped by a trip to Chillicothe, Ohio to present a book talk at the Adena State Memorial at age 92.

Charlotte was the loving wife of Winston M. Dudley and Melvin T. Wells, both of whom pre-deceased her, the sister of the late Dr. Henry H. Wheaton and James S. Wheaton, the mother of three children, Richard M. Dudley of Newton, MA, Edith D. Sylla of Raleigh, NC, and Alice D. Carmel of Roxbury Crossing, MA, the grandmother of three, the great-grandmother of six, and the aunt and great-aunt of many nieces and nephews.

A memorial service is planned in early 2014 at New Pond Village in Walpole, MA, her residence for 23 years. Those who wish may make memorial donations to the United Church of Walpole, MA 30 Common Street Walpole, MA 02081, or to a charity of their choice.