Born, 2 April 1951, to Lowell Alley and Wilma Kearl Wells
Died, 14 April 2023
Teri grew up on the avenues in Salt Lake City, Utah. She spent her summers living on the ranch of her grandparents, in Round Valley, in Rich County, Utah. She really enjoyed all of the time she was able to spend with Grandma Kearl and with her cousins.
She always loved handcrafts, and became quite an artist at sewing, embroidery, cross-stitch, knitting, crocheting, quilting, and the somewhat rare skill of tatting.
Teri was a great genealogy enthusiast and very involved in temple work.
She was a graduate of Salt Lake City’s East High School, and of Brigham Young University. Teri also attended the University of Utah before transferring to BYU. She was an elementary education major and was on the NCAA competition synchronized swimming teams at both schools.
She loved children and always wanted to be a teacher. For her student teaching at BYU, she worked in the elementary school in Montezuma Creek, Utah. After graduation and certification, she had a full-time teaching position in Roosevelt, Utah.
Teri was then called to serve in the Spain Seville Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and thoroughly enjoyed her time as a missionary.
When she got home from Spain she taught again, briefly, in Roosevelt but then got a new position at a school in Lyman, Wyoming.
But Teri felt that she should go to California, so she soon started looking for a position there. She has always liked smaller towns and we all expected that to happen in California. We were very surprised when she said she was moving to Sacramento.
What a wonderful decision she made! It was definitely inspired. It became a great blessing for her and for the many people she worked with in those schools – but mostly in the Nong Shala (Hmong-speaking) Ward. Teri was able to teach scores of children over nearly 40 years of involvement there. We constantly heard her tell us about, “my kids” who had gone on missions, and married, and grew to be such good friends to her.
Our family can’t say enough good about Teri’s other family in Nong Shala. What great people!
She is sorely missed.
Teri is survived by:
- a brother and sister-in-law - Robert & Patty Wells, of SLC
- two nephews - Dan (& Dawn) Wells of North Salt Lake, and Rob (& Erin) Wells of North Salt Lake,
- one niece - Allison (& Chris) Hill of North Salt Lake
- eleven great-nieces and great nephews - Audrey, Zoe, Jo, Ethan (and Rachel), James, Samuel, Morgan, Noah, Max, Lincoln, and Rebecca
- and several cousins of both the Wells and Kearl families
Funeral services will be held on Friday, April 21, 2023, at Larkin Mortuary (260 East South Temple, Salt Lake City) at 2:00 pm. Live broadcasting information below. A viewing will be held an hour prior.
For those who wish to join via Zoom, may do so here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84579546651
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So sorry to hear of her passing. She was a wonderful person. So glad I am related to her. She will be missed.
I grew up with Sister Wells as my primary president. I will always remember her for her gentle and loving spirit. When I was younger I was afraid of her for her strict adherence to rules. Haha But, we sure were a rowdy group of primary children. She knew our Savior and shared her love and understanding of Him and His gospel to me and the children, youth, and adults in our Hmong Ward in Sacramento. Even after I married and moved away from Sacramento, she took her time to make baby blankets and sent them to me for my children. Unfortunately she was not able to finish the last one, but I am sure she had been working on it. Thank you for your service, Sister Wells. Thank you for loving us. We love you and are grateful you are free from physical sufferings and will continue your service on the spirit world.
we were so sorry to hear about Teri may god bless your family. my mom & nellie babysat teri & robert and your mom taught my how to sew .
I was so sorry to hear about Teri’s death. She will be missed by a lot of people.
Teri was one of my favorite people. My sincere condolences on her passing.
I have fond memories of the summers we played together, (Lenore, Robert, Teri, and Alene), in Salt Lake, exploring the neighborhoods, seeing the city lights and running through the downtown alleys in the car with your Dad. I'm sure Teri will be missed. Losing a sister is very hard. Our thoughts and love are with you and your family today.
Thank you for serving our family Ward, being part of our lives, and part of each our families through the years. Sister Teri Wells, you will forever be part of our hearts and memories. Your love and passion for the gospel has taught us to grow in so many ways and have taught each of us and our children the importance of our cultural that language makes no difference through Christ, he sees us all as his children as you continue to serve with us in our Ward. Thank you for your talent, gifts, and memories. We will forever be grateful for you. We will miss you dearly, until we meet again someday. Much love~
I met Ms. Wells at an elementary school in Sacramento, California when she was a substitute for some of the kinder classes in which I am a para. Lunches were fun talks about genealogy. I will miss you Ms. Wells.