Robert E. Wells

Robert E. Wells is an emeritus General Authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was sustained as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy on October 1, 1976, where he served full-time until October 4, 1997, when he was designated as emeritus status.

Wells was born on December 28, 1927, in Las Vegas, Nevada, and grew up in Logandale, Nevada. He served in the United States Navy and earned an accounting degree from Brigham Young University.

He has a long connection with South America. He served as a full-time missionary in Argentina and began his career with First National City Bank in South America and lived in Paraguay, Ecuador, Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay, and served as a regional representative in several of these countries. He also presided over the Mexico Monterrey Mission from 1968 to 1971. Beginning in 1977, he lived in Santiago, Chile, as the Church’s area representative for Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay. He also served as president of the Santiago Chile Temple from 1998 to 2001.

Wells was married to Meryl Leavitt until her death on December 11, 1960. He married Helen Walser in 1962. He is the father of seven children, including Sharlene Wells Hawkes.