Larry Jerome Wells January 5, 1942 ~ July 6, 2022

Larry Jerome Wells passed away on July 6, 2022, at the age of 80 after a ten-month battle with cancer at his home in Monticello surrounded by a loving family.
Larry was born January 5, 1942, in Ontario OR to German Ray and Lorna Bell Wells.
Larry was the oldest of six children; Loren, Mary (Merritt), Carolyn (Martinez), Evelyn (Talbot), and Lorna Jean.
Larry grew up in remote areas of Idaho and learned to love the outdoors. His family moved to Idaho Falls when Larry was around the age of 14.
Larry married Utona Erickson in September, 1962. Larry and Utona had five children, including Anngela (Buddy) Starnes of Iona ID, Monte (Sheila) Wells of Monticello UT, Michelle (Bevan) Jeppesen of Rexburg ID, Torren Wells of Rexburg ID, and Tereena (Mark) Barnes of Rigby ID.
Utona and Larry were divorced in 1975. Larry married Karen McVey in 1977.
Larry and Karen had three children, including John (Emilee) Wells of Roosevelt UT, Chris (Krista) Wells of American Fork UT, and Rebekah Wells. They also raised Aleesha, their granddaughter.
Over the years, Larry worked as a forest ranger, Heli-tack crew boss, a draftsman for the City of Idaho Falls, a Parole Officer, an EMT, and a private investigator.
His dream job was the outdoor wilderness survival program that he started with hopes of helping convicts, addicts, and their families.
With the help of Larry’s family and friends, the program started in 1971 and ran until he retired in 2015.
His program was known over the years under Expedition Outreach, Wilderness Conquest, and Wilderness Quest.
Larry moved Wilderness Conquest to Utah from Idaho in the late 1980s.
Over the years, Larry received recognition for being a pioneer in his field of wilderness therapy and for helping so many people to “start living life”.
He is proceeded in death by his parents, sister Carolyn, and daughter Rebekah. He is blessed with 23 grandchildren and 28 great-grandchildren.
Larry didn’t want us to mourn his passing and chose not to have a funeral. He preferred a celebration of life.
Larry is ‘as he thinketh…’
by Paul Harvey
What are the idle thoughts that fill your head? When you are alone on your pillow or in your car or even in a crowd - what are the thoughts which skip in and out and about your brain?
Larry Wells will admit what his daydreams were about - about partying with women, about coveting things that belonged to other people, about beating up somebody he didn’t like.
Larry - of Idaho Falls, Idaho - was poisoning himself with such thoughts until he read a book called “As a Man Thinketh.” [James Allen] The book was based on the verse in Proverbs: “As a man thinketh so is he.”
And to Larry what the book - a gift from his parents - was trying to say was that he could think himself to be something less than he was, or something more. He chose then and thereafter to think positively and he prospered.
And he vowed next to do what he could to help his area’s least fortunate to make something worthwhile of themselves. He elected to encourage, assist and get jobs for ex-convicts. And he has given 20 years that effort. [mid 1980s] Wait’ll you hear the results!
Eight of 10 men who leave prison are soon back in again. Larry was determined to reverse that ratio. He initiated a call-in talk program on local radio - counseling ex-cons and matching them with job opportunities in the area. And he presented free to each a copy of that book: “As a Man Thinketh.”
Larry, an enthusiastic outdoorsman, organized an outdoor program for ex-cons, both juvenile and adult. They went on camping trips. He taught survival courses in six states thereabouts. Nature can be a teacher and a healer. And again, for each participant in his survival course, that book was required reading.
The numbers are in on a five-year study of participants in Larry’s “great-outdoors” programs. Success is irrefutable. Where nationally only two of 10 ex-cons go straight, eight of 10 of Larry’s men have not been in trouble again. Larry has become a parole officer and drug counselor. Larry says cons respond to handouts only briefly but tend to respond to an outstretched hand permanently. He knows. He is one.
Larry Wells was in state and federal penitentiaries for six of his young years - for driving away in other people’s cars - until in prison, his parents sent him that book, and he read it, and he came out of prison at 20 to prove to himself that “As a man thinketh so is he…”
And he proved it to himself, and ever since to ever more.
(Los Angeles Times Syndicate)