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Margaret Wells Obituary

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Margaret Wells

Des Moines, IA

November 17, 1921 - April 12, 2020

Margaret Wells Obituary

Margaret Houser Wells Margaret Wells died early on Easter Sunday, April 12, 2020, at Scottish Rite Park in Des Moines, Iowa. She was 98 years old. Margaret Houser was born in Prairieburg, Iowa, in 1921, the sixth of the 10 children of Joseph and Frances Houser. She grew up in Cedar Rapids and attended Catholic schools, playing high school basketball and being named to the all-state team. She was accepted to art school in Chicago, but instead she worked at Quaker Oats in Cedar Rapids during World War II. After the war, Margaret and a girlfriend told their parents they were going on vacation to California, but instead they got jobs and stayed in Los Angeles. She met Don Wells, an aeronautical engineer, at a dance and they married in 1950. Their only child, Doug, was born in 1954. Margaret was an active stay-at-home mother while Don traveled for work. Always independent, Margaret went back to work after her son was in school. The family moved to Denver in 1969 and Margaret worked at Montgomery Ward in the credit department until her retirement. She and her husband moved to San Luis Obispo, Calif., and then Medford, Ore. Don died in 2000. Margaret moved back to Iowa to join her son and his family in Des Moines in 2010. Throughout her life, Margaret expressed her artistic talents through painting, pottery, quilting, needlepoint and crafts. She was a very social person and lived in the spirit of “grow where you are planted,” quickly becoming involved in any community where she lived. She volunteered at local hospitals, was a member of the neighborhood “welcome wagon” and was an avid bridge player. She was also a loving and supportive sister, wife, mother and grandmother. Margaret is survived by her son Doug and his wife, Kathleen Richardson, of Des Moines; granddaughter Caitlin Wells and her husband, Scott Kamen, of Ann Arbor, Mich.; grandsons Brendan and Conor Wells of Minneapolis, Minn.; and many nieces and nephews. The Wells family would like to recognize and deeply thank the staff of Scottish Rite Park for their tender and tireless care of Margaret for the last four years of her life. A celebration of her life will be held at a later date.

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Event information can be found on the Official Obituary of Margaret Wells.