Nancy+Prime+Wells

Nancy Prime Wells Seminary seems like yesterday, give or take a few decades! I thought about a taut chronology of my last half-century, but decided this would probably be difficult and almost certainly boring. So I'm going to be a little more thematic. The primary themes being: academic, ministerial, familial and social justice/political! Along the way I picked up a graduate degree in political science. venturing past an MA but not completing a Ph. D when I concluded that I was not so much a scholar as a practitioner. This theme did include meeting and marrying a real academic, Jerome Covell Wells: an economist who earned a Ph. D at University of Michigan and went on to a distinguished career in Development Economics at the University of Pittsburgh. My first 6 years out of PSR were spent with the UCC/Disciples campus ministry at the University of Michigan, where I had a rich experience, full of diverse people, cultures and world views. As you will recall, it was an era of vibrant student activism, some of which was launched at our student center, including the initially idealistic and non-violent SDS. My husband and I moved to Pittsburgh after completion of his degree, Jer accepting a position at Pitt. I had begun course work in political science at U of M and continued that at Pitt. Our first period abroad came as a leave for Jer and a research opportunity for me. We were In Nigeria on this occasion for two years, a country and culture with which we have maintained strong ties ever since. There were additional stays there over the years. Our son, David came along between Nigerian sorties and years in the Pittsburgh academic environment. David is an architect with a practice in Pittsburgh, a remarkable wife and two, of course, exceptional children! Due primarily to proximity, convenience and an eighteenth century assault on Western Pennsylvania by Scots Presbyterians, we became Presbyterians in the '70s. Our congregation has been very engaged in the Presbyterian More Light movement, seeking to embrace LGBT members as elders, deacons and clergy. It is a battle not yet won, but one in which we see much cause for hope and prospect for change! That .leads me to my other theme: social activism/politics. My career veered to non-profit human services in the mid-seventies and stayed there. I have basically headed agencies providing help to people in need and/or serving as an advocate for those populations. Prior to retirement six years ago, I was CEO of our Center for Victims of Violence and Crime for 14 years. This was an exceptionally gratifying position which enabled me to impact legislation relating to crime victims, witnesses and survivors and to build an agency helping them to heal from the physical, emotional, monetary and traumatic impacts of violence. I loved the agency, I loved the work and the validation the work provided to me and others who work in the field. My husband passed away in 2006 from congestive heart failure and that has left a large space i n my heart. I have tried to fill a bit of it with a lot of non-profit board work and a little political volunteering. It has been a very rich and gratifying half-century. I hope it has been so for all of you in the class of 1959.