Lloyd Francis Wells Jr., 83, passed away on August 8, 2026, from complications of Parkinson’s disease, surrounded by the love of his family. Born in Strasburg, Virginia, and raised in Newark, Delaware, Lloyd spent the last 13 years of his life in Athens, Georgia. He lived a life that rarely followed the most obvious route. Again and again—in education, football, ministry, social work, family life, politics, art, and even the way he solved a problem around the house—Lloyd chose the path that made sense to him, and then made it entirely his own.

That independence showed itself early. After attending a segregated elementary school in Virginia, Lloyd later earned a Master of Social Work from Atlanta University, a historically Black university. Between those two points stretched years in which Lloyd developed a deep commitment to social justice, participated in civil rights marches and protests during the 1960s and 1970s, and built a life centered on service, fairness, and human connection.

He was also, by every account, a remarkable athlete. A gifted football player known as “Mr. Touchdown,” Lloyd was heavily recruited and received offers from schools that included the U.S. Naval Academy and Dartmouth. His reasons for saying no were pure Lloyd. The Navy did not appeal to him because he “didn’t like being told what to do.” Dartmouth lost out because he “hated the thought of shoveling snow.” He chose to stay close to home and attend the University of Delaware on a full football scholarship.

After Delaware, Lloyd pursued the call that would shape much of his adult life, studying at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, from 1965 to 1967, and preparing for ordained ministry. He became an Episcopal priest and primarily served communities in Bethany Beach, Delaware; at St. Anthony’s Church in Winder, Georgia; and at the Cathedral of St. Philip in Atlanta. His faith was never merely an abstract exercise. It was tied to the way he saw people, the questions he asked, his concern for justice, and his conviction that a life ought to be useful to others.

Atlanta became central to that life. While working at the American Red Cross there, Lloyd met Pat Peterson, the love of his life. Their chance meeting grew into a marriage of 47 years and a family that became the center of everything that followed. He also became a licensed clinical social worker. This work included foster care case management for DFACS, disaster relief with FEMA, and helping hospice patients—work that put him alongside people at vulnerable, difficult, and deeply human moments in their lives.

Lloyd was intellectually restless in the best possible way. He was a lifelong learner and voracious reader for whom there was always another book, another idea, another question, and another conversation worth pursuing. Yet he was just as comfortable working with his hands. He painted, built things from wood, repaired what was broken, improvised solutions, and approached home improvement with an enthusiasm that occasionally exceeded ordinary definitions of necessity. His family gave him a T-shirt reading “The Fabulous Mr. Fix-it,” an honor he earned honestly. Among his projects was installing a swivel-mounted TV and VHS player in the family van in the '80s to keep the kids quiet, a solution that was practical, inventive, slightly eccentric, and unmistakably Lloyd.

Then there was his humor. Lloyd possessed a quick wit and a wonderfully sarcastic streak. Asking him a simple question did not guarantee anything resembling a simple answer. He teased the people he loved, found humor in the absurd, and could puncture pomposity with a remark delivered so dryly that it might take a moment to realize what had just happened. His humor was not separate from the rest of him. It came from the same independence of mind that led him to question assumptions, resist easy answers, and refuse to take himself—or most other things—too seriously.

Above all, Lloyd treasured his family. He loved being a husband to Pat, a father to Katie and Riley, and “Grampy” to his grandchildren. The same man who could argue theology, march for civil rights, read endlessly, repair almost anything, and make a room laugh was also the man whose greatest influence was often quiet and close to home: showing up, listening, teasing, encouraging, fixing, explaining, questioning, and loving his people over the course of an ordinary day.

Lloyd was preceded in death by his parents, Rose Ann Wells and Lloyd Francis Wells Sr.; and his brothers-in-law, Lee McMaster, Donald Brunner, and Tom Loch.

He is survived by his devoted wife of 47 years, Pat Peterson; his daughter, Katie Cason (Chip); his son, Riley Wells (Sarah); his beloved grandsons, Harrison and Finn Wells, and Wyatt, Wheeler, and Walker Cason; his sisters, Loretta McMaster, Judy Brunner, and Susan Allen (Richard); sisters-in-law Rita Kelly and Norma Loch; brother-in-law Ed Kelly; lifelong friend Tom Whittington (Marna); and many nieces, nephews, extended family members, and dear friends.

A celebration of Lloyd’s life will take place on Sunday, September 13 at 2pm at The Lounge at Georgian Hall 247 East Washington St. Athens, Georgia 30601.

In Lieu of flowers memorials may be made to The Parkinson's Foundation, American Red Cross Recovery Services, or the University of Georgia; School of Law; First Amendment Clinic. 

https://www.parkinson.org/ 

https://www.redcross.org/ 

https://www.law.uga.edu/index.php/fund/first-amendment-clinic-endowment