Let’s meet Jack first, and then Judie: John Edward Wells, answering to ‘Jack,’
has been married to his sweetheart Judie, for 49 years; they first met when Judie was five years old. Long Island-born and Savan- nah-raised during the WWII years and back to New Jersey after peace settled in. Jack’s father was a pilot for TWA. Despite his Northeast homestead, Jack spent the summers south with relatives in Savannah. While summering in his twelfth year, Jack, surrendering a five-dollar bill, became possessed of a Cushman 3-wheeler gas-powered scooter, the kind used by the Good Humor ice-cream peddler, in which the cargo box was in front and the operator sat in the rear, operating handlebars and con- trols. Jack and two or three friends rode this ‘motor vehicle’ over nearly every bit of nearby Tybee Island during summers. This first quasi-motorrad got Jack into motorcycles, along with a variety of other gear-head interests, such as his mother’s car; “I snuck it out once too often, and my parents decided I needed the discipline of Georgia’s Riverside Military Academy.” This was followed by a History degree from Tusculum College, then induc- tion into the US Navy, with a promise of flight training as a Naval Aviation Cadet. Jack accumulated hours in T34 and T28 air- craft, and was aimed toward advanced fixed-wing training, whereupon the Navy decided it had a more pressing need for
rotary-wing pilots as the Vietnam War was heating up. Jack declined helo-training, finished out
his active service and converted his aviation licenses into civilian versions for virtually all aircraft and conditions. “I don’t really know why I dislike helicopters, “Jack noted, “I’ve always liked articulating machinery, but sitting at the bottom of a pipe that is holding spinning rotors just isn’t for me.” While completing his USN Reserve time,
Judie met Jack when she was but five
years old. Her radiant smile told us the rest. Brooklyn-born and reared in nearby Sparta Township NJ, Judie’s father had moved his Brooklyn deli to Jersey and turned it into a restaurant. Judie majored in Physical Edu- cation at Springfield College, and taught PE in the local high school for 20 years. “I quit when my oldest child, my daughter, began attending the same high school where I worked,” Judie explained. “Besides, Jack and I wanted to travel the world by motorcycle, and it was time.” Over the course of years since her PhysEd days, Judie has taught tennis and Nautilus. Her modest personal motorrad col- lection began with a Honda Ascot 500 single, a BMW R100GSPD – too tall! – a Kawa- saki Drifter (the Indian looka- like) and a series of venerable BMW K75 bikes. “I’ve ridden a number of Jack’s K100s, too.” Beginning in1998, Judie and
Jack's modestly personalized RV-8.
Jack began flying for a variety of cargo air- carriers, including the Military Airlift Command (MAC) in the Southeast Asia theatre. After bouncing around various cargo- and pax-carriers, and surviving the caprices of airline economics and frequent furloughs, Jack arrived permanently at American Airlines, serving as Flight Engi- neer, First Officer and Captain until his retirement in 2002. Now, let’s meet Judie:
Jack have travelled Canada, Mexico, and South America in a sidecar rig. On her own mount,
Judie has competed in the Three Flags Clas- sic several times, and won the Long Dis- tance Female award at the Mexico National BMW Rally some years ago. Judie is a four- time cancer survivor; “I AM a survivor and a positive thinker!” Judie added passion- ately. Jack also has dealt with serious health issues in the recent past, leaving Australia and New Zealand as-yet unexplored by the Wells’. Judie still enjoys riding and travelling to motorcycle meets for the several organi- zations in which Judie and Jack are involved. The Wells’ property is located in an air-
Judie and Jack Wells' hangar, home and passion. 90 BMW OWNERS NEWS September 2015
park, a community for aviators replete with taxiways and runways alongside neighbor- hood streets; homeowners can hangar their flying machines next to the house, take off for a relaxing flight, and then land and han- gar it again, right at home. For now, the Wells’ have the hangar but not yet the home. Since moving to Florida about over ten years ago, the hangar was constructed with a spacious apartment in the front of the estimated 18,000 square foot hangar, with the balance dedicated to motorcycles and two aircraft. “We are putting the house here,” Judie said as Jack drove us back from lunch, pointing at a 4-acre plot beside the existing building, “and the hangar for air- planes goes right next door.”
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