“If you asked him something, he told you way more than you wanted to hear. You never doubted anything he told you,” she said.

He got his talents from their mother, Sara, who wrote “Do I Worry?” for the Ink Spots, she said. He left home when he started a band and played teen dances, then clubs and concerts.

By the time he was a senior in high school he was a local celebrity, his sister said.

“Glynn was performing across the country on live concerts and TV and had been the lead in singer for such artist as B.J. Thomas, Fabian, Brenda Lee, Edgar and Johnny Winter and many others,” she said.

Born Nov. 29, 1943 in Woodville, he graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in 1961. Upon returning to Port Arthur from serving in the U.S. Marines, he attended Lamar University. He married childhood sweetheart Jay Arnold and they had two children. He pursued a doctorate in political science at the University of Texas in Austin, but became ill in his early 20s.

Wells became an assistant professor in the Political Science Department while working on his dissertations. He submitted a proposal to the National Political Science Academy for a paper on how music influences politics. His proposal was the only one accepted by the Academy from UT, Durkey said.

While in graduate school Glynn had a mental breakdown and was diagnosed with undifferentiated schizophrenia; this ended his music career, his academic career and eventually his marriage. It ended life as he knew it, Durkey said.

He returned to Port Arthur and for most of the next 35 years he lived with his parents Glynn and Sara Stilwell. He still maintained an avid interest in reading philosophy and analytical  psychology. He still wrote music and poetry.

Durkey said he became a strange and complicated man with a brilliant mind and a gentle spirit. He was rarely without his guitar and books.

Durkey said Wells moved to Wimberley to be near family.

Before he died he was able to see his oldest son Trey sing his version of Glynn’s hit song “Write me a letter” at several performances with Trey’s band (The Thrillbillies) The highlights of his later years were the occasional shows that he sat in with the band and performed with his son, Durkey said.

“His time in Wimberley was happy until just recently when his health began to fail,” she said.

Survivors include his two sons, Trey and Kelly Stilwell, his two granddaughters, Sydney and Taylor; his sister Glenda Durkay; his brother, James Wilson Stilwell, and many nieces and nephews.