Irv Wells, a native of Southwest Virginia, joined the Army after graduating from Virginia Military Institute with a degree in English.  Stationed in Ft. Jackson, Irv frequently interfaced with an FBI agent which led to his recruitment by the Agency.

 

Irv was a Special Agent of the FBI for 26 years, a job he said he would have done for free.   He served in five field divisions and at FBI Headquarters on two occasions, gaining investigative experience in the criminal field and in foreign counterintelligence (counter-espionage). At the time of his retirement he was Special Agent in Charge of the Norfolk Virginia Field Division.   

 

While at the FBI in Norfolk, Jack Magee arranged for Irv to be the weekly speaker twice before recruiting him to join the club.  Irv, who is a Paul Harris Fellow plus 1, says that Rotary is “a joy in my life.”

 

After his FBI career Irv founded Wells and Company, Inc., an investigative and consulting firm with private and corporate clients nationwide. For a number of years Irv was also an advisor for the U.S. Treasury, working abroad intermittently providing advice and counsel to law enforcement and government officials in the former Soviet Republics; the Balkans; and in five countries in Africa, including South Africa. He provided technical assistance in a number of other countries as well.

 

While operating Wells and Company, Irv wrote Women in Summer, at nights and on weekends.  Set in Irv’s beloved Blue Ridge Mountains, the murder mystery draws upon Irv’s FBI experience.   Frustrated by a lack of response from publishers to his inquiry letters, Irv put the book on the shelf.  He credits fellow Rotarian, Anthony Radd, with getting the book published.  One of Anthony’s coworkers specializes in literary law and was able to provide the counsel and contacts needed to get the book published.

Irv and his wife, Sue, have a deep love for animals.  In fact, his biography in the book mentions their two sons as well as their much beloved dog, Victor, by name.   When Victor died at age 14, Irv and Sue declared that there would be no more dogs in the household.  Still wanting to have some interaction with dogs, Irv volunteered at Virginia Beach Animal Care.  While there, another dog, a yellow lab, stole their hearts and now is a part of the household.

 

He and his wife have traveled in Africa and extensively in Europe.  They are the proud parents of two grown sons and three granddaughters.