JACKSON COUNTY, Miss. — Deputy US Marshal Josie Wells was remembered Tuesday as a humble man of faith who loved his job. Hundreds of mourners packed Wade Baptist Church in Moss Point to remember his life and celebrate the legacy he leaves behind.
“He loved life,” recalled Well’s wife Channing, as she described his fascination with fishing, hunting, cars and motorcycles. But she said most of all, he was excited about being a dad. The couple learned on Christmas Day that they were expecting their first child, a son, to be named Josie Wells, Jr. “I will never forget his reaction. He grabbed my hand and he had be kneel down in the floor and he prayed. It was the first time I saw him cry in years,” she told supporters.
Wells was shot and killed in Louisiana last week while trying to arrest a man wanted in that state for the murders of a brother and sister. His last words to his co-workers, as he was being driven to the hospital was— “pray with me.” His faith, Channing Wells said, is what has helped her to remain strong since the days following his death.
“I would ask that you remember this true American hero, not for how he lost his life,” said U.S. Attorney Eric Holder, “but for how he lived it – with faith, with compassion and with the joy that only those who truly give, truly give, can ever really experience.”
A graduate of Jackson State University, Wells joined the U.S. Marshal Service in 2011.
