The Burchfield Penney would like to extend our deepest condolences to the family, friends, loved ones, and community members mourning the loss of Gail V. Wells. Known affectionately as Mama Gail or Auntie Gail, Wells was a beloved community pillar, advocate, and leader. Born and raised in Harlem, NY, Wells moved to Buffalo to attend UB in 1967, where she was a founding member of the Black Student Union. She would accomplish a host of major achievements throughout her lifetime. Among them, Wells was a founding committee member of Juneteenth in Buffalo. She was also an avid dancer, drummer, and lover of the arts, co-founding the Black Dance Workshop and the Center for Positive Thought, two organizations established during a wave of Black-led cultural institutions forming around the city during the 1970s. Filmmaker Doug Ruffin has covered her wide-ranging contributions to the community in numerous documentary films on the Buffalo History Channel YouTube page. One in particular, “Buffalo’s Black Arts Renaissance of the 1970s” explores the history and impact of Buffalo’s Black Arts Renaissance through an extensive conversation with Wells. The film was one of a series of Ruffin’s documentaries screened at the Burchfield Penney in 2022.
An educator and mentor, Wells supported countless students throughout her 29-year career in higher education. During her tenure at Buffalo State, she received two Presidential Awards and was recognized for her commitment to the service of students. She received numerous other awards, recognitions, and honors both locally and nationally over her lifetime. A certified Master Gardner and Tree Steward, Wells founded the Buffalo Freedom Gardens in 2020, which aims to support the development of sustainable food sources on Buffalo’s East Side through urban farming. She was a staunch social justice advocate and worked to eradicate food insecurity in her community through urban gardening. Through her countless endeavors, she strived to empower Black communities to sustain themselves by building their own gardens to grow healthy food. Her most recent effort was bringing fruit trees back to the East Side, planting them in JFK Park in the weeks before her passing.
Wells was a firm believer in the concept of “Ubuntu,” which means “I am because we are, we are because I am.” The seeds she sowed throughout her life were not only in the gardens she planted but in the hearts and spirits of the endless lives she touched. She will be dearly missed and remembered always for her monumental impact, inspiration, mentorship, and love for her community. Her legacy lives on in the fruit of her gardens and in the lives of those she inspired to continue the fight for equity, access, sustainability, and liberation.