My Dad - a short bio

Ira Wellins was a decorated war hero, a pioneering clinical pharmacist who improved standards of care for thousands of RI nursing home patients, a serious amateur scientist, a sailor and adventurer, a poet, a dancer, and a loving husband, father, and grandfather.

Born in poverty in the Bronx in 1919, Ira was the only surviving child of Milton and Anna (Chertoff) Wellins. The family moved to New Britain, Connecticut when Ira was 10. He graduated from New Britain High School in 1937 and Connecticut College of Pharmacy in 1941. He chose this profession because he could afford the commute to the college, then located on York Street in New Haven. After graduation, he went to work at G. Fox & Co. as a pharmacist.

The day after Pearl Harbor, Ira enlisted in the Army Air Forces but was not called up for duty until fall 1942. He initially trained to pilot B-17s, but in a moment of mental abstraction near the end of training, he landed on a taxi strip. This single error washed him out of pilot school and he was kept stateside for an additional six months while retraining as a navigator.

Ira’s skills with a slide rule enabled him to excel at this new assignment, and from 1944 till war’s end, he was stationed at Polebrook in England, with the 351st Heavy Bombardment Group of the 8th Air Force. Flying at times aboard the uncannily-named B-17 “Kentucky Babe,” Ira completed 29 strategic bombing missions over Germany and occupied Europe, 22 of them as the radar navigator for his squadron, flying in the lead plane (the most dangerous spot on a mission). On at least one mission, Ira was responsible for leading his entire division - one-third of the 8th Air Force.

After the war, he met and married the love of his life, Frankie, and settled in RI, where, in partnership with his Uncle Harry, he opened Bayshore Pharmacy in Warwick in 1952. It was a typical old-fashioned drugstore, with a soda fountain, greeting cards, toiletries and gifts. However, following a December 1973 fire, he resurrected his business as a clinically-oriented practice servicing more than a dozen nursing homes with over 1,000 patients. Long before computers, he instituted manual cross-checks of patient charts for potential drug interactions and concocted a proprietary IV solution in an oven in the basement of his home. Called Renacidin, the solution helped bedridden patients avoid forming bedsores. He also lectured at the Pharmacy Schools of URI and U. Mass. and served on professional panels.

During the 1970s and 80s, Ira and Frankie enjoyed camping adventures through the American West and the Yukon. It all started on a Thanksgiving Day that fell on Ira’s birthday. He got a phone call that he had won a car raffle at the Veterans High School football game. (He’d been buying raffle tickets from his customers for about 20 years…) The car, a purple Plymouth Duster, Ira traded in for a VW poptop camper which got named “Sweetie.” This camper carried them faithfully through a dozen cross-country trips through the American West, the Yukon and British Columbia.

After retiring in 1986, Ira, now 66, extended his adventurous streak, sailing a 32-foot boat through the open Atlantic from Florida to RI with friend Al Bensusan, and driving 12,000 miles to Alaska and back in a VW camper with wife Frankie.

Ira then embarked on 18 happy years as a volunteer docent at Roger Williams Park Zoo, sharing his encyclopedic knowledge of animals with thousands of visitors and penning a column, “Ask Ira,” in the RIZS newsletter.

His awards included three Air Medals (1944-1945), the Distinguished Flying Cross (1945), Pharmacist of the Year (RI Pharmaceutical Association, 1986), Preceptor of the Year (URI College of Pharmacy, 1977), New England Pharmacist of the Year (Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, 1978), and Docent of the Year (RI Zoological Society, 2002).

Ira’s knowledge was vast, ranging over fields from evolution to astrophysics, and was exceeded only by his wit. He was a man of strong convictions and unshakeable ethical standards; he hated waste and was an early conservationist.

He was committed to serving his patients, walking 8 miles during the 1978 blizzard to get vital prescriptions to nursing home residents. He treated his employees well and always paid them above scale, valuing their happiness above profit.

He revered scientific knowledge and believed in its power to free humanity from needless suffering. In keeping with these beliefs, he donated his remains to Brown U. Medical School.

He adored animals and children, and they adored him. He could invent a game using whatever was at hand – a straw, a spoon, a shoe.

He was a terrific dancer and authored many clever and touching poems for family occasions.

He loved the NY Times Sunday crossword and devoured naval adventure stories from Horatio Hornblower to Patrick O’Bryan’s series.

He adored his wife Frankie, was never too tired to play games with his daughters Diane and Nancy, and later took great delight in his grandchildren Ricca, Samantha, and Ari.

He was always kind, funny, and cheerful; even in his final illness, he never complained. His memory will be cherished by all who knew him.