Melissa Foelsch Wells
Melissa Foelsch Wells was born on November 18, 1932, in Tallinn, Estonia, daughter of opera singer and film actress Miliza Korjus and physicist Kuno Georg Foelsch. The family left Estonia when she was about nine months old and lived for four years in Germany. She emigrated to the U.S. in 1936 with her parents and first lived in Los Angeles, where her mother starred in the MGM production The Great Waltz. The family moved to Mexico City (1941-44) where her mother sang in opera houses throughout that country. The family moved back to the U.S., first to New York (1944-46) and then to Los Angeles again.
In 1953, Melissa was part of a synchronized swimming aqua-parade troupe that toured Europe performing in Esther Williams-style shows. When the tour organizer ran out of funds, she was stranded in Italy and lived in Milan until 1954.
Melissa received a B.S. degree cum laude in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, Washington, DC, in 1956. She was the first woman to graduate from that school.
She joined the U.S. Department of State in 1958 and served in several capacities in Washington until 1961. Her first foreign posting was the new U.S. Embassy in Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, as Political and Consular Officer, 1961-63; then as an Economic Officer at the U.S. Mission to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris, France, 1964–1966.
When she was posted as Economic Officer at the U.S. Embassy in London, United Kingdom, 1966–1970, she unwittingly broke two barriers at the US Foreign Service. She worked at the same post as her husband, a situation that the State Department discouraged until then. And she became the first US diplomat to have a baby while serving overseas.
Melissa lived in Washington, DC from 1971 to 1975, during which she held the following posts: Chief of the Business Relations Branch in the Bureau of Economic Affairs, 1972–1973; Personnel Officer for the Board of Examiners at the State Department; and Deputy Director for major export projects at the Department of Commerce, 1973–1975. She served as Commercial Counselor at the U.S. Consulate in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1975–1976.
Her first post as U.S. Ambassador was to Guinea-Bissau and Cabo Verde, 1976–1977. She was the first US ambassador to these newly independent countries.
Melissa was then named U.S. Representative to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations, 1977–1979, based in New York.
She then worked for the United Nations, first as Resident Representative of the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) in Uganda and Special Representative for emergency relief operations related to famine in that country, 1979–1981. Her second U.N. appointment was as director of the U.N. IMPACT Program to prevent disabilities in Geneva, Switzerland, 1982–1986.
From mid-1986 until mid-1987, she lived in Washington because her confirmation to be U.S. Ambassador to Mozambique was held up by a full year by Senator Jesse Helms. She served as Ambassador in Mozambique from 1987 until 1990; then as Ambassador to Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo), 1991–1993.
In 1993, she worked for the United Nations again, as Under-Secretary-General for Administration and Management. In 1994, she returned to the U.S. State Department as the Special Representative to the Sudan, to help negotiations between that country’s government and its southern region.
Melissa served a second time in Brazil, as U.S. Consul-General in São Paulo, 1995–1997. From 1998 until the last day of her career, September 11, 2001, she was U.S. Ambassador to the country where she was born, Estonia.
Melissa was a member of the Senior Foreign Service and attained the rank of Minister-Counselor in the State Department. She was a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy. She learned six languages in this order: German, English, Spanish, Italian, French and Portuguese.
Ambassador Wells was married to Alfred Washburn Wells, who was a diplomat in the State Department from 1941–1966 and an architect thereafter until his death in 2014. After she retired, they lived in the small town of Agulo, La Gomera, Canary Islands, Spain. She moved to Potomac, Maryland in 2021, where she lived her last years until July 12, 2025.
Melissa and Alfred Wells had two sons together, Christopher and Gregory, and three grandchildren, Anthony, Emory and Marlie, all of whom survive them.
