Born into a distinguished military family with roots going back to Gideon Welles, President Abraham Lincoln’s Secretary of the Navy, Richard F. Welles entered this world in Pensacola, Florida during the height of the Great Depression. As a young man growing up in California, Richard was an outstanding high school and college athlete, setting many records in the high hurdles and high jump.  With his impressive 6’3″ frame, the 20-30 Club named him “The Most Outstanding Athlete of San Jose” in 1949. Richard was drafted into the Army and, after finishing Leadership School, he was on the Sixth Army Championship Track Team, the All Army, and the All Service Championship Track Teams competing with and against 1952 Olympic Athletes then in the service.  Flown to Korea, he was selected to represent the U.S. with aUnited Nations assignment at the Norwegian MASH Hospital one mile from the DMZ. Discharged in 1954, Richard went to work in the burgeoning Southern California automobile business.  With his easy style and charisma, he found himself accepted into the Hollywood social scene, and was invited to Hollywood parties with the likes of Steve McQueen, Jack Starrett, Wayde Preston, and others. In 1970 Richard married Patty and was hired by the most prestigious dealership in the country, Hillcrest Cadillac, in the heart of Beverly Hills.  There Patty & Richard raised their two sons: Robby and Boomer. Like their dad, both boys were All Southern California Athletes, enshrined in the Beverly Hills High School Athletic Hall of Fame, and are now living fabulous lives in Southern California. After living in Beverly Hills  for 40 years, Richard now lives in Marina del Rey where he enjoys a full  life with Patty, his wife of 44 years. Richard has adapted one of his long-forgotten, recently re- discovered and unfinished screenplays into a novel STOMPER MALONE..A Taste of Eternity…

setting many records in the high hurdles and high jump. With his impressive 6’3″ frame, the 20-30 Club named him “The Most Outstanding Athlete of San Jose” in 1949.