Don Welch

Don Welch (June 3, 1932 – August 6, 2016) was an American poet and academic who was born in Hastings, Nebraska. The author of several published poetry collections and a regular contributor to literary magazines, Welch was an English literature professor at the University of Nebraska at Kearney from 1959 to 1997. While there, he was awarded the Distinguished Paul W. Reynolds and Clarice Kingston Reynolds Endowed Chair in English, Poetry & Creative Writing. In June 2001, a bronze sculpture of Welch was finished and dedicated to him on the campus.

Welch spent his early years in the towns of Gothenburg and Columbus. After graduating from Kearney Senior High School in Kearney, he earned a B.A. from the University of Nebraska at Kearney, an M.A. from the University of Northern Colorado, and a Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Welch and his wife, Marcia, had five children. He died on August 6, 2016.

Welch's early career was spent teaching English at Fort Morgan High School in Fort Morgan, Colorado, Gothenburg High School in Gothenburg, Nebraska, and at Hastings College in Hastings, Nebraska. After retiring from full-time teaching Welch has continued to teach various poetry, Literature and philosophy classes and continues to be an avid reader and writer of poetry. His newest book of poetry, When Memory Gives Dust a Face, was scheduled to be released in the fall of 2008. It is an autobiographical collection of new poems that will span nearly five decades.

Fellow Nebraska poet William Kloefkorn has been quoted as saying, "Don Welch moves among the poor like a modern day Whitman who has mastered the fine art of pruning…With a minimum of words he evokes a maximum of feelings and sympathies. The rest of us need the poet's words to bring us those places we have neither the time nor the courage to explore."

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