Richard "Winter Owl” Aubrey Payne
is
a Freelance
Writer and Community Activist that makes his home in a place
called “the Owl's Nest” in the old hunting grounds
of the Arapaho and Cheyenne, on the wild & scenic Cache La
Poudre River, in the foothills of the Colorado Rocky Mountains.
His father was born near the reservation of Oklahoma and is of
Welsh, Cherokee and Wyndot decent. His mother is Welsh and
Blackfoot. The Cache La Poudre is a wild and scenic river that
flows through the Roosevelt National Forest. It is his home
that inspires Payne, who is a somewhat serious Roman Catholic to write about Native America and its art, as well
as what he sees as important ideas and concepts.
He holds an Associate of Fine Arts Degree with a focus in Art History, from Spokane Falls Community College. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Education from the teachers' college at Eastern Washington University, where he studied to be a secondary teacher majoring in Communication Studies, English and Theatre. He later obtained his Master of Arts Degree in Diverse Learners only to begin his study at Colorado State University in Educational Leadership. He studied Counseling at CSU. Rick loves research and it shows in his writing.
Mr. Payne's love of books has motivated him to
write four of them; COLLIN THE CANADA GOOSE, written to help his community to live in harmony with these beautiful birds, CHARLIE THE SHY COWBOY, which was written to educate people about shyness and the wonderful world of cowboys,
and THE REAL REEL INDIANS, written to educate people about real Native Americans of First Nation people (claiming a connection to a recognized
tribe) who play the roles of Indian characters in television and film. His forth book is entitled THE BANJO & THE TELESCOPE, and it is about two very different young men who make friends because of their differences, if not in spite of
them. Richard has also written his biography which should be out very soon entitled WITH THANKS TO MICHELANGELO, THE LIFE
OF RICHARD AUBREY PAYNE. This is a book written as close to the naked truth as a man can get.
Payne wrote THE BANJO & THE TELESCOPE, in English and Russian, because he strongly believes Americans in general and children specifically should learn
at least preferably more languages. He has completed two (2) more multi-language books 1. THE WOODSMAN & THE STAR,
is a stunningly beautiful book which was written in English,
Spanish and Chinese. This is book illustrated by Dorothy M. Speiser
who teamed up with Rick first on THE BANJO & THE TELESCOPE, which has 77 beautiful wildlife illustrating the creatures and plants from the book.
Dorothy M. Speiser is a talented and skilled wildlife illustrator, who worked with Richard at a middle school where she chaired the Science department. The Woodsman and The Star is a classic love story with a beautiful and romantic twist. Hattie Heart & The Flower Doctor; is also a beautifully illustrated book that was written in English, Spanish and Arabic. This is a book every flower lover should own. It is about a little white boy and an elderly black woman, in the late 1950's a time known best for the civil rights struggles of black people in the American deep South, where the story is set. It is the story about the shear magic of a flower garden and how the elderly should relate to the young people with which they may come into contact with. It is the world as a child sees it, and n that vision, a lesson for us all. "Language is a tool that allows us to build better communications with one another. It is a tool which can if given half a chance will help solve all of this old world's problems" Says Payne! These last three books are Payne's hope that he can make the world a better place for his grandsons and all the rest of the children of the planet Earth!
It is funny that Richard who is a very liberal Democrat who has fans like conservative Repulicans like Art Linkletter, who made a career out of working with children on television and Robert Warren "Bob" Schaffer who was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from the State of Colorado, and Steve Symms & James A McClure two Republican form US Senators from the state of Idaho where Richard went to middle school and graduated high school and Gale Ann Norton, Republican former Colorado Attorney General & US Secretary of the Interior under President George W. Bush, who has presented Richard with two awards for his work with kids. It should be no big surprise that Democrat former US Senator Timothy E Wirth who was also the President of the United Nations Foundation and the Better World Fund, if anyone understands the importance of learning a second or third language he does. Richard's home town once presented him with the city's Hidden Hero Award for his work with low income minority children. Richard believes regardless of your political party, the children ARE the future, and they are best prepared to face it with two or more languages...apparently others do too.
CAN YOU
FIND MY FIVE(5) ANIMAL SPIRIT GUIDES?
For
Richard Aubrey Payne
The love of my entire life…
Edward
M. Fuerte…when I first laid eyes on him I got light headed!
My passion is ...
I love books, music,
television and good movies.
I know too much about ...
Native American Culture
My parents always told me
...
Obey The Ten Commandments
My childhood ambition ...
Become governor, then Senator,
then President...
My favorite memory ...
Being in the outdoors with my
kid brother!
Why I write ...
To share with others.
What I am
reading/watching/listening to ...
Another Non-Fiction book, CNN
& Neil Diamond’s or Cleo Laine's CDs
My first job ...
Selling newspaper
subscriptions for the Orange
County newspaper
My best moment ...
When my daughter Kea was
born... which is tied with when my son Iean Thomas was born!
My inspiration ...
My two grandsons!
My Happiest Moments…
When
I am on the back of my old horse with my little dog running along our side as
we climb up into the beautiful Colorado
Rocky Mountains watching a new day break or come to an end!
What I believe…
God
IS ‘LOVE’! We start out
trying to love our selves, once accomplished, we try to love each other,
and it is only in perfecting those two things that we come to loving our God! October 4th which is the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi
should be a National holiday honoring the animals we share the planet with! The
donkey or burro should be officially made the mascot of the American Democrat
Party! Rebuilding our aging infrastructure should be made a domestic priority.
Tripling the size of the Army Corps of Engineers & the Navy Seabees should
become a National priority, leading to replacing the War Department with the
Peace Department. The world’s problems
can only be solved IF we can learn to better communicate with one another! ALL
Americans deserve a warm bed to sleep in, good food to eat, clean air and water
and decent healthcare and education! These things amount to truly loving our
neighbors as we love ourselves! Our future is on the floor of our oceans
and in outer space!
I have always been a great story teller. I hope that these pictures convey my story.
Biography
