Richard Welsbacher

Welsbacher, Richard Charles, January 9, 1926-July 14, 2015. Richard Welsbacher, professor emeritus and director of theatre at Wichita State University for 30 years; stage actor and director; radio, film, television, and commercial actor and personality; and storyteller and mentor to generations, died Tuesday, July 14, 2015, following a series complications. He was 89. During his 30-year tenure at Wichita State University, Welsbacher directed more than 150 productions and performed more than 200 roles. He created a vibrant theatre arts program offering hands-on experience for undergraduate students in every element of the stage. He also appeared regularly on many Wichita stages and, in addition, worked on stage and in film and television throughout America. Welsbacher identified himself first as a teacher, and he accumulated multiple awards, notably the Excellence in Teaching Award in 1975. Students under his tutelage have gone on to careers in stage, film, and television, and over the years they have garnered multiple nominations and prestigious awards in all three areas. Other commendations have included induction into the Mary Jane Teall Hall of Fame in 1995 and, in 2002, the Governors Arts Award. Dick Welsbacher was born January 9, 1926, near Cleveland, Ohio. He grew up in Columbus under the care of an aunt and uncle, who instilled in him a love of reading and learning. He began his acting career early, quickly taking on the character roles that would characterize his long career. He met Gladys Elizabeth (Betty) Tener at North High School in Columbus, and they married in 1946. He served as Lieutenant (JG) in the United States Navy during World War II. He attended Denison University through the GI bill, graduating in theatre arts in 1948. While there, he worked with a core group of actors, many of whom went on to successful stage and film careers, including Hal Holbrook, Frank Cover, David Rounds, Henry Sutton, Don Wilde, and Luke and Dixie Utter. After graduation, he and Betty immediately began touring in a school program entitled Folklore in Song and Story. They were a few days shy of their sixty-third anniversary when Betty died in 2008 after battling cancer for 20 years. Welsbacher obtained his MA in theatre from the University of Denver. In the early 1950s, Welsbacher worked in radio in Newark, a small town outside of Columbus, where he created a popular story-and-music program with a cast of eccentric characters that became legendary in the region. In 1953, his son, Rick, was born in Newark. The same year, Welsbacher accepted a teaching position at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. His daughter, Anne, was born in Kearney in 1955. In 1957-58, Welsbacher attended Ohio State University, in Columbus, for his PhD to continue his teaching career. In 1958, the family moved to Wichita, Kansas, to enroll Rick in the Institute of Logopedics, the nations top program for children with learning disabilities. Welsbacher accepted a position in the English department at the University of Wichita, and, in 1961, in the fledgling theatre department. As director of theatre, Welsbacher quickly built his staff, hiring Audrey Needles, Mary Jane Teall, and Joyce Cavarozzi, who joined the faculty when the school became Wichita State University in 1964. Over the following decades, Welsbacher and Cavarozzi appeared in productions of plays by Arthur Miller, Edward Albee, Neil Simon, and William Inge, among others, and remained close friends throughout Welsbachers life. Other early faculty were Scott Weldin and Bela Kirafalvi. Together with Betty, Dick was involved in Civil Rights activities of the 1940s through the 70s; with Fairmount neighborhood parents and the First Unitarian Church (now First Unitarian Universalist Church), they participated in a model elementary school desegregation program and other activities in northeast Wichita. Welsbacher retired in 1991 but remained active in theatre in Wichita and other locations. In 1999, the Welsbacher Theatre was established in the Hughes Metroplex on the WSU campus, and in 2011, the newly renovated black-box theatre was rededicated. In May 2015, Welsbacher was inducted into the College of Fine Arts Hall of Fame. A Celebration of Life will be held Saturday, July 25, at 11 a.m. at Wilner Auditorium on the WSU campus, followed by a luncheon at Mosley Street Melodrama, 234 N. Mosley Street, at 1 p.m. The Dick Welsbacher Memorial for WSU Performing Arts Angels has been established. The funds name reflects the name of a loyal group of “angels” who helped fund the WSU Summer Theatre program in its early years, and today funds students in a variety of theatre, music theatre, and dance endeavors. Donations may be sent to: Dick Welsbacher Memorial for WSU Performing Arts Angels; WSU Foundation, 1845 Fairmount St.; Wichita, KS 67260-0002. Downing Lahey Mortuary East.