Biography
Perpetually blue skies, palm trees and the Pacific Ocean, beckoned Diane to leave her native North West England home town of Timperley, Cheshire in 1982. Living close to the historic Roman town of Chester, Diane’s childhood was colored with the stories of the people who once thrived in this ancient walled city which still retains much of its Roman roots. A fascination with this history and an innate sense of connecting to this heritage, it foreshadowed Diane’s future career as a local historian and biographer. Graduate, then post graduate studies in the fine arts– successfully completed at Bretton Hall College, Leeds University– gave an opportunity for Diane to express her visual arts skills, undertake public speaking and hone her writing skills. But rather than follow the lead of fellow graduates she instead opted to fulfill a childhood dream by emigrating to Southern California. With a joy of travel and a high sense of adventure, Diane spent several years in the regions of San Diego County, then moved to the east coast to work for a major airline. Residing in New York, Palm Beach, Florida and then Washington D.C., Diane’s life took a major turn when she married husband Paul in 1987 and started a family with the birth of their first child, Jenna, born in Alexandria, VA in 1990. Motherhood appropriately took center stage.
Diane quit her airline career and moved back to San Diego County where creating a family became her first priority. Three children joined the Welch family between 1992 and 1998, completing a balanced quartet of two girls and two boys. In 1998 Diane began writing professionally and within five years she was writing community news for the then newly published Solana Beach Sun. This launched her on a path that would lead to a successful career in the field of publishing and public speaking. Now writing a history column for the San Diego Union Tribune Newspaper, her column Welch Whispers for the Rancho Santa Fe Review, and profiling artists for Artworks Magazine, she has proved herself an accurate and engaging writer with a faithful following.
Presenting herself as a “full time mom and part time writer” Diane has successfully
blended a creative and scholarly career with being 100% involved with her
family. An in home office facilitates an easy transition between both worlds. Through
her work as a writer of local history, Diane has become an expert on the architecture
and history of Rancho Santa Fe, Solana Beach, Del Mar and Encinitas. She published
a pictorial history of Encinitas in 2006–launched to celebrate their 20 years of
Cityhood, and the history of the Del Mar Fairgrounds will be released in June 2008.
Through her writings she has become acquainted with and written about several noted
nationally acclaimed celebrated achievers, like entertainers Patti Page, Shawn Colvin,
Diane Keaton and Kathryn Crosby; iconic fashion desigher, Zandra Rhodes; fine artists Adam Lewis Smith, Jennifer Chapman, and
William Engle; photographers, Logan Becket and Jim Keck; jewelry designer,
Rebecca Norman; graphic designer, Joan Maloney; and famed Poinsettia King, Paul
Ecke III. The list goes on. However, Diane’s most passionate current endeavor is
researching, writing and lecturing on the life and work of Lilian J. Rice: noted
architect from the 1920s and 30s who designed and oversaw the development of
Rancho Santa Fe. Currently Diane is working on her book: the biography and work of architect
Lilian Jeannette Rice. Sponsored by the Save Our Heritage Foundation the book is scheduled for release in 2009.
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