Richard J. Grant Caldwell was born in Meadville, Pennsylvania and went over the Rocky Mountains in a Model "A" Ford. His father was a career Navy man and moved the family which consisted of Richard, the oldest, two brothers and two sisters, thirteen times during their first seven years of marriage. Richard lived two places in New York city; two places in Philadelphia and two places in California among other places. Though staying in one place for high school in Meadville, he attended Notre Dame University where he earned his B.A.. He then attended U.C.Berkely, Boston Collegs, Edinboro University, University Del Valle, in Cali, Colombia, South America, and Allegheny College. Richard's poetry teacher, Dr. John Matthias, had read before the Queen of England.