Richard V. Tieken was born in Peoria, Illinois but grew up in Louisville, Kentucky and later in Miami, Florida. He is a graduate of Mercer University in Macon, Georgia and served 20 years in the US Army as a combat infantry officer. His assignments included eight years in Germany, two years in Vietnam. He retired from the Army as a Major then went into the retail liquor store business owning and managing his own store, Holly Hills Beverage Shop, for 32 years in Columbus, Georgia. Since then he also authored the book VALODIN, which is a true story on the French Five Hundred coming to Gallipolis, Ohio to escape the French Revolution in 1790.