Richard Zellner is a lifelong resident of Cherokee County, Oklahoma. He received his bachelors and masters degrees from Northeastern State University. For twenty-nine years Mr. Zellner taught at Tahlequah Junior High School. For most of those years he taught Oklahoma History, World History, and Civics. For most of the last nineteen years, he also served as an adjunct instructor at Northeastern State University, teaching classes in American history. After retiring from the public schools in 2003, Mr. Zellner has continued to teach classes at the university on a part-time basis.