HSC Advisor  

The Honorable
Richard Bender Abell

The Hon. Richard Bender Abell (ne Richard Lon Welch) was born at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Lon Edward Welch, Jr. and Charlotte Amelia Bender Welch Abell.  He is married to Lucia del Carmen Lombana-Cadavid de Abell, daughter of Dr. Ezekiel Lombana-Duque and Maria de los Dolores Cadavid-Diaz of Medellin, Colombia.  The Abells have three children: David Joseph Abell, Christian Aven Lombana Abell, and Rachel Mercedes Cadavid Abell.

Judge Abell was a Peace Corps volunteer in Colombia, South America, 1967-1969.  He served with the United States Army Infantry, Company A, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry, First Air Calvary Division in Vietnam, 1969-1971. Judge Abell was awarded the Purple Heart, Army Commendation Medal for Heroism, Air Medal, and Combat Infantryman Badge.  Judge Abell retired from military service for wounds received in combat.

Judge Abell attended The George Washington University where he was graduated with a B.A. in International Affairs, 1966.  He completed his Juris Doctor at The George Washington University School of Law, 1974.  Judge Abell was appointed by President Ronald Reagan and confirmed by the United States Senate as the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs, United States Department of Justice, 1986-1990.  He was also appointed by President Reagan to serve as a Member of the Board of Directors of the Federal Prison Industries, Inc. 1985-1991; as a Commissioner, President's Commission on Agricultural Workers 1988-1993; and as a member of the President's Task Force on Adoption 1987-1988.  His wife, Lucia, served in two presidential appointments.  He currently serves in the Federal Judiciary, United States Court of Federal Claims, Washington, D.C., and resides with his family in Alexandria, Virginia. 


Memberships
* Society of the Cincinnati of Maryland  (former Treasurer)
* General Society of Colonial Wars  (former Governor of the District of
   Columbia Society)
* General Society Sons of the Revolution (former President of the District of
   Columbia Society)
* Aztec Club of 1847; Military Society of the Mexican War (former
   President)
* Order of Indian Wars of the United State (Senior Vice Commander)
* National Gavel Society
* Sons of Confederate Veterans (former Camp Commander, Alexandria,
   Virginia)
* Military Order of the Stars and Bars (former member of the National
   Executive Council)
* Colonial Order of the Acorn
* Colonial Society of Pennsylvania
* Order of Scions of Colonial Cavaliers 1640-1660  (former Marshall)
* Saint Andrew's Society of Washington, D.C.
* Society of Saint George of Philadelphia
* Military Order of the Purple Heart
* General Society of the War of 1812  (former Color Guard of the
   Pennsylvania Society)
* Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States  (former Judge
   Advocate In Chief)
* Huguenot Society of America
* National Huguenot Society
* Welsh Society of Philadelphia
* Military Order of Foreign Wars of the United States
* Hereditary Order Descendants Loyalists & Patriots American Revolution
   (former Chancellor General)
* Order of the First Families of North Carolina
* Society of the Order of the Southern Cross
* Society of the Descendants of the Colonial Clergy
* National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution
* National Society of Sons of American Colonists
* National Society Sons and Daughters of Antebellum Planters 1607-1861
   (former Vice President General)
* Sons and Daughters of the Colonial & Antebellum Bench & Bar 1565-1861
* National Society Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims
* Flagon & Trencher: Descendants of Colonial Tavern Keepers
* Order of the Second World War
* Order of the First World War
* Military Order of the World Wars
* International Military Order of the Southern Cross
* Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (former Camp Commander)
* Royal Society of Saint George
* Society of Boonesborough Descendants
* Continental Society Sons of Indian Wars
* First Families of Georgia
* Point Lookout Prisoner of War Organization
* First Families of Henry County, Georgia


Chivalric Orders
* The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem
   (Rank of Knight)


Authorship
Abell, Richard Bender and Wilmer Lane Smith, Peter Smith of
   Westmoreland County, Virginia (Died 1741) and Some Descendants 
   Michigan:  Bookcrafters, 1996, 394 pp.
Abell, Richard Bender and Fay Adamson Gecik, Sojourns of a Patriot, The
    Field and Prison Papers of an Unreconstructed Confederate 
   Tennessee:  Southern Heritage Press, Murfreesboro, Tennessee (1998),
   255 pages.
Abell, Richard Bender, The Antecedents and Descendants of Gottlieb
    Heinrich Shmidheiser and Anna Rebman,  privately published (2008). -
   most recent rendition.
Abell, Richard Bender, The Antecedents and Descendants of Johannes
    Martin Schwehm, privately published (2008). - most recent rendition.


Listed In
The Social List of Washington, D.C.
The Blue Book of Washington, D.C.
The Hereditary Society Blue Book
Marquis Who's Who in The World
Marquis Who's Who In America
Marquis Who's Who in American Law
Marquis Who's Who in the East
Marquis Who's Who in American Politics
Marquis Who's Who in Finance and Industry


Notes
Judge Abell is also a member of numerous veterans groups, masonic associations, and historical and genealogical societies. He is Anglican-Catholic by faith.