As a kid, being a writer never crossed RW Bennett’s mind. His dad, grandfather and great-grandfather who immigrated from Cornwall England in 1868, were sheep ranchers. His Cornish great-grandfather was one of the earliest sheep ranchers in Idaho. He grazed his animals in the Owyhee Mountains then moved his headquarters in 1884 near the new railroad town of Mountain Home, Idaho so his growing family could go to school. From there he chose to summer his sheep in the Sawtooth Mountains north and east of Mountain Home. 

RW Bennett grew up in Mountain Home and followed the family tradition by graduating from the University of Idaho in 1969 with a degree in business.

He married his wife Marsha in 1970 and promised her they’d never go back to the ranch. One year later they had a new baby girl and he was horseback again, gathering cattle in the spring and fall, feeding cattle in the winter and immersed in calving and branding in the spring. In the early 1970s his brother joined RW Bennett and their dad on the ranch. After their dad died in 1981 he and his brother carried on until 1988 when harsh winters, bad markets, disease and family obligations prompted them to sell the ranch.

RW Bennett changed careers to insurance, his brother stayed in agriculture and life went on.

His insurance career steadily moved forward and after twenty-two years, he retired as an executive with State Farm. During his career he enjoyed writing concise well-understood directives and realized he was pretty good at it.

Through it all, after eighteen years on the ranch and twenty-two years in insurance, he realized his identity was still firmly grounded in his family ranching legacy as is evidenced in his writing. 

After retirement and nearly four subsequent years of trial and error, ROCK CREEK was published in November of 2016. The next book, CROOKED RIVER, was published in November 2019 and BILL JUDY in November 2021. A COWGIRL’S TAIL, short story, will be available soon.

RW Bennett and his wife Marsha live in Boise, Idaho as do their two daughters and their families. They enjoy summers in McCall on Payette Lake in Central Idaho and usually find someplace warm to visit for a couple of weeks in the winter. In addition to writing, Richard loves fly fishing, boating on Payette Lake with Marsha and their family, exploring Idaho, hiking to mountain lakes near McCall and an occasional round of golf.