DATE: Tuesday, July 1, 1997                 TAG: 9707010271

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY GUY FRIDDELL, LANDMARK SPECIAL WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  104 lines

LONGTIME NORFOLK CIVIC AND BUSINESS LEADER DIES RICHARD WELTON III, 78, WAS PRESIDENT OF SMITH & WELTON

Richard F. Welton III, a leader in Norfolk's retail and social communities for four decades - and who reluctantly closed the city's last major downtown department store in the late 1980s - has died.

His son, Richard F. Welton IV, said he died Sunday of heart failure at age 78 in a hospital in Chestertown, Md., where he had been living since his retirement in 1986 as president of Norfolk-based Smith & Welton Department Stores.

``He was so generous with his time,'' marveled W. Wright Harrison, who worked with Welton in drives for the United Fund, now the United Way. ``When anybody asked for help, Dick never said no. He'd get busy and go to work and make the project a success.''

That inability to say no took him into numerous civic causes, he said.

``God, how I loved him!'' exclaimed former Norfolk Mayor Vincent Thomas. ``When I was a Rat at VMI, he was a first classman, and he was always very nice to me. He had access to an automobile, probably against the law, and he'd give me a ride when he was coming back to Norfolk.

``Dick was always thinking about somebody else, and he was universally loved.''

Welton's leadership was ``ever-present and selfless,'' Thomas said.

Welton was a younger member of a generation of 350 leaders who met in a junior high school in 1938 to debate whether to continue in Norfolk the Community Chest campaign that had failed 13 of 15 years.

They'd try one more time, they decided. The momentum of that successful drive continued through the years with the United Fund that nurtured leaders for other civic services throughout South Hampton Roads.

``That was really the key effort in the rebirth of Norfolk,'' Thomas said.

Starting in the 1960s, Welton was among business leaders who sought to stem the flight of customers from America's central cities to suburban malls. Over the years, Norfolk saw its downtown department stores close, one by one - W.G. Swartz, Ames and Brownley, Rices Nachmans among them - and, finally, Smith & Welton, the century-old company that in its heyday under Welton's aegis had 12 branches throughout Hampton Roads.

Many Norfolk merchants along downtown Granby Street opposed efforts that began in the early 1960s to bring a major department store to the so-called ``17 acres'' that had been cleared by urban renewal - the site where the MacArthur Center mall is now under construction.

That the proposed new retail center might overwhelm Smith & Welton did not deter Welton's 30-year support for the project. He said he recognized that it would draw customers to Smith & Welton as well as to other stores along Granby.

But the 17-acres project did not materialize in time. Smith & Welton reorganized under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy laws in 1985 and struggled to chip away at its debts, including closing its venerable Granby Street store in 1988. But the debt burden was too great, and by August 1991, the rest of the Smith & Welton company shut down for good.

Founded in 1890 in Portsmouth, the store moved to Norfolk in 1898. To attract customers during the Depression, Welton's father and an uncle opened the Tearoom in 1933.

From its first meal, it was a success. Dick Welton, who loved to cook, saw to it that the Tearoom had the freshest ingredients, and he didn't stint on the quality. Prideful, pink-clad waitresses cared for customers as if they were kin.

Smith & Welton's building found a new life when it was reshaped this past spring into a handsome, six-story library for the Norfolk branch of Tidewater Community College.

Early in May, Welton returned with his family to celebrate the library's opening with more than 350 former Tearoom devotees for a luncheon featuring chicken salad and lemon chess pie. Embracing old customers and employees, he told the throng of his pleasure at seeing the former store in a stimulating new role. Elated, he prophesied that it once again would anchor a reviving downtown Norfolk.

A plaque at the entrance honors four generations of Weltons for their splendid service of nearly a century.

Welton's record is a roll call of services. He was a member of the VMI board, a member of the then-Norfolk General Hospital board and a founding member of the Virginia Beach General Hospital board. He also helped to launch the Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk. He also was a board member and chairman of the Tidewater Retail Merchants Association.

From 1966 to 1971, Welton was president of Norfolk Academy's board of trustees when the academy was merging with Country Day School from Virginia Beech.

``Dick was probably the best-organized person I've ever known,'' said Norfolk Academy's headmaster, John Tucker. ``He was very effective working behind the scenes in making the merger a success.

``Dick could defuse tense situations with his cheerfulness and a great sense of humor. He was a natural leader, and he loved Norfolk Academy.''

The funeral service for Welton is planned for 11 a.m. Wednesday in St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Chestertown. A family reception will follow at 5 Byford Court.

In Norfolk, a memorial service is planned for July 9 in the Price Auditorium at Norfolk Academy. The family will receive visitors immediately afterward in the Refectory.

Welton, all his life, made a point of being punctual. In instructions he left for his funeral, he specified that he wanted it to begin at 11 o'clock, ``and I want it to begin on time.''

Said his son, Richard IV: ``That was him!'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Richard F. Welton III KEYWORDS: OBITUARY DEATH

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