Winston Anthony Richards was born on May 29, 1943, in Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies. He is the third of a triplet and the seventh of eight children. He was baptized on May 20, 1962. He was married to the former Dorothy Brown on June 2, 1974. They have three beautiful adult daughters-Althea, Karolyn, and Sharon; one son-in-law, Everald; and two grandchildren, Tatyana and Rohan. In 1962, Richards graduated from high school and, in 1964, from the Mico Teachers' College. He taught for three years. In 1971, he graduated from West Indies College (Jamaica), now Northern Caribbean University, with a bachelor of theology and an education minor. Richards entered the Andrews University Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, Michigan, that same year (1971) and graduated with a master of divinity on June 2, 1974-the day of his marriage. He completed the doctor of ministry degree in the summer of 1987 at the SDA Seminary at Berrien Springs, Michigan. In 1974, I was called to the East Caribbean Conference of Seventh-day Adventists to serve as the pastor of the British Virgin Islands. During 1975 to 1978, I was the producer and speaker of a half-hour religious program "Treasure of Truth Broadcast". In 1978, I was transferred to St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, by then part of the North Caribbean Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. During 1980 to 1984, I served as the pastor of six of the churches on Antigua, West Indies, where my interest in conflict management developed. I was ordained on September 2, 1978, in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad. I served on the Union Committee of the Caribbean Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists from 1982 to 1984. I served as pastor in the USVI between 1988 to 2001 and from 2009 to 2013. I also served on the Executive Committee of the North Caribbean Conference of SDA while I was the Stewardship, Trust Services, Communication, Spirit of Prophecy, and Adventist Development Relief Agency (ADRA) Director of the Conference (2001-2009). I retired in December 2013.
