About The Authors
About the Authors
Anthony Drago
Anthony “Tony” Drago was born in Camden, New Jersey and spent much of his early childhood at his paternal grandparents Italian grocery store. His school years were spent in Los Angeles, California which is when he began to realize he was the only child bringing seaweed & rice to school instead of peanut butter & jelly.
From a young age, his mother, Kaleria Palchikoff Drago, would tell him the captivating story of her journey from Russia, to Japan, and then to the United States. It created Tony’s foundation for his love of history — especially his family’s history—bringing him to write his first book, Surviving Hiroshima: A Young Woman’s Story.
Tony is a former Public Safety Officer who spent his twenty-five year career serving the community of Sunnyvale, California as both a firefighter and police officer. After retiring in 2006, he doubled down on his passions — flying his airplane, restoring his classic car, and traveling the world with his wife, Kathy. He has two brothers, Mark and Paul Drago, who reside in Long Beach, California.
Tony and Kathy have been married for forty-five years. They have three adult children and enjoy spending their days on the beach in their hometown of Carmel, California with their eight grandchildren and dogs, Tug and Maggie.
Douglas Wellman
Douglas Wellman was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and raised in the suburb of Brooklyn Center. After studying Broadcast Speech at the University of Minnesota, he worked as a director at local television stations in the Twin Cities before moving to Los Angeles. There he became the production manager of “The Facts of Life,” “Gimme a Break,” “Diff’rent Strokes,” and several pilots. Over the next thirty years he produced and directed numerous television specials and over 900 episodes of standup comedy shows.
In 1997, Doug joined the staff of the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts to help create Trojan Vision, a student television station. There he taught situation comedy production and became the Assistant Dean of the school where he remained for sixteen years.
While working at USC, Doug earned a degree in theology and worked with homeless people across Los Angles. After retiring from USC, he moved to Southern Utah with his wife, Deborah, participated in a volunteer ministry to prison inmates, and taught The Business of Film, a motion picture production class at Dixie State University. He is currently a chaplain at Dixie Regional Medical Center.
Doug is the author of two editions of Boxes: The Secret Life of Howard Hughes with Mark Musick, Five Minutes, Mr. Byner! with John Byner, and Surviving Hiroshima: A Young Woman’s Story with Anthony Drago.