Strobel publishes book about his ties to Native Americans

Published: November 06, 2024

Author: Dave Bell

In his latest book of poetry called East Rock (Finishing Line, 2024), Greenville University alum Paul Strobel reflects on his connection to Native American history in two very different regions of the United States.

The free-verse poetry book begins in New England, where Strobel’s colonial Massachusetts ancestors were involved in King Philip’s War – a conflict with Native Americans who were attempting to stop English settlement in their native lands. The focus then shifts to the modern state of Arizona, where Strobel lived in the 1980s, and the ongoing conflict in the 1800s between Native Americans and settlers in the Southwest.

His fascination with historical events was whetted during his years as an undergraduate history major at GU (then Greenville College) in the late 1970s. It continued in the intervening years as he studied his family roots and became more aware of the interactions between Native Americans and European settlers.

The book’s title came from a mountain range near New Haven, Connecticut, where Strobel attended graduate school. East Rock was the popular name for a ridge called Metacomet, named after a chief of the Wampanoag tribe.

“My East Coast ancestors were from that area,” Strobel said. “My research and writing were sparked when I learned that I had a distant relative who had come over on the Mayflower and settled there. Thus, I had both a historical and a family interest in the area.”

A Vandalia native, Strobel graduated from Greenville College in 1979 with a major in history and a minor in religious studies. Among his favorite professors were Jim Reinhard, Jim Stewart, Frank Thompson, Dan Jensen, and Elva McAllaster.

“Though spiritual themes have always been part of my life, my time at Greenville was a very important period of spiritual growth,” he said. “That continues to be a part of my writing because I believe it’s necessary to have a spiritual element in our lives.”

East Rock is Strobel’s 24th book and fourth poetry book. His publisher, Finishing Line Press, termed the 104-page book as “a poem that melds his years in Connecticut and Arizona.” The publisher describes Strobel as “a descendent of the Mayflower pilgrims who uses biblical, geological, historical, and personal resources on a pilgrimage of family and identity via his American forbears.”

Strobel is an adjunct professor of philosophy and religious studies at Webster University in St. Louis. He formerly served on the faculty at Eden Theological Seminary, also in St. Louis. His previous books with Finishing Line Press include: Dreaming at the Electric Hobo (2015), Little River (2017), Small Corner of the Stars (2017), Backyard Darwin (2019), Galapagos Joy (2023), Walking Lorton Bluff (2020), and Four Mile (2022).

He's currently working on a book about his great, great, great grandmother, who lived near Columbus, Ohio, and then moved to Brownstown, Illinois.

He and his wife Beth, retired chancellor of Webster University, now live in Westerville, Ohio, near their daughter Emily.