Obituary of Pete Strobl

On September 4, 2017, Pete Strobl passed away after a brief illness. He was born in Springfield, Illinois. Growing up, he also lived in Rock Island, Illinois, and Portland, Oregon, before finally settling in Olympia with his family in 1946. He graduated from Olympia High School in 1953. In 1955, Pete married Marie Wilson. They built their family home on property they had purchased, and started their family. Pete was employed by Baker Shell as a mechanic in his younger years and went to night school to gain the training to eventually become a teacher. In 1964, he began his career as the auto shop teacher at Olympia High School. During his 30-year teaching career at OHS, he helped literally hundreds of kids learn not only how to keep their cars running, but also helped many young men and women begin their careers in shops and garages across the state. One of his favorite parts of working for the high school occurred on Tuesday afternoons. That is the day that his high school trap shooting team would bring their shotguns to his classroom before school started so that they could meet up after school, load up in his pick up and camper, and drive to Evergreen Sportsmen’s Club in Littlerock. It was there that he taught teenagers the importance of gun safety and the love of trapshooting, hunting, and fishing. In the summertime when school was out, Pete and Marie would eagerly load up their boat so that they could spend time in La Push. Pete loved to fish, both commercially and for sport. They did that for more than 40 years. Pete finally retired in 1995 and was then able to focus more of his time on doing what he loved best: hunting, fishing, and spending time at the gun club. He loved shooting trap, but also had a huge passion for other club sports and was monumental in beginning black powder competitions, sporting clays, skeet, and five-stand shooting at Evergreen. He served on Evergreen’s Board of Trustees for many years. Pete is survived by his wife of 62 years, Marie; sons, Pete E. (Millie Ann) and Bill; and daughter, Cindi (Bryan). Also, he was a proud grandfather to Holly, Megan, Travis, and Brandon, and was further blessed with ten great grandchildren. Please leave memories of Pete or condolences for his family in the Guestbook below.