Thelma Strabel
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Thelma L. Strabel (19 December 1900 – 28 May 1959) was an American novelist who specialized in tales of the American South and sea adventures. She is best known for her novel '' Reap the Wild Wind'', which was serialized in the ''
Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely c ...
'' and became a successful film.


Biography

Strabel was born in Crown Point, Indiana on December 19, 1900, the first child of grocer John George Strabel and his wife Nannsie.1920 United States Federal Census, Urbana (Champaign) Illinois, District 47 (For unknown reasons, Strabel later claimed Pennsylvania as her birthplace.)Dust jacket of 1942 edition of ''Reap the Wild Wind'', Triangle Books She was the great-granddaughter of
Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
's private secretary, General John Hall.Charleroi (Pennsylvania) Mail, May 31, 1957 She grew up in Champaign-Urbana,
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
,Decatur (Illinois) Daily Review, July 8, 1916 but spent much of her youth also in southwestern Pennsylvania, her mother's native district. Strabel published her first short story in the children's section of a Pittsburgh newspaper. At 16, she worked as a census enumerator for the local census board. She graduated from the
University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...
and later became a fashion reporter in Paris and an advertising copywriter for the Abraham & Straus department store.New York Times, May 29, 1959 While convalescing from an illness in Switzerland, she began to write fiction as a vocation. Among her early works are ''Smart Woman'' (1933), ''Streamline Marriage'' (1937), ''For Richer -- Or For Poorer?'' (1938), and ''You Can't Escape Forever'' (1938). She wrote several novels set in exotic locales ranging from Caribbean islands to the jungles of Peru. Her best known story, ''Reap the Wild Wind'' (1940), is a romantic saga of the wreckers in and around
Key West Key West ( es, Cayo Hueso) is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it cons ...
,
Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
. Producer-director
Cecil B. DeMille Cecil Blount DeMille (; August 12, 1881January 21, 1959) was an American film director, producer and actor. Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films. He is acknowledged as a founding father of the American cinem ...
bought the novel and, with numerous alterations, produced a popular movie version starring Paulette Goddard and
John Wayne Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne and nicknamed The Duke or Duke Wayne, was an American actor who became a popular icon through his starring roles in films made during Hollywood's Gol ...
in 1942. Strabel was so enamored of Key West and its unique history that she built a house there following the sale of the story to ''
The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely c ...
'' in 1940. The house, located at 400 South Street, was described by Strabel, not without argument, as the southernmost house in the United States. It remained a popular site for visitors to the island until its demolition and replacement by a larger house. Strabel's later novels and stories include ''Storm to the South'' (1944), a romance of Bolivarian
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, ''You Were There'' (a Woman's Home Companion serialized novel, filmed as '' Undercurrent''
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, and ''Caribee'' (1957), a romantic novel revolving around the Mount Pelée volcanic disaster of 1902.


Personal life

Strabel married David P. Godwin, who was the chief of fire control for the
U.S. Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency in ...
, an agency which served as the subject of her short story ''The Forest Ranger'' (also filmed in 1942, as ''
The Forest Rangers The Forest Rangers may refer to: * ''The Forest Rangers'' (TV series), Canadian TV series *The Forest Rangers (band), band formed to create the soundtrack for TV series Sons of Anarchy * ''The Forest Rangers'' (film), 1942 film starring Fred MacMur ...
''). Godwin was killed in a plane crash June 13, 1947, and Strabel never remarried. Strabel died of cancer on May 28, 1959, in
Washington DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
. She was buried in
Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...
.Washington Post, May 29, 1959


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Strabel, Thelma People from Key West, Florida 1900 births 1959 deaths People from Crown Point, Indiana 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American novelists American women novelists Novelists from Florida Novelists from Indiana Deaths from cancer in Washington, D.C.