Background

Robert Evording Pike was born on April 19, 1905, in Hamden, Connecticut, United States.

Education

Robert E. Pike was raised by his uncle in Upper Waterford, Vermont. Pike, the first person from the family of hereditary farmers, finished high school where he studied Latin, Greek, and French in 1921.

Then, he received a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College, a master’s from the University of Minnesota, and a Doctor of Philosophy from Harvard University. He added to the collection of languages in which he was well versed German, Russian, Spanish, and Italian.

Career

Robert E. Pike dedicated most of his career to teaching, first as a language instructor at private schools in the 1920s. He joined the University of Minnesota faculty in 1928, then Harvard University staff three years later. In 1935, Pike began two-year service as an assistant professor at Principia College.

During World War II, he served in France with the United States Army Signal Corps, ultimately becoming captain. After the war, Pike worked as chief of the translation section with the Military Government of Bavaria’s Munich War Crimes Branch. After a brief stint as a historian, the author took over as Monmouth College’s language department chair and also served as a professor. He retired in 1970. Robert E. Pike also worked for a while as a farmer, sheriff, lumberjack, and surveyor.

Pike pursued his writing activity while teaching. His early works include ‘Granite Laughter and Marble Tears’, ‘Contes Intimes’ (with Colbert Searles), and ‘Fighting Yankee’. In 1959 he self-published a book titled ‘Spiked Boots’, which retold legends of people who lived in the New England woods and along its rivers. The author received more acclaim for his work ‘Tall Trees, Tough Men’, a history of New England logging.

Achievements

• Robert E. Pike was an accomplished educator and author.
  
  His ‘Tall Trees and Tough Men’ is considered as one of the most reliable sources on the history of the New England logging industry.
  
  Another book by Pike, ‘Spiked Boots’ received a status of a classic in New England.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Granite laughter and marble tears

    (A collection of epitaphs from the old New England.)

    1938
  • Tall Trees, Tough Men

    (In this robust, informal book, Robert E. Pike tells the c...)

    1967
  • Fighting Yankee 1955
  • Spiked Boots 1959
  • Laughter and Tears 1971

Connections

Robert E. Pike was married three times. His late wife was a former model from France, Helene. She died in 1986.

Pike was a father of Helen-Chantal Pike and Harl Pike who became the Reverend.

late wife:

Helene Pike

Daughter:

Helen-Chantal Pike

Son:

Harl Pike