Robert Kent Diebold

ORONO - Robert K. Diebold, 77, died Nov. 14, 2011, at a Bangor hospital after a brief illness. He was born April 14, 1934, the son of Victor and Leona (Bertrand) Diebold of St. Louis. Bob attended St. Louis University High School and St. Louis University, both Jesuit schools. He served in the U.S. Army from 1956 to 1958, mostly in Virginia. He went directly from the Army to Yale Graduate School, studying English and American literature. His first teaching job was at Carleton College in Minnesota from 1962 to 1969, with a year off to return to Yale. From there he went to Talladega College in Alabama, where he obtained a United Negro College Fund grant in 1971 and wrote his dissertation in 1971-1972 on Mary Rowlandson's "Captivity Narrative," receiving his doctorate in 1972, when he was made division chairman. From Talladega he went in 1979 to Husson College, Bangor, where again he was division chairman. From there he went to a weekly newspaper in Old Town, where he received 47 Maine Press Association awards. He was named Maine Journalist of the Year in 1992 and given a Maine Library Association Journalism Award in 1999. He was recognized by the Maine Legislature when he retired in 1999. In 2009, he was named to the Maine Press Association's Hall of Fame. He is survived by three sons, Stephen of Santa Rosa, Calif., Thomas of Cape Elizabeth, and Benjamin and his wife, Christine, of Madison, Conn.; his former wife, Christina of Bangor; his granddaughter, Clarice; his sister, Suzanne Grana and her husband, John, and their children, John, Denise, and Jeffrey. A Mass of Christian burial will be held 10 a.m. Friday, Nov. 18, at Holy Family Church, 429 Main St., Old Town. Interment will be at St. Joseph's Cemetery, Old Town. Afterward, all are invited to a light luncheon at the parish hall. Notes of condolences may be left at www.birminghamfuneralhome.com.