About the website…

Here is where I’m keeping my stuff.  I will begin with old material that has been on RogerStraw.com for awhile.  Then I’ll add new material, mostly  relating to my Family Tree.

Just a bit about me…

I was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA in 1948, a middle child of 5. I graduated from South High School in Grand Rapids in 1966, then Michigan State University in 1970, with a B.A. in philosophy.

After college, I went to the Chicago Theological Seminary where I met Mary Susan.  We married, raised a little hell (no, I’m not talking about our daughter – she came later), graduated and were ordained to serve in the United Church of Christ in 1975.

I served in campus ministry and local church ministry, helped start a new church, and served as a teacher’s aide in an Indianapolis elementary school for a few years.  In California I served as an interim at the Redwood City UCC, and for 8 years as the minister of the Benicia Community Congregational UCC.

I retired from active ministry in 2005 and turned to local political activism, helping elect Mayor Elizabeth Patterson three times (2007-present), Councilmember Steve Young (2016), and Solano County Supervisor Linda Seifert (2008). I taught myself to design and maintain websites, and helped organize on local issues with my online blog, The Benicia Independent. I played a major role during 2014-2016 in successfully organizing to defeat our local refinery’s proposal to bring in crude oil on trains – see Crude By Rail Archive.