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Note: Named after her two aunts, Edna Edena Gray and Edith Leola Gray. Home in 1910 Somerville Ward 3, Middlesex, Massachusetts Home in 1930 Weymouth, Norfolk, Massachusetts Leola Home in 1940 Weymouth Town, Norfolk, Massachusetts Leola She grew up at 19 Greene St. Spring Hill, Somerville MA. Graduated from Somerville High School 15 Jun 1922. After her mothers death she was raised by her fathers sister, Mabel Strout who never married. Edena met Edward Rideout at Northeastern University where she was working in the schools office. They are both buried in Serenity Gardens, 13655 Wilcox Rd. Largo FL Garden of Resurrection, Abbey Unit 42E Deed 1542 A few of her descendents anticipated inheriting great wealth upon her death. But instead she left her money to the benefit of her disabled son. She loved this song and sang it often in the 1930s When I grow too old to dream I'll have you to remember When I grow too old to dream Your love will live in my heart So kiss me my sweet And so let us part And when I grow too old to dream That kiss will live in my heart When I grow too old to dream I'll have you to remember When I grow too old to dream Your love will live in my heart So kiss me my sweet And so let us part And when I grow too old to dream That kiss will live in my heart Headline: Edena Rideout, 87, a homemaker Publication Date: February 10, 1992 Source: Boston Herald Page: 040 Region: Boston Metro, Massachusetts Obituary: Edena L. (Strout) Rideout, a homemaker of Fallbrook, CA., died Thursday at her residence. She was 87. Born in Somerville, she was a resident of Chatham, Mass., and Seminole, FL., before residing in Fallbrook. Mrs. Rideout was a member of Chapel on the Hill in Seminole. She is survived by two sons, Arthur of Fallbrook and Carl of Massachusetts; seven grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild. A graveside service will be held today at Serenity Gardens, Largo, FL. Arrangements are by the Lewis W. Mohn Funeral Home, Seminole, FL See tombstone here http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=rideout&GSfn=edward&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=11&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=11680128&df=all& Notes of Herbert A Rideout In 1889 James A Strout, the Civil War veteran moved from Limington Maine to Somerville MA where he bought a home at 19 Greene St. I have been there it is a beautiful home representing the period and was once featured on the cover of a historical magazine of Somerville. When I was there taking pictures in 1983 the next door neighbor came out, a very elderly lady, she had lived there all her life and remembered the whole Strout family including my mother and her dad. James died in 1894 and the house passed to son Albert Arthur who had just given up the circus life and returned home. James wife Maria was still living and besides son Albert they had an unmarried daughter Mabel Alberta Strout 1855-1924 but being females they had no rights of inheritance. So Maria, Mabel and Albert were all living at the Greene Street address. At that time Albert was a letter carrier and met Florence Gray they married and then all four were living at Greene Street. My mother was born in 1904 followed in 1905 by sister Helen who died a year later in 1906, three months later Florence died. Albert's sister Mabel raised my mother. Mother went to the local schools and graduated from Somerville High School, I have her year book. She then worked as a secretary at North Eastern University where my dad was going to school majoring in chemistry. In later years I also went to North Eastern and hated it. It was a cold dark not very cheerful campus. My dad always amazed me even into his 80s he could name every element and relate the valence of every atom as he had learned it 60 years earlier. I had also memorized the periodic table when I was in school but it did not take me long to forget the whole thing. My dad also memorized every part number on the model T Ford when he began work at the Ford Motor Company in Somerville in 1927. His memory is what propelled him quickly into the ranks of management. For most of his years at Ford Motor he was Assistant Traffic Manager, after 30 years when his boss retired he expected to be promoted but by that time he was considered to old then in just a few years the plant closed down and he retired. I asked him once how come Ford along with all the other auto companies made such unreliable vehicles and he told me an interesting story. Before WW II in the 1930s the automobile companies were competing with the very reliable horse and wagon. It was tough because for example milk men had their horses trained so they automatically stopped at the right house and with farmers the horses always knew where to stop in the fields as hay was loaded. So the automobiles of the 20s & 30s had to be perfect in every way, nothing was ever shipped out that had not been tested and retested, everything worked flawlessly. After WW II they could not meet the demand. Every GI came home and the first thing he wanted was a new car. The Somerville plant that had made small tanks during the war was converted to automobiles almost overnight. They worked around the clock. Demand was so great they abandoned all quality control and working or not automobiles were shipped to dealers. This is where the word "Dealer Prep" came in. Dealers were expected to fix anything wrong and when you bought a car the dealer would tell you to make a list of anything wrong then bring it back and they would fix it. This changed a bit when German and Japanese autos entered the market and were completely free of defects. I purchased my first brand new Ford in 1959 and forever after have owned nothing but foreign made automobiles. My dads job consisted of getting the right parts to the production line at the right time, he often spent weekends at home all day on the telephone talking with Detroit which at that time was a big deal because you had to go through several operators to make such a call. He also influenced which automobiles where shipped to which dealers so all the Ford dealers were especially nice to him with gifts and even free automobiles each year. (H A Rideout)
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