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Geraldine I. Grout Dies at 84

Geraldine I. Grout

Geraldine Isabel (Hale) Grout, Ph.D., of South Lancaster, Massachusetts, died on Thursday February 21, 2008, in the Clinton Hospital in Clinton, Massachusetts. She was 84. Affectionately known to her family as “Jay,” she was the wife of John M. Grout for 50 years. She, along with her husband, actively served the South Lancaster Village Church of Seventh-day Adventists as loving and loyal members. She was the church historian, founder of the Adventist Heritage Center, and communication director.

Geraldine was born to Ashley and Lula Hale on June 16, 1923, and grew up in a loving Seventh-day Adventist home in West Groton, Massachusetts. She was the youngest of three girls—Marjory, Thelma, and Geraldine. She graduated from Groton High School in 1941. At Boston University, she earned her undergraduate degree and then her master’s in education in 1950. She earned her doctorate in business education from the University of Indiana in 1960. She married John Grout on Easter Sunday, April 21, 1957.

Geraldine began her career as a teacher at Troy High School in Troy, New Hampshire, in 1947, where she organized the business department. In 1949 she continued her teaching career at South Lancaster Academy where she was also women’s dean. She was at Columbia Union College for three years where she was associate professor of business education and department head. She went on to teach secretarial science at Atlantic Union College in South Lancaster, Massachusetts. She was a licensed nursing home administrator of the Hale Convalescent and Nursing Home in West Groton, Massachusetts, for several years. She also worked as a secretary in the E. E. Miles Bindery and for the Atlantic Union Conference youth and communication departments. It was after 22 years and 396 issues of the Atlantic Union Gleaner, that Geraldine retired in 1996 ending her long career of service as an employee of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

She held professional membership in the following organizations: National Business Education Association; National Registry of Medical Secretaries; American Association of University Professors; American Academy of Medical Administrators Fellow; American College of Nursing Home Administrators Fellow; Intercontinental Biographical Association Fellow; Pi Omega Pi and Delta Pi Epsilon, National Honorary Societies in Business Education.

An additional component of her accomplishments include being listed in Who’s Who in American Education; Who’s Who of American Women; The World Who’s Who of American Women; Who’s Who in the East; Dictionary of International Biography; Archives International Biography; International Registry of Who’s Who; Community Leaders and Noteworthy Americans, Bicentennial Edition; and The National Registry of Prominent Americans and International Notables.

A funeral service for Geraldine Grout was held on Tuesday, February 26, 2008, at the Badger Funeral Home, 45 School Street in Groton, Massachusetts.

Known for her devotion to her family and friends and to have a generous heart, Geraldine will be missed by her husband, John, her nieces and nephews, and other family members and friends.

A memorial service is being planned for April 26, 2008, at the South Lancaster Village Church of Seventh-day Adventists. Information will be shared as it is received.

Ednor A. P. Davison is the editor of the Atlantic Union Gleaner and assistant to the president for communication in the Atlantic Union Conference.