Chester Bernard Rideout

Chester Bernard Rideout, age 79, passed away at his home in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania on the morning of June 12, 2023, just after celebrating his 57th wedding anniversary, married to Eleanor Rideout, from a year long struggle with ALS, Lou Gehrig's Disease. Born in Long Branch, New Jersey on October 17, 1943, the 2nd son of four boys born to Vincent and Gertrude Rideout: Leo, Chester, Ray, and Darryl. As a boy he enjoyed learning about the natural world, esp. astronomy, constructing scientific apparatus’ with a small group of friends, later traveling to India for a year as his father was an electrical engineer who built computers there. He learned violin through the support of his mother and played in the University Orchestra, and sang in the school choir, leading him to play the mandolin and banjo in subsequent years. He graduated from Madison west HS in 1964. Moving with his family to Boulder, CO, he met his wife, Eleanor (Lynn) , then Skinner, and returned with her to the University of Wisconsin, Madison, graduating with a BA degree in biology. Pursuing his graduate degree in teaching science, he and his wife moved to Whitewater, Wisconsin and then began teaching high school in 1966 in Hillside, Illinois, at Proviso West High School. He and Eleanor then moved to Montana where he began studies for a doctorate in mountain goat ecology and earned his doctorate degree at the University of Kansas under the direction of Robert Hoffman. His first jobs are teaching at Indian University NWs and then in Fort Collins, Colorado, where he worked for 7 years as a computer salesman at Lewan and Associates. Wanting to return to teaching, he taught at Berthoud HS for 20 years. They had 2 children, Leenya Nell Rideout, now actress in NYC, married to Ted Koch, and Vale Lorne Rideout, tenor opera singer and father of 2 children, Abelyn and Oskar. While there, they went camping and hiking in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. There he formed a barbershop quartet, The Harmony Parts Dept, and sang competitively.

During this time, his son Vale lured him into biking so he and his friend, Piero Tassinari from Meldola, Italy made several biking journeys into the national parks of the west.

along the western coast, and in Italy and Austria. Also, at this time he was active in the construction and teaching students about the stars at the Little Thompson Observatory in Berthoud, CO… Upon retirement, he and his wife settled in Port Townsend, WA where he formed a music group of folk singers entertaining at farmers’ markets. Then in the 2014 they moved to the close to their children in PA to Milford, PA and East Stroudsburg, PA where he attended and sang in the choir at Stroudsburg United Methodist Church. There he enjoyed many biking excursions on the various bike trails of NY and PA. Soon after he succumbed to ALS. A memorial service will be held at the Church of the Good Shepherd, 110 Catherine, Milford, PA on July 8, 2023, at 1:30 pm. We will be praising God and singing to celebrate Chester’s life.