Edmund Froude

Edmund J. Froude, age 93, of Wayne, passed away on Sunday, July 31, 2022, while in the loving and caring support of his family.

Ed was eldest child of Edmund W. and Muriel (Watson) Froude. He was born in Jersey City and raised there in the family’s home at 167 Virginia Ave. Soon after graduating from Snyder High School in Jersey City. Ed went to work for Otis Elevator, a job he was able to obtain thanks to some prior electrical knowledge coupled with a good word put in by his Uncle Al to help him land the job.  It wasn’t too long after being hired that Uncle Sam called Ed’s number. Answering that call, Ed, bravely, yet humbly served in the U.S. Army in South Korea as a radar technician in the radar tower just a mile from the front lines during the Korean Conflict. For his service to his country, Ed was awarded the Korean Service Medal with One Bronze Service Star, and the United Nations Service Medal. A funny thing happened while Ed was away. Just prior to being drafted, he had purchased a brand-new Studebaker. Forced to leave it behind while training in Texas, Ed caught wind that his brother Donald was driving his car in his absence. This did not please Ed so he had his dad drive the car all the way to Texas so that his brother couldn’t drive it anymore. After his honorable discharge from military service in 1953, Ed returned to civilian life. The morning after setting his feet back on American soil, he returned to his job at Otis Elevator.    

Ed had the good fortune of meeting his wife L. Carmen Ouimet through one of her classmates in nursing school who happened to be married to Ed’s brother Donald. His first date was set up by that classmate and it took place at a dinner dance in commemoration of the Jersey City Medical Center’s fiftieth anniversary. As Ed explained, “we danced a lot that night!” Ed and Carmen ended up dating for about a year at which time Carmen decided it was time for marriage. After a trip with a family heirloom diamond to a local Jersey City jeweler to have the diamond set in a ring, Ed and Carmen set a date and exchanged their wedding vows before God, family and friends on Saturday, June 27, 1959 at St. Peter and Paul R.C. Church in Jersey City. They celebrated with a reception at a Journal Square hotel before setting off for a honeymoon in Bermuda.

Ed and Carmen’s first home as newlyweds was an apartment in Jersey City. They stayed there for a very short time while awaiting completion of a brand-new home being constructed in a recent development of the then-sleepy town called Wayne. They moved into that new house the same year they married and called it “home sweet home” throughout the rest of their lives. Ed and Carmen were blessed with five beautiful children and, while they were growing up, Carmen poured herself into their care while Ed commuted into Manhattan every day to work that job as an elevator mechanic for Otis Elevator. His career with Otis spanned almost forty years until retirement in 1992. The final twenty-eight years were spent working exclusively as an in-house elevator mechanic at the New York Hilton Hotel in Manhattan.

A couple years after Ed’s retirement, Carmen retired too, affording the blessing of more time together. Throughout their lives Ed and Carmen enjoyed trips to Ireland, Spain, and Italy and four times a year, they would trek north to Canada to visit some or all of Carmen’s 56 first cousins. They enjoyed sampling fine local wines from wherever their journeys would take them. When their grandchildren were available, Ed and Carmen loved to have them join them on their traveling adventures. Since they especially loved their experience in Ireland, they chose to go again, sharing the trip with their grandchildren. They were also welcomed to join Grandpa and Grandma on vacations to Ocean City Maryland and to Cape Cod Massachusetts.

As a young man, Ed enjoyed his cars. There was the formerly mentioned Studebaker which was followed in 1964 by a fresh-off-the-assembly-line black Ford convertible with red leather interior. It was a very sharp car and Ed had a lot of fun with it but, since he commuted to work by bus, he and Carmen only ever had need of one car to share during their entire marriage! When child number three came along, the cool convertible had to go and was replaced by a station wagon. Ed’s other hobbies included swimming and conducting genealogical studies. As children, Ed and his younger siblings, Muriel and Don would spend large portions of their summers hosted by their Uncle Al and Aunt Vera at their house in Glen Wild Lake in Bloomingdale. The kids enjoyed swimming, canoeing, ice skating and other aquatic activities. As a boy, Ed had his own canoe at the lake which be dubbed “The Black Stealth” because he liked to sneak up on his brother while canoeing in the dark. Ed loved Glen Wild Lake so much that one time he rode his bicycle all the way from Jersey City to get there. Ed took a real liking to swimming. It became a lifetime love and he swam on his high school’s swim team at the People’s Palace in Jersey City and later at the YWCA and town pool well into his late eighties. Ed was conducting genealogical research on his family way before the advent of the internet and Ancestry.com. He would often physically visit cemeteries and town health departments requesting birth, marriage and death certificates to help put the pieces of his research together. He really caught the research bug and, while discovering the Froude family ancestry all the way back to the sixteenth century, he’d often come home exclaiming with wide-eyed wonder, “I was blown away by what I found out today!”

Next to his greatest love for his family, Ed was devoted to his faith in God. When he and Carmen moved to Wayne in 1959, they soon became charter parishioners of the new parish in town – Our Lady of the Valley Roman Catholic Church of Wayne.

Ed should be remembered as a great husband, father, provider, brother, grandfather and uncle. He was a true gentleman in every sense of the word.

While Ed’s family acknowledges the sadness they feel, they are grateful of Ed’s life, love, and positive influence, and for the fact that he’s now reunited with his beloved Carmen.    

Ed was the beloved husband of Carmen (nee Ouimet), blessed in marriage for 60 years until her passing in 2020. He was the most loving father of: Aimee Zschack and husband Mark of Franklin, Edmund Froude and wife Susan of Milton, DE, Roger Froude of Malta, NY, Keith Froude and wife Lisa of Oxford, PA, and Suzanne Froude of Wayne: cherished grandfather of: Jessica MacLeod and husband Sean of Vernon, William Zschack and wife Amy of Newton, Edmund Froude and wife Lauren of Hamburg, Keith Froude of Oxford, PA, Julia Cordaro of Wayne, and Christopher Cordaro of Wayne; cherished step-grandfather of Amanda Clohessey and Andrew Clohessey; adoring great-grandfather of: Maggie MacLeod, Connor MacLeod, Charlie Zschack, Danny Zschack, and Lilliana Froude; dear brother of the late Donald Froude, and Muriel Murphy and her late husband Arthur of Shrewsbury. Uncle to numerous nieces and nephews.

In celebration of Ed’s life, friends may visit with the family on Wednesday, August 3, 2022 from 4-8 PM at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne.

In lieu of flowers, those planning an expression of sympathy in Edmund’s name are asked to consider: Wounded Warrior Project.

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To download and print a mailable form, CLICK HERE