Holbert Leon Rideout

Holbert Leon Rideout, 82, passed away Tuesday, January 30, 2007 in Abilene. Funeral services will be at 11:00 am on Friday, February 2, at University Church of Christ, with Dr. Eddie Sharp officiating. Burial will follow in the Buffalo Gap Cemetery. The family will receive friends during a visitation from 5:00 to 7:00 pm on Thursday at The Hamil Family Funeral Home, 6449 Buffalo Gap Road. Holbert was born on March 10, 1924 in Nowata, Oklahoma to Guy and Lula Rideout. He graduated from Saint Louis, Oklahoma High School in 1942 and then Freed Hardeman College 1944. August 15, 1944, Holbert married Stella Nola Haun in Hamlin, West Virginia. In 1946, Holbert graduated from Southwestern Institute of Technology in Weatherford, Oklahoma and completed a Master of Arts from West Virginia University in 1950 and a Master of Science from Abilene Christian College in 1956. Furthering his education, Holbert completed a doctorate in Christian Education in 1964 from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and then received a doctorate in Education in 1974. Holbert began his teaching career in a one-room schoolhouse in Taylor County, West Virginia, and by 1951 was teaching in Taylor County, Texas at ACU's Campus School. After four years in the Campus High School he began teaching Bible at Abilene Christian College and taught there for over 40 years. He retired from full-time teaching in May of 1990 and continuing part time until 1996. One of his main interests was religious education. He was instrumental in founding the Christian Education Association. Although a teacher by profession, Rideout was also a preacher. During the college years he preached for small congregations in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Texas. He continued to preach for a number of congregations in or near Abilene for several years, and also served as an elder at the Minter Lane congregation in Abilene for about thirty years. For the past ten years, Holbert and Stella have been members of University Church of Christ. Rideout also served a few years as an education director and was a co-editor of the Christian Bible Teacher magazine from 1962 to 1981 and did editorial work for Sweet Publishing Company for a number of years. Holbert's parents preceded him in death. He is survived by his wife, Stella of Abilene; four sons, Larry Rideout and his wife Gwen of Springfield, Missouri, Deryl Rideout and his wife Cathy of Mesquite, Texas, Teryl Rideout and his wife Dana of Cross Plains, Texas and Kent Rideout and his wife Merri Lynn of Abilene; two daughters, Janna Owen of Abilene and Nyla Davis and her husband Steve also of Abilene; one brother, Harold Rideout of Tulsa, Oklahoma; two sisters, Rose Ann Haun of Deer Park, Texas and Rita Gotcher of Phoenix, Arizona; 15 grandchildren and several great-grandchildren. Memorials may be made in memory of Dr. Rideout to the Holbert and Stella Rideout Religious Education Endowment Fund at Abilene Christian University.