Born in 1864 in Maquoketa, Iowa, Grace Belden Wilbur married George Trout and moved with him to Oak Park in 1903. They had four sons, one of whom died in childhood, and they took in Grace's orphaned nephew, who became like a son to them. Two of the sons and the nephew attended Oak Park and River Forest High School.

Mrs. Trout had a dynamic personality and quickly became active in the community, joining the Nineteenth Century Woman's Club, the DAR, the West End Woman's Club, and the Women's Auxiliary of the Oak Park Club. She was also a member of the Chicago Political Equity League (CPEL) and the Chicago Woman's Club.

Mrs. Trout lived in Oak Park from about 1903 to 1921.

In 1921, the Trouts moved to Florida where Grace continued her activism. She served on the Jacksonville, Florida, city planning advisory board for 14 years and was honored as "the most public-spirited citizen" by the American Legion.

She died on October 21, 1955, at the age of 91. Lauded as "the supreme ideal of cultivated womanliness," Grace Wilbur Trout was a wife, mother, activist, orator, organizer, and politician. It is no wonder she earned the name, "The Woman Who Never Fails."