I think it was quite obvious that when she died she was a nobody. Her death was only glossed over in the article. Had she vanished (unless it was in front of somebody but the same could be said for the others) people wouldn't have fretted over it because, a lot of people disappear every day and nobody cares, especially in the middle of the chaos of the pre-wwII economic crisis. So I still think that taking Edith to the future was the way to go after all Gillian Taylor did just that and the federation didn't disappear as a result.