Hildegarde “Hildy” Herold Sexton, 90, of Vero Beach, passed away at VNA Hospice of Vero Beach on Feb. 5, 2016, with her family at her side.
She was born July 7, 1925 in Manhattan, N.Y. to Classic Cartoonist, Don Herold and Katherine Porter Brown Herold. She was recognized as a child prodigy artist by professor and mentor, Rudolph Arnheim, with whom she studied at Sarah Lawrence College in New York.
She had an early drawing reproduced in Arnheim’s renowned first edition volume, “Art and Visual Perception.” She later attended Brevard Community college and Rollins College where she earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology. She was widowed at 21 when her high school sweetheart and husband, William Barrett, died in a Naval aviation accident during a training exercise over Montauk Point in 1945.
She came to Vero Beach with her father who was contracted by his college roommate at Indiana University, Waldo Sexton, to create a national advertising campaign for his tourist attraction, McKee Jungle Gardens.
She was married to Ralph Sexton for 20 years and leaves behind four children, her son, Sean Edward Sexton (Sharon), daughters Katherine Sexton McCall (Kevin), Jennifer Sexton Scent (Clyde), and Hilary Sexton Kloska (Robert) along with nine grandchildren and 15 great-grand grandchildren.
Sexton was predeceased by her only sibling, Doris Herold Lund of Rowayton Conn. She spent 20 years in Merritt Island, Fla., and later returned to Vero Beach to be with her family.
She spent many years developing and implementing art therapy programs for both youth and the elderly. She worked with Millie Bunnell, partnering in early Art Therapy sessions and later with Rita Dion, of Indian River Volunteer Youth Guidance, as well as with Alzheimer’s patients in local facilities. She wrote and published a seminal instruction book on this subject: “Art with the Elderly” that is still in use today.
She spent her final months at Horizon Bay of Vero Beach where she made many friends and participated in art classes there.
A celebration of her life will be held at New Hope Ministries at 4425 71st Street, Vero Beach, FL on Saturday, Feb. 20, at 2 p.m. followed by a reception.
In lieu of flowers, donations are requested for VNA Hospice of Vero Beach and Indian River Volunteer Youth Guidance in Hildy’s memory.
Arrangements are under the direction of Strunk Funeral Home and Crematory, Vero Beach.
