Bob Sexton

It’s been about 45 years since Bob Sexton walked the halls of Hermiston High School. However, Saturday he will walk across the stage with 270 other graduates and receive his diploma.

The Vancouver, Wash., man always stressed to his children and grandchildren the importance of a high-school education and decided it was time to do more than talk the talk.

“It took me long enough to get it, but I’m going to be getting it,” he said.

Sexton’s wife, Karen, said he talked about it around New Year’s and it just came “out of the blue.”

“One day we were sitting at the table and he said, ‘I want to get my high school diploma’,” Karen recalled. “I asked him, ‘Why’ and he said, ‘It’s something I haven’t finished and I have grandkids starting high school and I need to be the example for them.’ “

After dropping out of school in early ’60s because of academic struggles and an unstable home life, Sexton bounced around from foster home to foster home as a child. He eventually joined the U.S. Army and shipped off for two tours of duty in Vietnam. He was honorably discharged after nearly a decade of military service.

Thanks to the blessing of Gov. Ted Kulongoski and the Hermiston School District, Superintendent Fred Maiocco will hand Sexton his diploma – military man to military man.

Maiocco, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, views it a privilege to hand Sexton his diploma.

“Hermiston is honored to confer the Hermiston High School diploma to Mr. Bob Sexton,” Maiocco said. “Mr. Sexton’s honorable military service during Vietnam is in keeping with the finest traditions of public service and commitment to our nation.”

The Hermiston staff will don full academic regalia for the graduation ceremony, however Maiocco will shed his to reveal his full military regalia when he awards Sexton his diploma.

When Sexton left Hermiston, he headed to California to work in his sister’s restaurant. He returned to Oregon and received a forestry certificate from Wolf Creek Job Corps, but before he could put those skills to use, he was called to military service.

Sexton operated a ham radio, searched for mines and re-discovered his culinary talents, becoming a specialty cook while serving in the Army. At the time of his honorable discharge he was a specialist fifth class.

After that, Sexton continued working in the kitchen.

“I’ve done a little of everything,” he said. “I’ve baked, I’ve cooked, I’ve butchered and I’ve supervised.”

He furthered his culinary abilities with Victor Chavez of the Cordon Bleu Culinary Institute.

Sexton cooked in family and fine-dining restaurants, catering businesses and at the Oregon State Penitentiary.

“I went in and kept cooking and did that almost the whole entire time,” he said.

He traded in his wire whisks and kitchen knives when he married Karen 18 years ago. Together they worked with property management companies from Klamath Falls to Anacortes, Wash.

“We bounced around some apartments,” he said. “We’d switch companies because my wife got bored.”

However, his time in Vietnam resulted in Agent Orange exposure and that, along with diabetes has resulted in 100 percent disability.

Sexton now enjoys spending time with Charlie, his Italian greyhound, and doing odd jobs at home.

“We’re just kind of working around the house. My wife keeps me busy – it takes a little bit of time to get things done, but we get them done eventually,” he said.

Karen is very proud of her husband’s accomplishment.

“Eighteen years ago I stood in church and vowed in front of God, family and friends to love, honor and cherish the man about to become my husband,” Karen said. “That was easy – I was marrying my best friend.”

Sexton previously received a forestry degree from Southwestern Oregon Community College in North Bend.

“I guess you could say I got my college degree before I got my high school diploma,” he said with a laugh.

Karen said the road they’ve traveled has had some unexpected turns, but they’ve traveled the road together. And today that road leads to Hermiston.

“Bob is now, and will always be my best friend,” she said.

And on Saturday, she’ll celebrate the high school graduation of her best friend.

“I think it’s fantastic,” Karen said. “I wouldn’t miss it. We’re making it a celebratory weekend.”