LIVING HISTORY
26
VERO AT 100
>>
SEXTON COLLECTION, ARCHIVE CENTER, IRC MAIN LIBRARY
To honor its most loved citizen, Vero Beach declared Nov. 5, 1958, as Waldo Sexton Day, which featured marching bands and a parade with various
:e_tonthemed Åoats, the dedication of :e_ton 7laaa and a IarIecue for , A Wroclamation thanRed the ¸stemwinding, sWellIinding, ideahatching,
miracle-working, money-making mogul’’ for devoting his “brain brawn and brass to the community of his choice’’ and for creating “gardens out of jungles,
jungles out of deserts … fruits out of seeds, hotels out of driftwood and order out of chaos.’’
0arN 7ripson recalled that when
&rosby Lumber &ompany oͿ 2ld
'iie Highway in 9ero Beach was
being sold in , it turned out
that a :aldo corporation owned the
land beneath the building.
:hen 5alph Seton·s widow,
&hris, was cleaning out his oce
at 2slo 3acNinghouse after 5alph·s
death in , she discovered pages
of correspondence between :aldo
and the celebrated writer =ora
1eale Hurston from the Harlem 5enaissance
as well as an unpublished
manuscript by Hurston.
Seton and Hurston had strucN
up a friendship through their mutual
friend, writer 0arMorie .innan
5awlings.
0ost recently, in September,
photographer and amateur historian
-im :ilson acTuired a sNetch
booN of :aldo·s sold at an auction
years ago that contains rudimentary
sNetches thought to be related to the
Sechuan 3alace, :aldo·s 0ountain
and the 'riftwood.
'espite :aldo·s vision for grandiose
ideas, he had trouble eecuting
because of limited drawing sNills.
2ften, landscape artist A.E. BacNus
would worN with him to develop
sNetches for his various proMects, and
:aldo would use them instead of
architectural drawings, according to
a interview with BacNus.
WALDO’S STRUGGLE
'espite all his accomplishments,
:aldo suͿered from mental illness
that manifested itself during the
development of 0c.ee -ungle *ardens
in the s.
´He would get depressed, but
it was always over money,·· said
grandson 0arN 7ripson. ´7hey
opened 0c.ee -ungle *ardens
and the >*reat@ 'epression started,
so how are you going to pay for
it now" :hen that opened it sent
him into a downward spiral, and he
liNed to drinN.µ
He was eventually diagnosed
with manic depression, now Nnown
SEXTON COLLECTION, ARCHIVE CENTER, IRC MAIN LIBRARY
Elsebeth and Waldo Sexton sit at the reviewing stand on
Waldo Sexton day in 1958.