Sybil Wilmoth Hindes Hearn of Williston and Mile Point, Vt., died on October 24, 2026, in the comfort of her residence in Memory Care at Allen Brook following an extended challenge with dementia. She was born on April 5, 1944, in Cleburne, Texas, to Vesta Shultz Hindes and Major James Gordon Hindes. Her mother was a girl from the red-dirt plains of West Texas, and her father was a deeply rooted New Englander raised near Boston. Sybil was an amalgam of the two, equally comfortable in the wide open spaces out yonder and the lake and hills of her homeland.
Sybil was determined. Shortly after graduating from high school she became a credentialled medical laboratory technician through tutoring at the bench, never stepping foot in a classroom. By her late forties she had found and cherished the classroom — but she had become more interested in studying thought, behavior and writing than analyzing blood cells and chemistry. In 1994 her proud family celebrated her graduation from Vermont College.
She brought lightheartedness, collegiality and professionalism to her work, initially for 23 years in the laboratory at the Medical Center Hospital of Vermont. Then, after taking a leave to care for her ill mother, she welcomed her call to a second career with hospice. Sybil was a house manager then operations manager at Vermont Respite House for the first 17 years following its opening.
Her son, Eric Durett, centered her life; she was so proud to be his mom. Sybil’s siblings cherished their big sister. She is survived by them — Churchill Hindes (Marilyn), Teresa Didehbani (Jahangir, deceased) and Christopher Hindes (Claire) — and their children and grandchildren.
Sybil’s spouse, Richard Hearn, predeceased her in 2025, also from dementia. Her mother passed in 1990 and father in 1973.
Before last year’s move to Williston, she was a longtime resident of Burlington and South Burlington. She and Dick split their retirement years between Vermont and Sarasota. As a postwar GI’s daughter, she had nine home addresses before finishing high school. She felt blessed to have lived her adult life within a single extended community.
Sybil loved life and family, laughter and dance, beauty read and beauty seen. She loved being a red-dirt Vermonter, her family camp at Mile Point, the Florida sun and shore, and travels to faraway places. She wrote beautifully. She was deeply committed to hospice and end-of-life care.
Disposition of her ashes and a memorial gathering will be at a later time and place to be determined by her family.
Sybil’s family is indebted to the skilled and caring staff at Memory Care at Allen Brook, Cathedral Square Assisted Living, and the University of Vermont Home Health & Hospice.
Her arrangements are through Ready Funeral Home.