Ivan “Buster” Sexton left this world to be with the Lord on November 5, 2017 at the age of 84. He was born on March 21, 1933 on a flat rock in Wayne County, KY to Litha and Alvin Sexton. The family moved to Ohio when Ivan started elementary school in South Amherst. He worked several jobs and helped support his parents and 2 brothers even as he was finishing high school, graduating in 1953.
He joined the US Army during the Korean War, serving in radio communications in Okinawa, Japan until 1955. Ivan, nicknamed “Buster” by his family and friends, returned to Ohio after his military service to marry Annetta Smith in December 1956. Upon starting his own family, he began work at the Ford Assembly Plant in Lorain. He moved his wife and 3 children to Vermilion, Ohio in 1964 to the home they would share for 30 years.
Buster’s lifelong passion was hunting for antique treasures. In the 1960’s he began collecting antique bottles and canning jars. He became a member of several Ohio bottle collector clubs, displaying his collections throughout the state. His collecting hobby gradually expanded to various other vintage items, including civil war paraphernalia, coins, hand tools, and arrowheads. He loved finding the unusual, neglected, and odd vintage item among flea market and yard sale trinkets. Known throughout northern Ohio and central Kentucky as the “original American Picker,” Buster shared his experience and knowledge with everyone. He led many other men down the path of treasure hunting, often to their wives’ dismay.
Ivan retired from Ford after 34 years, in 1992, and returned to his Kentucky roots to pursue his collecting hobby in earnest. He was an involved member of Liberty Baptist Church in Brontson, KY, participating in many local and international mission trips. He also loved helping the underprivileged and elderly throughout his own community. Buster loved to travel on road trips and often visited his children and grandchildren. In 2013 he moved to Athens, AL to be closer to his daughters and their families. Ivan enjoyed working in his garden and flower beds around his new home as well as exploring his new state, still searching for antiques and oddities. Never meeting a stranger, he easily made many friends in his new community who enjoyed listening to his life stories and adventures. Many of his new friends expressed how he blessed their lives in such a short time.
Ivan is survived by his son Gerald Sexton (Cleveland Heights, OH), daughter Judy Sexton (Athens, AL), and daughter and son-in-law Janet and Robert Reville (Huntsville, AL.) He had three grandchildren: Rochelle Sexton (husband Cory Ellis, Madison, AL), Marilyn Sexton (Cleveland Heights, OH), and Ivan Sexton (Cleveland Heights, OH). He was also blessed with one great grandson, Hudsyn Sexton (Madison, AL). His ex-wife and the mother of his children, Annetta Sexton, lives in Somerset, KY. No formal memorial service will be held and he will be buried in his family cemetery in Wayne County, KY. His family requests expressions of sympathy be made by supporting your local flea markets and yard sales.
