Garland native bestowed honor

Garland native Dr. Johnnie Sexton has been awarded the highest civilian honor that can be given in North Carolina — the Order of the Long Leaf Pine.

A press release from The CARE Project stated that the award is given to “recognize lifetime achievements of community service,” and that Sexton was given the award based on his service to the North Carolina Board of Examiners for Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists between the late 1980s and early 1990s, his work on special committees for the board and his creation of The CARE Project.

“I feel like Johnnie is very deserving of this award,” Lara Pike, the director of The CARE Project, said when asked about Sexton receiving this award. “Working with him at The CARE Project and the passion and care that he has for families with children who are deaf and hard of hearing, and truly all families, is just like nothing I’ve ever seen before.

“When [Sexton] is passionate about something, he just makes things happen,” Pike added. “And he just cares so much about families being connected and children having adequate services. So, I just think he is so deserving of this award.”

Sexton said it was humbling to be honored in this way.

“It’s overwhelming,” Sexton added. “I’ve spent a life in service to others. I was raised by parents who are that way. I get up every day and do all that I can for people, primarily kids and families. I don’t think about awards, so when this came about it was…it was very overwhelming … very humbling to be honored in such a way by the governor.”

He went on to say that he is still trying to wrap his mind around being named a recipient.

Most of the time, when people are awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, they don’t know that it’s happening, but Sexton admitted he had found out early because they had to verify his employment.

“It’s a little bit comical, because usually someone who is selected doesn’t know, and it is a surprise, and there is a celebration planned and a party, and you get there and be surprised,” Sexton explained. “The difference here is that I’ve been self-employed for 40 years and a part of the process, as I understand it, is to verify employment. And I’m the only one who can verify my employment.”

He continued by saying that the state board that nominated him had reached out not only to verify his employment, but to share pieces of information with them that no one could answer but him.

Then, on May 15, the governor signed the award, and the next day Sexton was given the notification by the board office.

“I’ve worked almost 50 years now, and hopefully the work I’ve done has helped many people,” Sexton said.

It is work that started right here in Sampson County.

Sexton said when he got into East Carolina University, he didn’t know much more than he was “very interested in working with people,” but after taking a communication sciences and disorders class his interest became “more defined.”

It was only after his internship the next semester that he was able to find his future path.

“I volunteered the next semester to do an internship in a preschool class for deaf kids, and I fell in love with working with those kids and those families. And it kind of set the path moving forward,” Sexton recalled.

Once he finished his undergraduate degree, Sexton came back to Sampson County and started working for Sampson County Schools as a speech therapist.

“I returned to Sampson County and got a job as a speech therapist in the Sampson County Schools, and that really cemented my love for working in the schools,” Sexton said.

Sexton then went on to graduate school to become an audiologist before returning to work with public schools.

“I went back to graduate school and became an audiologist and returned to the public schools, and in some form or fashion I’ve always been involved with school services,” Sexton said.

And then, in 1999, Sexton was asked to work on a team in Raleigh to establish a program that would help all babies born in North Carolina have their hearing checked at birth.

“Around 1999, the state legislature passed a requirement that all babies born in our state get their hearing checked at birth,” Sexton explained. “And I was fortunate to be invited to be the audiologist to come to Raleigh and work on that team to establish that program.”

And working with the school systems and projects like this is what eventually led Sexton to creating The CARE Project.

“After working with families and kids with hearing loss for, I’d say, 30 years, I was moved by many of the stories parents told me of feeling alone sometimes on their emotional journeys. That they may not have good connections or networks, they may not get a lot of emotional support from professionals who provide services for them,” Sexton explained. “And so, about 15-years ago or so, I decided I wanted to do something about that. So, I created The CARE Project, which is a non-profit to provide emotional opportunities for families to come together.”

Sexton said The CARE Project also works as a way to allow professionals to meet parents of deaf/hard of hearing children and help them communicate better.

“I have a conference every year now for professionals to come together with those parents and to share and understand each other, how to communicate better with each other so that everybody is on the same page and feels that they have a say-so in the child’s future,” Sexton said.

Sexton also has a private practice in place that specializes in school services.

“My practice, which specializes in school services, continues to grow so I will continue to lead that effort,” Sexton said. “My motto has always been to take services to children where they live. We continue to get calls from public schools, private schools and charter schools around the state of North Carolina, and so we’ll just keep growing and expanding.”

The Order of the Long Leaf Pine award was started in 1961. The CARE Project’s press release named Billy Graham, Michael Jordan, Dean Smith, Bob Timberlake and Andy Griffith as previous recipients of the award.

A formal presentation of the award will be happening at The CARE Project’s ’80s themed Gala on Sept. 21.