Bonnie Tinder Sexton

Bonnie Lee Tinder Sexton, 86, was born on September 13, 1940, and passed away on October 13 at the Grace Health and Rehabilitation Center in Standardsville, Virginia. She was preceded in death by her parents Karl Edgar Tinder and Phyllis Cole Tinder of Gordonsville.

Bonnie was fiercely independent and unafraid to share her viewpoints. She was a lover of cats, wildlife, and birds, and was an equestrian enthusiast. When she was able, she rode horses regularly and often traveled the state for the best birding experiences. She beamed when she gave you the details about the birds she had seen; when she talked about volunteering to help with raptors at the Wildlife Center of Virginia and when she served as a judge at a local horse show. She was also a skilled embroiderer who often gave her work in gratitude to friends. And she was over the moon when she owned her own home late in life.

She is survived by her first cousins: Suzanne Thompkins of Punta Gorda, Florida, Sandra Nelms of Richmond, David Cole or Richmond and Billy, John, and Rick Cole of Powhatan.

Memorial gifts may be made to the Wildlife Center of Virginia in Waynesboro or the National Audubon Society.

The family would like to thank the staff at Grace Health and Rehabilitation Center for their compassionate help during her stay and the special friends and neighbors who regularly stepped in to support Bonnie in her later years.

A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. on Monday, October 19, 2026, at Preddy Funeral Home in Gordonsville. Burial will follow at Maplewood cemetery. The family will receive friends from 10 to 11 prior to the service.