St. Olaf College | St. Olaf Alumni

Sylvia Mikelson Textor ’47

Sylvia Mikelson Textor, of Palm Desert, Calif., died of complications from Alzheimer’s disease on July 20, 2014. She was 89 years old. Sylvia was born in 1925 to Selmer and Mabel Mikelson in Clarkfield, Minn. Music was her talent, singing and playing trumpet throughout her years in Clarkfield and continuing on to St. Olaf College, where she sang and toured with the famous St. Olaf Choir under F. Melius Christiansen. In the spring of 1946 at St. Olaf, Sylvia joined a vocal quintet called the Honey Dreamers, formed on campus by fellow students. Upon graduation, the group turned professional, singing for radio and television shows and performing at nightclubs in Chicago. In 1949, she married Keith Textor ’43, leader of the Honey Dreamers, and soon moved with the group to New York. Sylvia and Keith went on to become a featured duo on the Fred Waring Pennsylvanians television show that was broadcast nationally on Sunday nights. They proceeded to join the Sid Caesar/Imogene Coca “Your Show of Shows” and later, with friends, formed Scott-Textor Productions, applying their talents to television and radio commercials, TV shows, and record albums for the next 30 years. In 1986, Sylvia and Keith retired to Palm Desert, Calif. Sylvia is survived by her husband; two children, Thomas Textor ’74 and Terry Textor Platz ’77; and three grandchildren, Samuel Schrader, Jacob Textor, and Willem Platz. She was preceded in death by siblings, Lester Mikelson ’33 and Eunice Mikelson McKibben ’45, and siblings-in-law, including Doris Fevold Mikelson ’42 and Robert McKibben ’47. Sylvia will be sorely missed by family and friends.