They later served as house parents at The Cambridge School of Weston while Hildt earned her degree from the Massachusetts College of Art.

[2] In 1983, in her first run for public office, Hildt defeated six men to win the Democratic nomination for the 1st Essex District seat in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

[4] An antinuclear activist, Hildt opposed construction of the Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant, which was located three miles north of Amesbury.

[11] She instead decided to challenge Nicholas Mavroules, the Democratic incumbent representative from Massachusetts's 6th congressional district, who was under federal investigation.

[13] After Mavroules' defeat in the general election, Hildt planned on challenging his Republican successor, Peter G. Torkildsen.

[14] Following her defeat in the 1992 election, Hildt designed violence prevention programs for the Medical Foundation and was a public policy fellow at Radcliffe College's Bunting Institute.