Thomas and Margaret Sullivan

Thomas and Margaret Sullivan
Thomas and Margaret Sullivan, November 17, 1934

About Thomas Sullivan and Margaret Carmody

About Thomas A. Sullivan and Margaret M. Carmody

Thomas Aloysius Sullivan, the oldest child of Alexander Sullivan (1880-1956) and Ellen Madigan (1880-1966) was born in Chicago, Illinois on July 7, 1908. Less than two years later, on February 12, 1910, Margaret Mary Carmody, daughter of Patrick Joseph Carmody (c1878-1949) and Laura Agatha Agnes Desmond (1882-1964) was born. They both grew up on the west side of Chicago and married on Christmas Eve, 1929 at St. Mel Church. Their only son, Thomas Desmond Sullivan, was born in Chicago in 1930. Besides living in Illinois, Tom and Margaret also lived in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Margaret died on May 27, 1982. Tom remarried, eventually moving to Venice, Florida where he died on July 11, 1996. For information related to Thomas A. Sullivan prior to marriage go to the Sullivan/Madigan Genealogy Blog.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Tom's Retirement and Illinois Benedictine College

Excerpt from Thomas A. Sullivan's Memories, March 4, 1994.

Oak Brook and I. B. C.

"During my time in Washington [D.C.] in 1971, Margaret was investigating and decided on Oak Brook, IL, as the place to retire to.  We bought a villa in a community called Chambord and moved there.  I was named to the board of the Oak Brook Chamber of Commerce.

"I had an old friend who lived in Chambord and was chairman of The Board of Governors of Illinois Benedictine College.  He arranged for me to go on the President's staff as a consultant for industry contacts. The college had a doormat industrial training program and I was asked to take it over.  My masters degree from Marquette qualified me to be on the faculty to head up this activity.  We settled on a salary to be held in escrow for the grandchildren's tuition.  John and Bill graduated, Joe attended a couple of years and went to Marquette. The program was very successful for a few years.  It was an evening program tailored for industrial supervisors and carried two credit hours per subject.  However, the proliferation of M. B. A. programs and the lowering of standards began to attract our potential students to other programs.  Margaret died in 1972 and I saw the MBA competition's handwriting on the wall and resigned."

Friday, September 3, 2010

Tom and Margaret in Mexico, 1970

At the bottom of the typed letter from Margaret Sullivan, Helen McIntyre writes:

Tres Vidas
Margaret & Tom went to this very
Posh new place in Mexico in 1970
Margaret wrote and told us all
about it!

To read the letter, double click on the image.  When it opens in a separate window, you can click on the image one more time to increase it more.


Source: Helen McIntyre's Album "Clippings & Stuff - 2"

Monday, August 9, 2010

Tom Recounts his Work Years 1950 - 1971

Excerpt from Thomas A. Sullivan's Memories, March 4, 1994.

Milwaukee The First Time, A. O. Smith

"By 1950 I had joined A. O. Smith and eventually became a vice president and division manager.  Studying evenings, I got a masters degree in economics at Marquette by 1955.  We had a nice apartment on Lake Shore Drive [in Milwaukee].  Although much of Margaret's life was involved with her cousins (daughters of the Desmond girls0 she seemed to welcome the opportunity to break away and make new friends.  It was strange, she never complained about the entertaining she had to do in my various management jobs or travels, but upon retiring years later announced she had had it and was through entertaining for business and she meant it.  There wasn't much variety beyond A. O. S.  So not much to writ about this era.

Granite City

"In 1954 I became manager of a troubled automotive frame plant in Granite City, Illinois, across the river from St. Louis.  There had been lots of labor unrest there and I felt that the previous management had made a mistake living in St. Louis - and I decided to live in Granite City, a true blue-collar town, to stay close to the action.

"This assignment was a watershed in our lives.  Being manager of a plant employing several hundred people put me among the leaders of the community, on the board of directors of organizations like the Chamber of Commerce, United Fund, etc.  Margaret was sought after by womens' groups where her natural leadership ability became apparent.  Tommy was in the army.  This was a union town but the company didn't hook up with the local steelworkers when it came in, instead signing with the boilermakers.  We hired people from distressed towns miles away, and did other strange things to avoid being "sucked into the local union power structure."  As a result, when our boilermakers' leaders began to be unreasonable neither the local managers nor union leaders were helpful.  How it was resolved is another story, but the plant became profitable and I was promoted back to Milwaukee in 1960.  Unfortunately, I'm convinced this location was the cause of Margaret's cancer.  While we couldn't see anything, we were downwind of a coke plant and a starch factory both of which polluted our air.  Before we left Margaret had serious respiratory problems which went away quickly in Milwaukee.

Milwaukee: The Second Time

"We moved to a home on Lake Michigan, Palisades Drive, and loved the sunrise over the lake.  Laura, Margaret's Mother, moved in with us and had her own suite, joining us for meals, etc. until she died in 1963.  Margaret made friends with some couples at church and we did lots of things together.  My first assignment was to straighten out a 500-man maintenance department at A. O. S. Milwaukee Works.  This worked out extremely well and I was promoted to Vice President and General Manager of our heavy equipment division about the time we finished a reactor for a nuclear submarine.  It worked out well and Admiral Rickover offered us more reactors and other nuclear sub components which we took. This large percentage of Navy business gave them a clout over our commercial business when it came to delivery.  Then the Navy decided to put in new welding inspection standards.  We didn't know how to price them, and under pressure named a nominal increase.  Unfortunately, the many in-process weld inspections delayed our production cycle and we lost our shirts.  This, coupled with the delay in domestic business, put the division in a loss situation and it was decided to sell out to Chicago Bridge.  I was put on the staff to wait for a new assignment.  Laura Died, and we took a vacation to Hawaii and Las Vegas.  I received a wire telling me to report to the president when I returned.

Erie and Tommy and Family

"I was offered the management of a petroleum division in Erie.  Obviously, this was an offer I couldn't refuse.  Margaret balked.  She like our home, its location and the friends we had made.  I told her I had to go and left for Erie.  When I returned home the next weekend I found she had sold our house and was ready to join me.

"In 1964 electronics was just beginning to be important in industrial controls.  We fostered this business and sold "systems" rather than just components quite successfully.  We opened plants in Houston, Germany and South Africa, and licensees in Philippines, Mexico, England, and other places.  This gave me an excuse for foreign travel.  On my last trip I took Margaret and we spent time in Mexico, South Africa, Greece, Paris Germany and London.  Meanwhile Tommy's Family was growing.  Johnny was born while we were in Milwaukee and used to stay with us for days at a time.  When Joe and Bill came along we were in Erie and the family would visit us.  On one occasion they brought my Mother along.  We took John to the World's Fair in Canada one year, he was 10 and rather immature in his attitude.  I don't know what caused it, but within the next year he had a mind of his own, was willing to try anything, almost a new personality.  When I became 63 and eligible for social security I got restless and told the company I was retiring.  I had been grooming Bill Thompson as a replacement and announced he was ready to take over.  Nixon had put a wage and price freeze on the economy and no one knew what to expect.  I was sent to Washington as V.P. of Government Relations to protect our interests.  During the next several months I became acquainted with the Erie Congressman, Milwaukee's Senator Proxmire, their staffs and the staffs of the Wage Control Board, the Price Control Board and OSHA, which had just been created.  I felt that the A. O. S. Vice Presidents could do a better job representing their divisions than I, so I introduced them to the key people in these areas in Washington and announced I was ready for retirement.  The company paid my salary until my 65th birthday to maximize my pension.  I was awarded engraved mementos from the City of Erie and A.O.S., a couple of luncheons and was gone."


A postcard received while Tom and Margaret were on one of their "business" trips in March, 1970 prior to Tom retiring from A. O. Smith.

Friday, July 30, 2010

Tom Remembers Margaret When They Were Young

Excerpt from Thomas A. Sullivan's Memories, March 4, 1994.

"Laura, Margaret's mother, and my mother were friends having worked together.  Before I was ten they would exchange gifts for the children. At Christmas time I would take the streetcar down to Gladys Ave., near Garfield Park, with a gift for Margaret and bring home my gift.  Margaret then was a skinny kid with curls. (When we were quite small our mothers would walk together with us.  Margaret had a buggy, and I would have to take turns riding in it so she could take turns pushing it, a routine I resented, after all I was four and she was only two, and a girl besides.) After a couple of years of the trips to exchange gifts at Christmas I rebelled at the futility of it and convinced the ladies to drop the practice.

"I didn't see Margaret until I met her at a dance when she was 17 and I was 19.  I took her home in a cab, she had on a big hat and I had trouble kissing her.  I next met her at a wake and took her for a ride in our car while the grownups visited.  We would date semi-regularly for the next year or so but not on weekends.   One day she announced that I had to take her out on Saturday nights, otherwise she had nothing to talk about at Rosary College with the girls on Monday morning, so she would have to get someone else to escort her.  I was hooked!  I didn't mind it too much as it was time I quite hanging around bowling allies, etc.  Rosary had a dance at which only boys from Loyola could be invited.  There was an accident with a street car and Margaret got $150 cash settlement.  I resented meeting the boy from Loyola visiting her during her convalescence and we decided to go steady.  The next summer I got a job at Western Electric and dropped school.  Margaret quite Rosary and went to Moser Business School.  Before the end of the year we married.  We rented a one-room apartment at 5659 Washington Blvd."

Note: In looking for 5659 W. Washington Blvd, it appears the building has been torn down.

Tom Remembers his Early Marriage Years and Son

Excerpt from Thomas A. Sullivan's Memories, March 4, 1994.

"Margaret and her mother bought about $1,000 worth of furniture for our home.  Laura paid cash for half of it and my mother paid off her half in installments.  I was making $135 per month so we had little money.  The money we got for our wedding was spent entertaining.  When Tommy was born we used the $150 accident money to pay the doctor, I don't know how we paid the hospital.

"In 1932 I went back to LaSalle Street from the fire department job and stared to study accounting by mail order and night school.  In 1935 I got a job as office manager and I was on my way.  When the WWII started I had parlayed my jobs until I was plant manager for Johnson & Johnson. (Classed 4F.)  Tommy was born in 1930 and by high school he developed an interest in theology and we discussed many things at the dinner table, including getting me to quite smoking.  At the end of his second year of college he joined the Dominicans and got a degree in philosophy. The seminary life didn't work out so he went to Loyola for a year and was drafted into the army.  After the army he went back to Loyola and eventually married Elayne [Bergin].  Margaret stayed home and kept us out of trouble."

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Tom's Other Marriages, 1985 and 1992

In 1996, Tom's grandsons asked him to write down some memories of his life.  Between February 19 and March 4, in a 12 page document he titled "Notes About Things I Remember,"  Tom Sullivan did just that! 

After his first wife Margaret died in 1982, Tom remarried twice. Following are some excerpts about these two women.

Dorothy Sprafka Cutrera

Tom and Dorothy at Elaine Watson's home celebrating Helen McIntyre's birthday, March, 1985

"During Margaret's illness the neighbors had been very friendly and helpful.  I decided to have party for about 30 of them.  One was Dorothy Cutrera, two doors away.  After the party I used to drop in and have a drink with her when she came home from her school teachers' assignment.  Her husband, Dick, was in a nursing home since 1978 and she would visit him once a week.  I drifted away from the ladies I had been relating to and would meet Dorothy for lunch during school days occasionally.  I would take her to I. B. C. [Illinois Benedictine College] affairs and we spent more and more time together.  One weekend we went downtown to a hotel and agreed to live as man and wife.  She moved in to my home and sold her place setting aside half of the money for Dick.  This was in 1983.  Late in 1984 we decided to vacation in Florida and visit several people who lived there.  Among these was Bruce and Betty Rohn, neighbors from Chambord, who had settled in Plantation after looking around Florida for a year.  We were staying at Florence and Bud's place in St. Petersburg, and the next day after visiting the Rohns we went back to Plantation and bought our present home.  We were both suffering from flu symptoms and felt lousy but managed to get the sale of the Chambord house under way and start disposing of the things we couldn't take with us.  We moved in here [314 Pembroke Drive, Venice, Florida] April 15, 1985.  Before we left we met with Father Tom Fratus, a Franciscan monk in Chicago, and told him our story.  He said our dilemma was not uncommon these days, and as long as we considered ourselves married and took care of Dick it was okay.  He blessed us as married persons.  This was most encouraging.  When Andy and family came down at Christmas time, Dorothy got an uncontested divorce from Dick and we were married legally by a J. P.  The Florida people knew nothing of these complications, we were just another married couple. I got on the board of our local community, Myrtle Trace, for a few years and we traveled and entertained visiting relatives.  I remain quite close to Andy and Chuck Cutrera and their families.  Dorothy developed diabetes and died in a nursing home in 1992, Dick joined her in death a month later."

Dorothy and Tom were married in Florida on December 23, 1985.    Dorothy died in Venice, Florida on August 27, 1992.


Lorraine Cooper Rankin Evinger


 Tom and Lori in their home in Venice, Florida, c1995

"A couple of months after Dorothy's death I felt it was time to get around and started to go to the V. Y. C. (Venice Yacht Club) again.  At my first bridge game I sat at a table with three ladies, one of whom was Lorraine.  We had dinner together with her friend Nancy Zinn and got along famously.  We married in December, 1992 and the rest is history in action. We still get along famously on a 90/10 basis.  We each contribute 90% to our marriage and expect 10% from the other."

Tom and Lorraine were married on December 5, 1992 in Florida.  Lorraine outlived Tom and died on February 23, 2007 in Warsaw, Virginia, near her son Jim.

Obituary:
Lorraine Cooper Sullivan of Warsaw, Va., formerly of Kalamazoo, Mich., and Venice, died Friday, Feb. 23, 2007. She was 93.  She was a registered nurse graduate of Borgess Hospital in Kalamazoo. In Venice, she was a member of St. Mark's Episcopal Church, a charter member of the Sarasota County Women's Support Group, and a member of the Venice-Nokomis Women's Club, Venice Opera Guild, Venice Yacht Club and Volunteer Hospice Association. She was also a former president of Bahia Mar Condo Association.
Survivors include two sons, John Rankin of Easton Rapids, Mich., and Jim Rankin of Heathsville, Va.; three grandchildren; and eight nieces and nephews.
Services: A private memorial service will be held at a later date. Faulkner Family Funeral Home & Crematory Inc., Burgess, Va., is in charge of arrangements. Contributions: Memorial donations may made to TideWell Hospice and Palliative Care, 5955 Rand Blvd., Sarasota 34238; or a local hospice of your choice.   Venice Gondolier Sun (FL) - March 2, 2007

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Letter from Tom to Helen, 1995




Helen and her brother Tom wrote letters and cards to each other more often than they called each other on the phone. Before cell phones and long-distance telephone "packages" everyone thought calling long distance was only for emergencies OR the rich!

Tom Sullivan came up to Chicago for Larry McIntyre's funeral service on Saturday, March 4, 1995. He must have written this letter to Helen immediately upon returning to Venice, Florida. I'm sure he was trying to make her feel like she still had a full life ahead of her, noting how he started the letter -- "AT 81 LIFE'S JUST BEGUN"

The letter represents Tom's positive outlook on life and how seriously he took his responsibility to make a difference.  If you double click on the letter image it will enlarge so you will be able to read the content.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Thomas A. Sullivan, July 13, 1996 Funeral

Tom and Lorraine wished a private wake.  The family, Thomas D. Sullivan, John Sullivan, Bill Sullivan, Helen McIntyre and Elaine Watson joined Lorraine at the Farley Funeral Home in Venice, Florida on July 12, 1996.  That evening, Lorraine asked the family members to share stories of Tom.  She said she had only known Tom such a short time and she wished to learn more about him, especially when he was young.  It was a lovely tribute to Tom as we all shared our memories.

The next day, July 13, was Tom's funeral at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, 1301 Center Road Venice, Florida.  When we arrived at the Church, it was filled with friends and neighbors. The family shared a moment before Tom's body was taken to be cremated.


Tom's ashes were later scattered in the Church's Memorial Garden.


Our Lady of Lourdes Memorial Garden is adjacent to the Church and Chapel on the church property and is Tom's final resting place.  The Garden area is intimate and tranquil and is complete with several beautiful outdoor works of art including The Pieta, St. Anthony, Guardian Angel, and a Memorial to the Unborn.   Individual name plates are placed on a large plaque, on the wall inside the Garden area, identifying those cremains which have been placed in the garden.

John Sullivan and Helen McIntyre are seen in this photo of the Memorial Garden after Tom's funeral service.



Thursday, April 15, 2010

Tom and Margaret Sullivan, 1934



Helen Sullivan McIntyre had this photo of her brother Thomas and his first wife Margaret Carmody Sullivan in her album which she titled: Remembering. The photo is dated November 17, 1934 and Helen wrote under the photograph "Night on the Town."

Monday, April 12, 2010

Thomas A. Sullivan, Obituary and Poem 1996

Tom died on July 11, 1996 after undergoing open-heart surgery. As his grandson, John, said in response to realizing his grandfather lived to be 88: "It might have been more if he did not go for that surgery which he elected for.  If it was “broke” he always wanted things fixed."
  
The following obituary was pasted in his sister Helen's scrapbook next to a poem she wrote upon hearing that Tom had died. Newspaper unknown, but probably Venice, Florida, date unknown.

Thomas A. Sullivan
Thomas A. Sullivan, 88, Venice, died July 11, 1996.
He was born July 7, 1908 in Chicago and came to the Venice area 11 years ago from Oak Brook, Ill. An engineer registered with the state of Illinois, he was past director of the Institute for Management at Illinois Benedictine College and past vice president and division general manager at A. O. Smith Corp. He graduated from Illinois Institute of Technology with an engineering degree and from Marquette University with a master's degree in economics. He was volunteer treasurer for the Friends of the Library of Jacaranda, and a member of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church.
Survivors include his wife, Lorraine Evinger; a son, Thomas D. of Country Club Hills, Ill.; a sister, Helen McIntyre of Chicago; three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
The funeral Mass will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church. Burial will be private. Farley Funeral Home, Venice Chapel, is in charge.

A second death notice was pasted in another of Helen McIntyre's scrapbooks.  Although no newspaper is noted, I believe it is from a Chicago newspaper, probably the Chicago Tribune.

Sullivan - Thomas A. Sullivan, age 88, formerly of Oak Brook, died July 11, in Venice, FL.  An engineer registered with the State of Illinois, he was past Director of the Institute for Management at Illinois Benedictine College and past President and Division General Manager at A. O. Smith Corp. He graduated from Illinois Institute of Technology with an engineering degree and from Marquette University with a Masters degree in economics.  Survivors include his wife Lorraine; a son Thomas, a sister, Helen McIntyre; three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.  A memorial mass will be held on Sept 28 at 11 a.m. in the Abbey at Illinois Benedictine College.

TOM - GONE JULY 11, 1996
You always were my Hero
You were the wind beneath my Wings!

I miss you Tom -- I miss your calls
And I really miss seeing you
You were always interested in what I did
And you always said, "What's new?"
You seemed to move from here to there
So we didn't see much of each other
But I have to say just one thing
I'm so glad you were my brother!
(Helen McIntyre, 1996)

Photo of Thomas A. Sullivan c late 1950s
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Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Thomas Sullivan VP Appointment, 1964

In a May 4, 1964 article in the Erie, PA Times, A. O. Smith Corporation announced the promotion of Thomas A. Sullivan to Vice President and General Manager of its Meter and Service Station Equipment Division.  Article courtesy: John Sullivan
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Monday, March 22, 2010

Christmas, 1974

Tom and "Mo" with daughter-in-law, Elayne, and grand-children John, Bill and Joe.
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At the Saloon, 1940s

On vacation, Tom and Mom camp it up a bit!
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Father and Son, 1930s


The "Toms" enjoyed swimming. Here they pose proudly in there "look-alike" swimsuits.
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House of Studies, River Forest

Tom and Margaret's son, Thomas, planned to become a Dominican Priest and entered the Dominican novitiate in the early 1950s. This photo was taken at the Dominican House of Studies in River Forest, Illinois.
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Margaret Sullivan's Funeral Card, 1982

Margaret Carmody Sullivan died May 27, 1982 after a battle with cancer. Her funeral Mass was at St. Mary Church, Downers Grove, Illinois on June 1, 1982.
Helen McIntyre, her sister-in-law, was unaware of Margaret's cancer for some time. Tom, Helen's brother, would tell her, when asked about Margaret, that she was having "therapy." Helen thought it was some sort of physical therapy and didn't realize Margaret was as ill as she was until only a few months before she died.
Margaret always took pride in her appearance.  She was very attractive and slender.  Having suffered the ravages of cancer, Margaret didn't want anyone to remember her looking sickly, so she selected a picture of herself holding a drink and having a good time.  She instructed Tom to place this photo on her closed casket -- which he did.
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Sullivan/Carmody Marriage Record, 1929

I
Written on the July 18, 1908 baptismal entry for Thomas Aloysius Sullivan at St. Agatha Church, Chicago, is a notation of his marriage to Margaret Carmody at St. Mel Church, Chicago, on December 24, 1929. It is common to require proof of baptism when a Catholic is being married in a Catholic Church. When the proof of baptism is being provided, often the priest will make a notation on the baptismal record as shown here for Tom.
Source: St. Agatha Church, Chicago, Illinois, Baptismal Registry, page 169. Family History Library, Microfilm #1704626
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