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.

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