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."

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

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.

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.

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."

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