Margaret Sue Sullivan

Dr. Margaret Sue Sullivan, 77, of Columbus, Georgia died early Thursday morning, December 27, 2012 at Columbus Hospice. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, December 29, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. at St. Paul United Methodist Church with Reverend Cindy Cox Garrard and Reverend Chris Shoemaker officiating. Interment will follow thereafter at Parkhill Cemetery.  Honorary Pallbearers are members of the French Lit Club.

Margaret was born January 4, 1935 to Cora Howell and Jordan James Sullivan in Green Mountain, North Carolina. She was preceded in death by her siblings, Dr. James Howell Sullivan and his wife, Margaret (Bunny) Thomas Sullivan, Patricia Sullivan Conner, Nancy Sullivan Bush and her husband, John Bush, and her niece, Ann Conner Kraynik.

Margaret and her family moved to Chipley, Georgia in her early years and then settled in Columbus, Georgia. She was a 1952 graduate of Columbus High School.  She graduated from Duke University in 1956 and returned to Columbus to teach school at Jordan High School and to pursue her Masters Degree at Auburn University.  She then became a Professor of English at Auburn and taught her favorite subject on Southern Women’s Literature. She was an authority on many southern writers, especially Carson McCullars, on whose life and literature she devoted years of research. She went back to Duke University to attain her Doctorate in English Literature in 1964 and worked for a number of years in Washington D.C. at George Washington University as a professor of English.

Margaret has been a resident of Columbus since 1972 and was a member of St. Luke United Methodist Church for 68 years, was an active member of the French Lit Club and in years past, Mensa. She is survived by her brother in law, Frank Conner, Sr. and numerous nieces and nephews: Margaret S. Clark (Jay), Nancy S. Burgin (Robert), James H. Sullivan (Liz), Elizabeth T. Sullivan, Frank Conner, Jr. (Susan), John Kraynik (Anita), William Conner (Natalie), Steven Bush, Jeffrey Sullivan Bush (Beth), and Catherine Bush Collins.

In lieu of flowers and to honor her love of books and literature, donations may be made to the Loretto Chappell Book Fund of the Muscogee County Library Foundation, Magnolia Manor, Columbus Hospice or the charity of your choice.

The family would like to thank her longtime friend and caregiver, Linda Carter, and the wonderful staff at Trillium Assisted Living of Magnolia Manor and her care providers at Columbus Hospice.