Mary Sullivan Esseff

Mary Sullivan Esseff PhD, 74, was surrounded by her family as she passed away on December 19, 2017 in Tampa, FL. A visitation will take place on Thursday, December 28, 2017 from 5 to 8PM at Gonzalez Funeral Home. A funeral mass will be celebrated on Friday, December 29 2017 at 3PM with the family receiving visitors one hour prior in the wake room at St. Paul Catholic Church. Arrangements under the direction of Gonzalez Funeral Home, Tampa, FL.

Interment will take place at St. Louis Catholic Church Cemetery, 5930 Ten Oaks Road, Clarksville, MD 21029, on Friday, January 12, 2018 at 11AM. A memorial mass will then be celebrated on Saturday, January 13, 2018 at 10AM at St. Louis Catholic Church, 12500 Clarksville Pike, Clarksville MD 21029.

Mary Sullivan Esseff is survived by her loving husband of 52 years, Peter James Esseff, PhD. She was preceded in death by her mother, Alice “Muzz” McLaughlin Sullivan and fathers James Johnston and Timothy F.X. Sullivan.

Mary is also survived by her children, Jeanne Marie Reif and her husband Joseph Reif, Sr. Rosemary Esseff O.P., and Peter Timothy Esseff. Mary was the loving grandmother to granddaughters Cecelia Marie and Julianne Elizabeth Reif and grandson Timothy Esseff. Mary was the beloved sister to Elizabeth Lawrence, Michael Sullivan and wife Margie, Timothy F.X. Sullivan and wife AnnMarie “Mimo”, Alice Finlay and husband Richard, Gerald “Jerry” Sullivan and wife Dottie, and Marguarite “Maggie” Sullivan Sweeney and husband Shawn.

Mary Sullivan Esseff was an author, publisher, lover of life, and a devoted Catholic. Mary was born in 1943 in Philadelphia, PA. She met her husband, Peter, in 1964 in Salzburg, Austria while he was studying to be a Jesuit priest. Peter and Mary’s love was so undeniable that Peter left the Jesuits to marry Mary in the blizzard of 1966. In 1969, Mary, with her husband, Dr. Peter J. Esseff, co-founded a training company, Educational Systems for the Future. Together they have worked with clients all over the globe.

Mary attended Chestnut Hill College, Philadelphia, PA and received her Ph.D. in Educational Technology from The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C.

In 2005, Mary was honored by Chestnut Hill College to be a Charter Member of the Libris Society. Members were selected because they exemplified one or more of the qualities celebrated in the College’s motto Fides-Caritas-Scientia (Faith-Charity-Knowledge).

With her husband, Mary has visited countries all over the world for business and pleasure, traveling in 2011 to Lebanon where Peter’s family gathered for a fabulous wedding. Peter’s Lebanese-American culture has inspired Mary to write a series of “Khalil Khoury” stories, including, “Love Made Visible”, The Butterfly & The Snail, “Wedding Tales: Book One-Love’s Journey”, and “Wedding Tales: Book Two-Honeymoon Caper”

Dreams

Come True

I’ve seen her smile

a thousand times –

in dreams —

sleeping or awake.

I’ve kissed her

and felt her kisses

warm my face.

I’ve held her hand

for only moments

but I hold it still.

Peter J. Esseff

June, 1965

Gaisberg: Of Butterflies and Snails

Earth is so time-short,

but a passing of seconds;

you have laughed

down an eternity of smiles,

and found Jesus, laughing, smiling.

You bind the wounds

Of God's scarred soldiers.

What love you bring

to your living in time.

Fearless in laughter,

bright eyes, hair, face –

bent on loving the joyous Spirit of God.

A Thousand Gaisbergs play before your eyes,

and in your heart a hundred Festungs

stand in brightest light upon a hill

of dreams, hopes and pondering smiles.

A foreign land of love in conquest –

seeing, hearing, laughing, touching

and bringing sweetness into being.

A tenderness of joy, deep-felt, and Christ-borne.

We sat upon a hill,

high upon a summer's day,

and passed judgment on the world below.

a summer of God's love –

joy-bent on finding Jesus.

We found Him in the mountain.

Love came to us, surrounded by steep valleys.

Jesus gave life to a butterfly –

In joy and deep-velveted restfulness.

A handful of berries,

glorified a tiny bit of smile

and brought to birth a child

In children hearts.

A cave was empty of all except love.

A cave was filled with the intensity –: greenness and freshness

of Love which brightens all its dark corners.

And each moment lives forever,

Resounding through the mountain.

A peace as quiet and deep

as brown-green valleys

burns my heart

With Mary, my mother's, holy love.

A child placed its hand in mine

and gave me Jesus.

~Peter J. Esseff August 1964