Every family has grandparents some are more fortunate than others in terms of how much time they get to spend with them. My family was very fortunate to have many great years with my grandmother. Her foot print is all over this family in many ways some good and others a little bit suspect, which is what makes us all Sullivan's. My grandmother and grandfather over the years taught us many important life lessons. My grandmother in particular showed us the importance of being kind and showing respect to everyone you meet. No matter how sick or upset she was she never took out her frustrations on anyone ever. During her time in the hospital over the last few years her nurses always said how much they loved her and what a nice lady she was. Some would visit from other departments just to say hi and see how she was doing. Every friend of mine that has met my grandmother has said what an amazing woman she is, many loved to dance and have conversations with her whenever they saw her. My grandmother and grandfather instilled an amazing work ethic in this family never accepting anything less than 100% effort in anything you did. That work ethic has allowed me personally to advance in my career to a level that I can provide everything my family needs. 
Many people know my grandma's best character traits simply by being around her a few times. She would do anything to help someone who needed help. If that meant she would go without something she wouldn't think twice about it. I have too many stories to share involving my grandma. One that stands out to this day is from when I was young and in little league. My mom and dad were not able to get me to a game and asked my grandma to take me. That day she picked me up and we went to where we thought the fields were. It turned out we could not find the place she drove me all around Naperville trying to find the right field. We never did find it and she was disappointed she couldn't get me there. Even with me being young I could tell how disappointed she was and what it meant to her to be able to get me to that game. Even though I understood and was not upset it still bothered her we could not find the place and in a way it meant more to her than it did to me. She also had an unbelievable ability to light up a room with her twisted humor and large heart. The trait I am most blown away by is her loyalty to her family and her unwavering sense of responsibility to commitment. We lost our grandfather 26 years ago and my grandmother never considered looking for another man. She married the love of her life and that was all she needed as far as she was concerned. It was so important to her that if someone came around trying to talk with her she would shut them down as quickly and bluntly as possible. The vows she made to my grandfather stuck with her to the end and she was excited to go to her number 1 home to be with my grandfather.
I could go on for days and share thousands of my memories of my grandma and take all day reminiscing about the many things she did for this family. The most important thing she did for us was keep us together. Families always find a way to fight and in some cases distance themselves from one another. That was not acceptable in this family no matter how long it took or what she had to do she brought us back together. She was the glue to our family to which I am forever grateful to her. That being one of the last lessons she taught us is the most special thing she gave us. Sitting in her home the other night we were able to bond and help each other heal a little from what amounts to a huge loss to our family. I feel like I have said a lot but I am not sure that there are words to express what my grandmother means to me. I will forever have a hole in my heart from the piece of myself that went with her when she passed. I pray that she is with Grandpa Sullivan holding him tight with the intention of never letting go. She deserves an eternity by his side and dancing their days away, I know that every day I will strive to make my grandparents proud. I plain and simply was blessed with the very best grandparents ever, there will not be a time in my life that I will forget what they did for me and the rest of my family. Grandma told us she went and met god and he told her it was not her time she needed to go back to say good bye. She fought her heart out and gave us two extra weeks of the toughest time of her life. The love she showed us in these last few weeks was amazing, I did not know someone could love so strongly to overcome as much as she did. I am grateful to have had an opportunity to kiss her forehead and tell her she didn't need to fight anymore. She didn't need to worry about us if it was time to go she should go. I love my grandma to the moon and back and if I were asked if I wanted anything different in a grandmother the answer would be absolutely not. Knowing the love she had for our family I wouldn't trade her for anything in the world.

Love fully-
 My grandma and I were always close. I was a lucky little girl to have my Grandparents help raise me. I realize today that some people go through life without any Grandparents, I just can't fathom that, and feel so blessed that I hit the jackpot on that one, but was able to not only have a great grandmother, but also a close friend.
 I was reminded recently of how Grandma flew out of the house like a crazy lady and rushed up to the hospital when I was born, barely able to contain her excitement. Of course you know how the story turns out...I was spoiled rotten with so much love. My grandma had a nickname for me growing up, ..."the bag lady" this may not seem that touching, but definitely was very fitting. I spent almost every weekend or every other weekend at my Grandparent's house, always on the go with many bags in my hand, as I traveled among my three homes. Many years have gone by, but even recently she was still calling me the bag lady....I  still carry many bags everywhere I go!
 My cousin Chris and I were recently talking about one thing we enjoyed all the time at Grandma's when we were little. a memory we both cherished was having Grandma's special eggs. She would ask us what we would want and we would say "Grandma's special eggies". We were disappointed when we could never order them at the restaurant as we got strange looks, so We knew no one else could make this and every weekend she would make them with our drink of choice, Tang. We were cracking up over the memory because It took us well over 20 years to realize that Grandma's special eggs were merely poached eggs! This still never changed in our heart that they were special and I was lucky enough that she made them for me one last time about 4 weeks ago at her house.
 Give more than you receive-
 Everyone who knows grandma knows how kind hearted and generous she is. She always was putting others needs before her own. While she loved to gather with loved ones, she was often the life of the party, but she would never go anywhere empty-handed, she wanted to be a part of giving and contributing to the party or gathering. She truly was a giver. She loved showering everyone with love which made her an extraordinary Grandma and exceptional woman.

 Forgive often-
 If I had to sum up a part of what my Grandma's legacy is to all of us in one word, it would be family. She taught us all what it means to love and surely that we need to forgive. Our family is like most others where we have the potential to hurt each others feelings. We are all different and each have our own expectations, we don't always see eye to eye, now take that with the fact that we are Sullivan's-oh boy-we may need a little help in that department!

  Grandma's most recent trip in the hospital we thought we were saying goodbye at that moment. Grandma was not done teaching us yet though, she shared that she saw God and "He was so beautiful!" As our family gathered around Grandma, I think she was in her glory, having her family together. She always loved being around others and loved seeing her family interact with each other often. While we reminisced over the good times or laughed at Grandma's fun loving off the cuff nature, her message started to become clear. For the last few weeks, we thought maybe Grandma was holding on for herself, but as time passed, I think she held on for us. Losing Grandma has been one of the  hardest things our family has gone through and left a hole in our hearts. We will definitely have a lot of healing to do, but I think Grandma wanted us to turn to each other, to help each other. To gather and spend extra time when we can. To go out and have some shareable plates at Friday's and a glass of wine or an apple juice-whatever floats your boat!

 So I will leave you with a quote..
 "Life is short-Live it.
 Love is rare-Grab it.
 Anger is bad-Let go of it.
 Fear is a mind-killer, Face it.
 Memories are sweet, cherish them."
-Author Unknown

 I have many beautiful memories of my grandmother as I am sure all of you do as well. I plan to cherish them forever and spread Grandma's legacy.


I wanted to talk about Grandma because we had a special friendship as far back as I can remember. Many of you have called me a momma's boy over the years. I know this is true.

As a young boy, I noticed how selfless she was, my sister, my dad, and me before her own wants and needs. I suppose growing up in a family of 11 that barely had food on the table prepared her for that role in our family.  I was not close to all of mom's family but noticed the same spirit in her twin sister Marilyn Watson. Twins are Twins I suppose.

Grandma was a stay-at-home mom during grade school. She was actively involved with the school and church on a volunteer basis. She participated in cub scouts and brownies helping Kathy and I earn the various badges and awards.  Grandma drove us to school, the movies, the arcade, our sports activities, the beach in summer, the skating rink in winter. I recall always being in the front seat of the car next to mom unless I had done something to anger her. The perks of being a momma's boy were good.

Grandma helped with school, scouts, and brownie projects. She helped me carve a wooden car for the boy scouts races, we dreamed they would be the fastest and usually left the races saying next year was our year. We would have been good cubs fans but dad required us to be sox fans. One summer, she helped me build a go-cart out of discarded crates at the grocery store and spare lumber from construction sites in the area.  Neither one of us knew what we were doing, the maiden voyage lasted less than 5 minutes and resulted in an unrecoverable loss.


As I got older, when I started earning money shoveling snow, mowing lawns, and caddying at the country club, I started to treat mom to a burger once in a while.  My god you would of thought I bought her a diamond ring, she was so happy with me.

Grandma was always on your side even when you got yourself into trouble. She was stared down by more than one angry nun over the years and together we narrowly escaped the trouble.  Grandma also advocated for my sister and I when we were in trouble with dad or were asking for something out of the ordinary.  At times we were spoiled Naperville brats but mom didn't care.

Grandma also had another side to her, she was fearless when it came to protecting her family. I once heard a story where Grandma and Grandpa were walking in a bad neighborhood and noticed a seedy character approaching them.  Her reaction was to get in between grandpa and the approaching man to protect grandpa.  Did I mention the nuns?  If grandma heard that someone was hurting Kathy or I, she was taking names and preparing for battle.  

Grandma had an awesome sense of humor and was the life of the party along with her twin sister Marilyn Watson. These girls could really cut the rug and dance the night away. They were invited to every party and people would stand around waiting to see what they would do next. There was the dancing on the table at a wedding story along with stories of them trying to get young boys to dance. Many of those boys were quick to run away rather than dance with them.

Grandma came alive once the grandkids starting joining the family.  There would be no-one holding her back from seeing Jessica, her first grandchild, when she was born.  I swear her eyes were brighter every time a new child came along.  She loved her grandkids and would have them on the weekends. 

She made them comfortable when they were sick. She would sit and read them books and teach them everything she knew.  She was so patient and such a great teacher. She made them special grandma eggs that the grandkids still boast about.  

She was a proud Grandma of 8 grandchildren and a prouder Grandma of 9 Great Grand Children.  You would of thought she would pee herself when twins joined the family.  Grandma was at her happiest when all of the family came around for Holidays. Christmas was so special, Grandma always seemed to find a special gift for each grandchild. Did I mention that Grandma was giving and generous?   You should have seen the looks on the grandkids faces at Christmas, it was priceless.

When my father passed away 26 years ago, Grandma became the family patriot and spokesman.  She stayed busy caring for another family's children while they worked and keeping up with the growing Sullivan clan. My niece Shelly thinks Sullivan's just naturally get into trouble so we kept Grandma busy throughout the years.  I think she loved people and family.  

She welcomed boyfriends, girlfriends, step-daughters, and step-sons into our family as if they were her own children.  At family parties, Grandma was always the center of attention and fun.  Grandma worked tirelessly to keep our family together as we grew and as life happened had to remediate differences in the family.  The family was all together recently and she asked forgiveness from the family where there may have been differences. In some cases, she asked for forgiveness and followed with the statement, I was right.

I got closer to Grandma after dad passed.  We were able to say anything to each other without offending one another.  Saturday's were breakfast days with Grandma at the Fox. 

Grandma flirting with the owner Pete, Pete flirting back at Grandma.  This story wouldn't be complete without me telling you about teasing Grandma about politics.  I regularly told her she spent too much time watching Fox News, she would act as if she was mad, but I think she thought it was funny. Did you see the photo of Grandma with the Fox News hat?  Another favorite tease was walking on her freshly vacuumed carpet putting my footprints everywhere.  Grandma asked me every Saturday if I was going to march on her carpet or throw a pillow at her when we were reading the Sunday paper.   I also tried to make her laugh by asking her if her questions were any of her business, she really laughed at that.   

Grandma has been very ill the last 5 years and had many stays in hospitals and nursing homes trying to get better. She never gave up and did everything that was asked of her to get better. She could have easily fallen in to self-pity and treated people badly with all of the issues she had. Instead, she was thankful and pleasant to the nurses and doctors who cared for her. Many of whom, visited Grandma when they heard she returned to the hospital. She had several invitations to be an adopted Grandmother from these same people. 

I'm sure I missed saying a million things I could have said about Grandma but feel what I have said demonstrates a Beautiful Life.  She was the most kind, thoughtful, and generous person I know. 

I'm comforted that she is in peace now with my dad and her family that passed before her.  She recently told the family how beautiful God, Mary, and her family are in heaven.

This was a Rich, Well Lived, Beautiful Life!

Aunt Marie....I will always remember her for the laughter she brought to everyone!  I always loved her devilish antics and will miss her!

She was a sweet, classy lady, really she hardly knew me but on those far and few occasions when I would see her at a gathering. A warm smile and friendly greeting was my reward, and her conversation would be as if I were something special .. . an old friend maybe, I always thought that was pretty nice of her. Nice is what she was and will forever be. ..

As a child, I have the fondest memories of Aunt Marie and Aunt Marilyn, dragging me up and down 63rd st shopping, until my little legs could go no further!   As an adult, I will always hold dear Aunt Marie's zeal and joy at family weddings!

I'm so sorry to hear of Marie's passing.  She was always smiling, always a joy to be with.  I hope your memories bring you comfort and peace.

So sorry for your loss, Tim.  You were a fantastic son, whom she appreciated very much!   Prayers to you and your family.

So very sorry to hear of Marie's passing. She was a wonderful lady and a wonderful neighbor.  I enjoyed waving and talking to her.  She always had a smile on her face and something nice to say.  We will miss her greatly.  God's peace and comfort to her family.  The Wegners

OBITUARY

Marie S. Sullivan

January 9, 1930 – October 25, 2015

Blake-Lamb Funeral Home

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