Tom Sullivan's Early Memories of his Parents and Sister

Excerpt from "Notes About Things I Remember" by Thomas A. Sullivan, March 4, 1996.

Mother, Father and Helen

"Mother was the most important person influencing my mind and career.  We had a blackboard and she used to teach with it faithfully every day.  Before I started school in Sept. 1913 at 5 yr., 3 mo., I knew the alphabet backwards, count well above 100, and spell common words.  My table manners were good but my clothes consisted of "Buster Brown" suits and long curls which were cut off just before starting school.  When I found I was the only one in the school in Buster Brown, that ended.

"My Father tried to bully me rather than explain.  I tended to go my way without confiding in him.  For example, when he announced, when I was in eighth grade, that he was taking me down to St. Ignatius High to enroll me, I told him I had already registered at St. Mel several months before.

"My Mother was very concerned about Helen's birth.  I was much overweight and she had a bad time, but Helen was normal but a fussy baby.  I was a much older person (5 years) and ignored her as she wasn't a boy and hence from a different world.  We grew up separately, she had her friends and I had mine.  I didn't get to know her until Mother died when she suddenly took over as the head of the family and began to get me in line as part of her world."

 Photo of Nell and Al Sullivan, Helen in car window, on a vacation trip late 1920s

Memories of Al Sullivan by his Daughter

From The Story of a Lifetime: The Personal Memoirs of Helen Sullivan McIntyre:

What memories do you have of your father during your childhood?

"How hard he worked.  He was a steamfitter and put the heat in all the houses on the north shore.  He'd leave at 6:30 in the morning and come home about 4:30 dead tired.  He was always dirty from the work and rushed to the bathroom to wash up.  On hot summer days he would come home not only dirty and tired but his clothes were wringing wet!  He used to tell me how he would walk on the high steel girders while the homes were being built.  The girders were only a foot wide and he was up 2 or 3 stories with no protection on either side.  I would say "aren't you afraid you'll fall?" He'd say "No, just always keep looking up - never down."

 This photo, taken in the 1910s, shows Al Sullivan (second from right) at work.

  Behind him is some of his steamfitting handiwork.  

"I remember his sitting in his den reading western magazines one was called Argosy.  He loved the western stories and bought several magazines a month.  Whenever we would ask him what he wanted for his birthday or Christmas, He'd always say, "Just a few kind words."  He loved to listen to Laurel and Hardy on the radio.  I can still see him sitting in the living room and laughing his head off.

"He liked to tell funny stories and our alderman Tom Casey would always stop by to listen to him.  He was very conservative and didn't feel like spending a lot of money foolishly yet he saw we had great vacations and everything that we needed.  He was a great guy.  Now that I realize it -- I wish I had told him how much he meant to me!"

What other interests did he have?  What were his hobbies and what did he do for fun?

"He loved to read, especially western story magazines.  He loved flowers.  We had the prettiest backyard on Latrobe ave.  There were roses, phlox, lilacs, peonies, geraniums, daisies, petunias, verbenas, four o'clocks. He also made a little vegetable garden with onions, carrots, radishes and tomatoes.

"He loved music and Sunday morning after Mass he would always bring home a new record for our Victrola or a new roll for our player piano.  He loved movies and stage plays.  He loved the water and taking boat rides. He loved a nice box of chocolate candy.  He also loved Christmas.  He'd buy the biggest real tree in the lot and always have to saw off the top to fit in our living room!  He also always bought real holly wreaths for all our windows."

Which of your father's physical and personality characteristics did you inherit?

"His tallness, sense of humor, the love of the water, being near a lake and going for boat rides.  He loved to read and so did I.  He loved plays, movies and music and so did I.  He couldn't carry a tune and neither could I. He was a good dancer - not me."

What else do you remember about him?

"I remember how he loved my mother.  He'd say "How's my baby," "You look so pretty today."  Even when people were around he'd say "Doesn't Nell look pretty."  Mother would get so mad -- she'd say "Oh Al, stop it, don't be so silly."  I guess she was embarrassed, but he never did stop it!  I often wished Larry would talk to me like that!"