Happy Birthday, Anne!

Dear Hearts,

August 10th is the birthday of Anne Elizabeth Sullivan Daly: daughter of Big Sully and Mary Claire; sister of Jim, Mary Fran, John, Mike, Matt, Jerry, Margy and Patty; mother of Claire and Willis; wife of Malachy Daly; stepmother of five, with a flock of Irish grandchildren; auntie, cousin and friend to scores more folks.

Professionally, Anne is highly accomplished, having trained and worked as a registered nurse and a lawyer. Today she is the Chief Compliance and Integrity Officer at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, and is a member of the Adjunct Faculty at Northwestern University.

What makes her a successful executive also makes her a loyal and passionate sister, auntie, cousin and friend. She will defend and debate right alongside her loved ones, then turn around and makes us laugh until we wheeze with delight. She is one of the funniest women I know.

Anne also has a constant desire to connect with children on their level--so that she can learn from them, entertain them, protect and comfort them. I will bet $100 that if we dumped out the contents of Anne's purse today, we would find tiny finger puppets, wrapped candy and other trinkets to entertain children. And so isn't it wonderful that she now works at a leading Children's Hospital?

She has served all of us as an advice nurse, a friend and an advocate and we are grateful to call her our own.

Happy birthday Anne, and may you have 64 more healthy ones, by the Aunt Joannie Sullivan Law of Longevity Aspiration of 2008.

God bless us and save us and keep us from harm.

Love, Patty

God Bless Booma/Mom

Booma with Jim's Margaret.

August 8th is the anniversary of the death of our grandmother who we called Booma or Mom. Anna Mildred Conick Sullivan, wife of Lefty, mother of Big Sully, Uncle Bob, Aunt Anna Rita, Aunt Margaret. The branch springing from Jim called her Booma, and the branch springing from Bob called her Mom. She was 85 in 1979 when she died and is buried between Uncle Bob and her grandson, John Jeremiah.
Booma lived with the Aunties, right next door to Uncle Bob, Aunt Darlene and their ten kids in Phoenix. She was lovely and gentle and smelled of talcum powder. History shows, however, she was also intelligent and strong.

Early in her marriage, Booma and Lefty lost four babies, two of whom only took a few breaths, one who lived a month (John Jeremiah, Jr.) and one who only lived an hour (James Patrick.) While Dad was at war, she received three telegrams from the War Department saying her son's plane had been hit and was seen going down.

Booma used to make private moments with each of her grandchildren, washing their hands and faces, asking them about school and baseball. She loved baseball, but would not allow anyone to go to Cubs park, and she hated Comiskey for the way he had treated Lefty and the other White Sox. She was also an excellent bridge player.

Booma was a classic, and the love affair between her and Lefty was beautiful. He was her "Sully." Happy Birthday, Booma, Mom, Anna, and please look out for us all, and lend us your strong heart.

God bless us and save us and keep us from harm.

Love, Patty

Happy Birthday, Gus!

Dear Hearts,

August 8th is the birthday of Augustus S. Lee, known as Gus. Gus is Jim's--and now our--beloved friend. Gus's wife Diane is his soulmate and Gus speaks unabashedly of his passion and admiration for her. They write books together, love their children (an Army captain now a civilian; a nurse, who brings fresh water to poverty-stricken regions of Africa; a son who served as a paratrooper), and their grandchildren.

While Jim has offered a wealth of stories of his personal friendship with Gus over past several decades, we can further appreciate the talents and goodness of this man by visiting his website at https://www.guslee.net/about/. You can also see a few videos of Gus' presentations on Youtube and find further information on Wikipedia.

I have not yet met Gus in person, but hope to do so one day. Through electronic communication/media, however, I have come to know him as a wonderful person who is incredibly humble, considerate and loving, while serving our world as a courageous and righteous leader. I'm guessing the phrase "gentle giant" has been attached to his name at some time.

Happy birthday, Gus, and may you have 49 more healthy ones, by the Aunt Joannie Sullivan Law of Longevity Anticipation of 2008.

God bless us and save us and keep us from harm.

Love, Patty

Happy Birthday, Mike!

Dear Hearts,

August 5th is the birthday of Michael Joseph Anthony Sullivan: husband of Joan Shepson Sullivan, who made up Joannie's Law of Longevity Anticipation of 2008; father of John and Katie; grandfather of Charlie, Mickey, Caroline, Grace and June; son of Big Sully and Mary Claire; brother of Jim, Mary Fran, John, Matt, Anne, Jerry, Margy and Patty; cousin, uncle and friend of everybody else. Mom always said Mike was her birthday present, as he arrived just a day after her birthday.

These days Mike is enjoying his recent retirement--spending precious time with grandkids, creating a gorgeous garden and yard with Joan, and traveling (pre-Covid) with brothers to Civil War battlegrounds and the Finger Lakes among other activities. He's listening to Barry White, Bill Withers, watching Three Stooges whenever possible and always has the Beatles sound nearby. And his Covid-19 hair is looking very cool.

Mike continues to bless us with his talents, including singing, making children laugh, making adults laugh and whistling--serious, false-vibratto whistling.

Happy Birthday, Mike and may you have 58 more healthy ones, by your wife's Law. God bless us and keep us and save us from harm.

Love,
Patty

Happy Birthday, Joseph!

Dear Hearts,

August 4th is the birthday of Joseph Dominic Sullivan, son of Dr. Seamus the Younger and Erin Coffey Sullivan, and brother of John, Annie, Kathleen, Thomas, Peter, Maggie, Brigid, Seamus and Patrick; nephew and cousin to a ton of Sullivans and Coffeys; friend and teammate to many more. Joe is the blonde, blue eyed, freckle faced one, as his mom describes him.

He looks to be a right-handed baseball player and I'm sure is an asset to his team. The kid is also as handsome as can be, whether he's sporting baseball practice gear or spiffed up in a suit and tie.

Happy Birthday, Joseph, and may you have 111 more healthy ones, by the Aunt Joannie Sullivan Law of Longevity Aspiration of 2008.

God bless us and save us and keep us from harm.

Love, Patty

God Bless Mary Claire

Dear Hearts,

August 4 is the anniversary of the birth of Mary Claire Rita Wiley Sullivan: daughter of Boom Boom and Boompa; sister of Helen Whalen; wife of Big Sully; mother of Seamus the Older, Mary Fran, John, Mike, Matt, Anne, Jerry, Margaret and Patty; grandmother of 24; great-grandmother of 21; aunt of Whalens and the Arizona Sullivans; and friend to all. She died in Orange, CA on May 6, 2011. She is cognizant of us now, although she was not the last few years of her life due to dementia.

She was a beautiful woman with many talents, among them gardening, playing piano, cooking, decorating, grammar/diction, playing bridge, humor and Irish dancing. Jim recalls her dancing the "Stack of Barley" with old Mr. Barry (probably a cousin of our great-great-grandmother, Mary Barry) down at Cannon's on the corner of 50th and Halsted, when he was about 6.

Mary Claire Wiley was in pre-med at Marquette in 1946 when she took organic chemistry with a future steel-mill metallurgist named James Patrick Sullivan, just home from WWII. He caught a feral cat--a required item for her anatomy class (the skull was rattling around our house until the early 2000s)--and chased away all other suitors. They married the next year and she called off med school, having nine babies over the next 18 years.

She taught us things that are hard to quantify--that people are the most important ingredient of life; that fat carries flavor; to watch out for the poor and down-trodden; to make friends with the unpopular kid; and above all, believe in the power of love. She loved this song, "Love Makes the World Go 'Round."

She is gone from us now, although the legacy of love that she imparted travels on. Happy Birthday, Mary Claire Sullivan, Mom.

God bless us and save us and keep us from harm.

Love, Patty

The Little Boxer

Dear Hearts,

Margaret Glick just listened to an old episode (August 2019) of Snap Judgment, a storytelling radio program, and was happily surprised to find a episode that included our own Dear Heart Gus Lee!

It is a beautiful and inspiring story that Margaret and I thought all of you would enjoy too. It's called The Little Boxer and begins at the 24 minute mark on the recording. Click on the title here or at the link below. Enjoy!

God bless us and save us and keep us from harm.

Love, Patty

https://lnns.co/YxILBXrsola

Snap Judgment

August 8, 2019

Episode: Gambit

Story: The Little Boxer