Kathleen Callahan Sullivan
Kathleen Callahan Sullivan, 86, died peacefully on Wednesday, October 21st in the presence of her loving daughter Maura. A Mass of Christian Burial will take place on Friday, October 30th at 11:00 a.m. at St. Joseph Catholic Church (3600 Devine Street, Columbia, SC 29205). Interment at Arlington National Cemetery next to her husband Jack, will occur at a later date.
Daughter of Joseph G. Callahan and Marguerite A. McMahon, Kathleen (Kathy) was born in Holyoke, MA on September 1, 1923. The eldest of three children in a devout Irish Catholic family, she was a graduate of St. Cecilia High School in Englewood, NJ, and the College of St. Elizabeth in Convent Station, NJ where she studied home economics.
Toward the end of WW II Kathy took an absence from St. Elizabeth’s to become part of a wartime program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, NY to reinforce the weapons industry with women talented in mathematics and the sciences. Her work included metallurgical analysis of propeller failures on P-38 fighter aircraft. As one of the few women at RPI, Kathy had the opportunity to be a cheerleader. The engineering focus of the school was retained even in their cheers: “e to the x, dy/dx, e to the x, dx, secant, cosine, tangent, sine, 3.14159, square root, cube root, log of pi, disintegrate them RPI!”
Kathy met Jack Sullivan, a West Point cadet from Philadelphia, on a blind date. They married in Teaneck, NJ on June 19th, 1948 and began their world-wide journey together: Germany for a four year tour of duty near Munich and Heidelberg, Decatur, GA (Jack at Georgia Tech), Fort Knox, KY, Fort Leavenworth, KS, DeBary, FL (Jack in Korea), Redstone Arsenal, AL, Heidelberg and Heilbronn, Germany, Gainesville, FL (Jack teaching ROTC at U of F) and eventually to Columbia, SC where her family settled in the early 1970s.
Kathy was a religious, generous, loving, analytical, smart, strong, determined, perceptive, understanding, compassionate, quick-witted, confident, artistic, creative, curious, sometimes rebellious woman. She was interested in gardening, art, music, dance, museums, sewing, camping, cooking, health, and people and food of other cultures. Many of these characteristics and interests have been passed on to her children. Always skeptical of “the facts”, she taught her children to research and to make their own decisions. Strongly self-reliant, Kathy used A Minnesota Doctor's Home Remedies For Common and Uncommon Ailments and became the family’s self-taught medical expert to the very end. These characteristics and interests enabled her, with her husband Jack, to lovingly raise eight boys and three girls. In addition to the predictable craziness of such a large group, their home was characterized by cooperation, family solidarity, the primacy of education, the importance of hard work and independent thinking. Her strengths were crucial in single-handedly managing the family during periods of solo parenting while Jack was on frequent military maneuvers and during a year-long hardship tour in Korea.
In Gainesville Kathy earned her Master’s Degree in Career Counseling from the University of Florida. In 1972 Jack and Kathy moved with the younger half of the family to Columbia, SC where Kathy worked at the University of South Carolina, counseling returning Vietnam Veterans.
During retirement Jack and Kathy were finally able to choose their own adventures, sometimes traveling military space-available, sometimes on their own, and sometimes with Elderhostel. Their travels, based on their interests as well as the desire to visit with children and grandchildren included Thailand, Eastern Europe, cross-country skiing in the Pacific NW, Germany, camping through Canada and the United States, snorkeling in the Keys, immersive Spanish with a family in Mexico and a trip with Kathy’s brother and his wife to Costa Rica.
Surviving are her brothers, Joseph G. Callahan and his wife Marie of Walnut Creek, CA, John L. Callahan and his wife Carol of Burlington, MA, her sister-in-law Rita Sullivan Adamson and Rita’s husband John of West Chester, PA and Kathy’s children: John J. Sullivan (Mary Beth) of Wilmette, IL; Dennis G. Sullivan (Deborah) of Lafayette, LA; Kevin A. Sullivan (Ana) of Upper Montclair, NJ; James F. Sullivan of Nairobi, Kenya; Brian P. O’Sullivan of Royal Oak, MI; Kathleen Sullivan Moniz (Dave)of Alexandria, VA; Stephen M. Sullivan (Genevieve) of Columbia, SC; Terrence P. Sullivan (Beck) of Blythewood, SC; Sheila Sullivan Fitts (Mike)of Columbia, SC; Maura Sullivan of Columbia, SC, Matthew R. Sullivan (Cara) of Lilburn, GA, and twenty-three grandchildren (Casey, Regan, Regina, Wilbur, Margo, Alanna, Lloyd, Ian, Andrea, Erik, Nick, Patrick, Caitlin, Dan, Ellie, Liam, Ava, Ronan, Joseph, Natalie, Kevin, Alex and Sean). She was predeceased by her husband John Joseph Sullivan, her sister-in-law Peg Sullivan Murphy and her husband Bill, her brother-in-law Jim Sullivan and his wife Betty and her daughter-in-law Marielena Molina Sullivan (wife of James).
The family recognizes and thanks Maura for the wonderful care and companionship that she provided Mom during her last years. We also thank Dr. Schumacher and the nursing and office staff of Senior Primary Care (Parkridge) – Mom truly felt the sincerity of their care.
Memorials may be made to the Scleroderma Foundation (www.scleroderma.org).
