Marian Colleen Sullivan

Marian Colleen Sullivan 

The large, raucous Sullivan clan is diminished. It is with great sorrow that we announce the passing of our beloved Marian on October 12, 2015. Marian Colleen Sullivan, our daughter, sister, niece, auntie and friend, was 58 years old.

She left this world and returned to God with family at her side. She left amid smiles, warm touches, moments of laughter and with defiance, always defiance, for the illnesses that caused her passing. She left, having never once expressed self-pity in her lifetime for those illnesses and for the circumstances that regularly separated her from loved ones and required long hospitalizations.

Marian was, as D.H. Lawrence wrote, a wild thing …

“I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself.”

Our little wild thing was born November 10, 1956, in Lincoln, Neb., to Leo and Marceline Sullivan, the 6th of ultimately nine siblings in a large Navy family that lived in Lincoln; Lansdale and Mainland, Penn; and in Denver, Colo., before settling in Ogden, Utah.

Marian was a member of St. Joseph Catholic Parish and attended St. Joseph Catholic Elementary and High Schools. She graduated from Ogden High School in 1974. She was a waitress and supervisor at El Matador restaurant in Ogden before earning an associates degree in Hotel Management from Stevens Henager College. She was working as an assistant manager at a Salt Lake City hotel in 1981 when illness first struck and left her unable to pursue a career again.  What the illnesses could never claim was Marian’s spirit, larger than life personality, generosity, her sense of fun and madcap adventure, her outgoing friendliness and her willingness to fight. Those were legendary, triumphal, and now eternal.  Marian was a friend, a fighter and a steadfastly loyal person to those she loved, and who loved her back. She was also fearless.

While living on waitress pay and tips, Marian would spend nearly her last dollar taking little brother Jim to Lagoon. She lavished whatever funds she had on purchasing an “Ark of the Covenant” beverage stash for nephews Derek and Paul.  When our father, L.J., passed away she told younger sister Laurie she would put her through college.  She attended high school dances on double dates with big sister Pat. She talked politics and current events with mom and Georgia. She looked out for “the little kids” Laurie, Maureen and Jim and never took guff from the older sibs.  Rather, she dished it out. She loved going west to visit siblings Carol, John and Rita when they lived in California, but equally loved traveling east to Kansas to visit her Schroll godparents and favorite Wenzl cousins, the most willing and best co-conspirators Marian ever had.

Marian was a terrific talker and captivating conversationalist. Incisive, witty and cutting, but also warm and complimentary. She had the mind and memory of an iron trap. She knew every family member’s birthdays and life events when no one else could recall. She was patriotic and as proud of being Irish, and from a military family ,as she was of her “dreamy blue eyes.” She loved animals and was known to hand feed her dog Arby’s junior sandwiches while holding her in her lap.  She engaged willingly and spiritedly in political conversations. She cussed better than any sailor. It wasn’t music to Marian unless it was classic rock – the Doors, Doobie Brothers, Creedence Clearwater and such. She once bought a white, two-door, turbo-charged sports car. She was in her early 40’s then.

Marian walked faster than anyone else – with purpose – like she knew something we didn’t. And when she danced, at large family weddings and celebrations, she  didn’t need a partner. She would strut out onto the floor and go for it. For someone with few possessions in life, it was certain she owned the room.

The family and friends she leaves behind are almost as numerous as the stories of her.  Marian was preceded in death by her father, Leo Sullivan, and her grandparents: ,J.J. and Nellie Sullivan, Frank Schroll, George Burk, and her namesake, Marian Burk.

Those who will miss her daily are her mother, Marceline Sullivan; aunt, Sylvia Schroll; brothers and sisters, Georgia Gilbert, Carol Sullivan, John Sullivan, Rita Sullivan, Pat Sullivan, Laurie Sullivan Maddox, Maureen Sullivan and James Sullivan; her brothers-in-law, John Maddox and Ray Calloway; sister-in-law, Mary Maguire; and the Gen X and Millennial nieces and nephews who will carry the stories and legends forward: Mike and Marlana Hawkins, Derek Jensen and Teresa Cereska, Matt Calvert, Ted and Amy Calvert, Paul Jensen and Teresa Holm, Sarah and Ed Delilo, Ryan Gilbert, Josh Gilbert, Danny Sullivan, Alec Maddox, Aiden Sullivan, Quinn Sullivan, Jarett Sullivan, Tommy Maddox, Jack Maddox, Liam Sullivan and Emmanuel Sullivan, along with a growing number of grand nieces and nephews.

On Marian’s behalf, the family thanks and expresses heartfelt gratitude to the many, many nurses, doctors, clinicians and technicians who cared for Marian over the years, through difficult times and breakthroughs alike. We also thank the hospice workers who made her end days so comforting and peaceful.

We love her, and so we let her go, although she is very much with us always.

“Love is but a song we sing

Fear’s the way we die

You can make the mountains ring

Or make the angels cry

Though the dove is on the wing

And you may not know why.”

Funeral Mass will be held Saturday, October 17, 2015 at 10 am at St Joseph Catholic Church, 514 24th Street, Ogden, Utah.  A viewing will be held Friday evening, October 16, 2015 from 6 to 8 pm with Holy Rosary at 7 pm at Aaron’s Mortuary, 496 24th Street, Ogden, Utah.  Interment Ogden City Cemetery.