Sullivan, Marie
She overhauled social services, pioneered United Way's 2-1-1 referral system, and helped tens of thousands of struggling Atlantans become self-sufficient. But Sister Marie Sullivan is remembered as much for her joy as for the lives she changed.
Sullivan wore street clothes, and many who knew her from Braves games or Manual's Tavern were surprised to learn she was a nun. She enjoyed sailing, riding in a convertible, drinking scotch, listening to Irish music, going to parties, and raising Bonsai trees.
"While walking on an inner-city street with Marie, I heard a person say, 'Oh! There's Sister Marie!' It was said with such honor and gratitude - as one would speak of a saint. In a sense, she was the inner-city saint of Atlanta," said Sister Patty Caraher, who shared a house with Sullivan over 20 years.
"She spoke the language of laughter," Caraher said.
Sullivan, 90, died February 9 at St. Dominic Villa in Hazel Green, Wisconsin. She had Alzheimer's Disease. She was buried February 11 in Sinsinawa, Wisconsin.
After earning a master's degree in social work and working in a Missouri social services agency, she came to Atlanta in 1983 as social ministry director of Christian Emergency Help Centers. Sullivan expanded programs, and the center was renamed in her honor in 1994.
The Sullivan Center, which merged in 2012 with the Catholic nonprofit St. Vincent de Paul Georgia, helped launch other social service nonprofits.
Read more about Sister Marie Sullivan on ajc.com
