Maureen Sullivan

11 October, 1944 - 26 October, 2019

Maureen Sullivan was not a common mortal. She was a tenacious, funny, loving, eccentric, spiritual being. A firefly who wore miniskirts and goofy socks. Just never at the same time, as they don’t match.

Her life started in Chicago, with siblings Nancy, John, Patty, Jim, the late Tom and the late RT. After a brief stint as a glamorous stewardess, she wanted to find a French man, and found one, of all places, in Minnesota. She and Yves Marcel moved to Montreal in 1969 and founded a happy family (two fabulous kids, Valérie and Christophe). She co-founded the precursor to Monster.com: the Montreal Job Exchange and fearlessly took on many other professional challenges, at Honeywell and Trudeau-senior’s Liberal party. A tragic accident left her with a severe speech disorder. However, that would never stop her, as nothing and no one could.

In 1993, Maureen started to build a new life with Frank Nixon of Montreal and Knowlton. Together to the end, he witnessed first-hand her unique and unorthodox gift for spiritual healing. He marvelled how she generously sprinkled her infectious joy for living, to family, friends and strangers alike. He was amazed at how she brought out a smile in the worst cynic and offered hope and solace to troubled souls. He was gratified that she always gave away her special gift, expecting nothing in return. Frank knew he was not alone. He would never be again.

And so, to more recent events, on October 24, 2019, our beautiful Maureen, the firefly lighting our paths, fell gravely ill and couldn’t recover. Though by sheer will she gave Christophe, Valérie, Frank and siblings the time they needed to say goodbye. She sowed so many seeds of love that are now germinating beautifully.

If you wish to make a donation in Maureen’s name, the following charities were close to her heart:

Old Brewery Mission: https://www.missionoldbrewery.ca/fr/donnez/don-en-memoire/

Association québécoise des personnes aphasiques: http://www.aphasie.ca/wpaqpa/ (in English: http://www.aphasie.ca/wpaqpa/en/ )