Frances Elizabeth McClure Sullivan

A native of Kingston, TN, Frances was a longtime resident of Chattanooga. She was a devoted member of Brainerd Baptist Church for 63 years, and actively participated in the Grace Sunday school class.

She was a graduate of Roane County High School (1936) and Lincoln Memorial University (1938) where she attended on a basketball scholarship. Frances began teaching and coaching for Roane County Department of Education in 1939 and worked during the World War II years for TVA at Hiwassee Dam, NC, where she met her husband, Robert “Pat” Patton Sullivan. She taught in the Chattanooga Public Schools where she served as a Teacher-Aide at Henry L. Barger School until she retired in 1980. She was an avid sports fan of the former City High School Dynamos, the UT Vols and Atlanta Braves.

Frances was preceded in death by her husband of 62 years, Pat Sullivan, and her son, Robert Patton Sullivan, Jr.; her parents, Rufus W. McClure and Rebecca Moore McClure; and fourteen brothers and sisters.

Survivors include her daughter, Sandra (Dr. Charles) Longer, of Chattanooga; her sons, Dr. Douglass C. (Maribel) Sullivan-Gonzalez, of Oxford, MS, and Donald A. (Lori) Sullivan, of Birmingham, AL; her grandchildren, Robert P. Sullivan III, of Baton Rouge, LA, Kevin and Ryan Sullivan of Ringgold, GA, Charles Longer, of Falls Church, VA, Mary Longer Watkins, of Providence, RI, Frances Sullivan-Gonzalez, of Austin, TX, Renee Sullivan-Gonzalez, of Oxford, MS, Leigh and Lauren Sullivan, of Birmingham, AL; daughter-in-law, Joan S. Sullivan, of Chattanooga, TN; and twelve great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 2 pm on Tuesday, March 15, 2016, at the Brainerd Baptist Church with the Rev. Dr. Winford Hendrix officiating. A private interment will be held in Forest Hills Cemetery.

Pallbearers will be her granddaughters and grandsons. The family will receive friends from 4 to 7 pm, Monday, March 14, 2016, at the Chattanooga Funeral Home East Chapel, and from 1 to 2 pm Tuesday at Brainerd Baptist Church prior to the funeral service.

Memorial contributions may be made to Brainerd Baptist Church, 300 Brookfield Avenue, Chattanooga, TN 37411, and to Chambliss Center for Children, 315 Gillespie Road, Chattanooga, TN 37411.

Arrangements are by East Chapel of Chattanooga Funeral Home, 404 S. Moore Road, Chattanooga, TN 37412.