Remembering Lee Sullivan Elliott: Despite age gap, sisters forged tight bond

Written by: Martha Sullivan on Mar 6, 2007 6:42 AM EST

My sister, Lee Elliott, helped to forge my progressive values from an early age and most recently, supported my activism over the past 3 years by taking care of our home and dogs, while I was out organizing, protesting, lobbying.  I just wanted to share the tribute that the North County Times published about her this past weekend, after her sudden, untimely passing last Wednesday. 

Martha Sullivan

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/03/03//obituaries/feature/3_2_0716_59_45.txt

Remembering Lee Sullivan Elliott: Despite age gap, sisters forged tight bond

By: BARBARA HENRY - Staff Writer

North County Times, March 3, 2007

POWAY -- They were the bookends in the family, and the ties that bound them at the beginning of life continued to the end.

Lee Sullivan Elliott, who died Wednesday of a suspected heart attack, was a young teenager when her only sister was born. In a comment forever recorded in family lore, she told her very pregnant mother just before she went into the hospital that if this baby turned out to be yet another boy, "they could just leave it at the hospital."

"She was the eldest of seven and I was youngest of seven --- all boys in between, so we called it a baloney sandwich," her younger sister Martha Sullivan joked Friday.

Despite the 13-year age gap between them, they were close simply because they were sisters in a family of boys.

"She was almost a second mom (to me)," Sullivan said. "She's the reason I know anything about art and music."

Not only does Sullivan now know a lot about art thanks to her older sister, she's surrounded by her sister's collection of brightly colored modern paintings and sculptures.

In 2001, the two sisters agreed to leave their jobs and sell their homes in Bay Area to take of their ailing mother in San Diego.

Although they each bought their own homes, they ended up sharing a house together in Poway. And they remained together after their mother died last year.

"We had people say, 'How in the hell do you live with your sister?' But we got along great," Sullivan said. "We always tried to stay focused on what the true object was. Not get hung up about all the petty stuff. It also helped that we could be pretty direct with each other."

And it helped that they had very different personalities.

"I'm the rabble-rouser and she's the person in the background," Sullivan said, commenting that her older sister could be called an "enabler" because she took care of the house and the dogs while Sullivan crusaded against the war in Iraq.

Her older sister didn't tend to put the brakes on her anti-war activities too much, but "she did request that I not get arrested" during a peace march in Washington, D.C., in January, Sullivan recalled.

Elliott had reason to worry --- Sullivan had been arrested two years ago during a sit-in outside the White House.

Elliott was born Feb. 20, 1946, in Johnson, Tenn., but the family didn't stay there long. Her dad had a job with FBI and they moved frequently, her younger sister recalled.

Elliott started college, then quit and became a secretary. Later, she returned to school and steadily worked throughout the 1970s until she had a bachelor's and a master's degree in history from Cal State Sacramento, her sister said.

In the late 1970s, she began to excel at her career, her sister said, and rose quickly through the administrative ranks of two of the West Coast's largest law firms -- Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliffe; and Pillsbury, Madison and Sutro.

"She knew how to deal with people," her sister said. "She was a very generous person, a very kindhearted person, but she was also very firm (and didn't pick favorites) ... that made her a really, really effective manager."

Elliott retired from her position in 2001 to come to San Diego. She was known for her cooking ability, her vast art collection and her love of dogs -- especially Pekingese. Her favorite painting wasn't one of her dogs, but of her sister's Australian cattle dog, Sullivan said.

"She loved it because it so absolutely captured Sydney," she said.

The family plans to host a celebration of Elliott's life at Moonlight Beach -- the place she loved most in San Diego County. The brothers have already told Sullivan that after the ceremony she's required to provide the dish that Elliott did best -- the Spanish rice dish paella.

Sullivan says she's not sure she can.

OBIT:  www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/03/04//obituaries/3_3_0717_41_12.txt

Lee Sullivan Elliott

Lee Sullivan Elliott passed away suddenly at home in Poway, California, on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2007.

Born on Feb. 20, 1946, in Johnson City, Tennessee, Lee had lived in Poway for four years, after moving to San Diego in 2001 from San Francisco, where she lived for over 20 years.

Lee came to San Diego with her sister, Martha, to be closer to their parents, Bill and Mary Sullivan. They shared in caring for their mother up until her passing last year.

Lee worked her way through college as a legal secretary in Washington, D.C., Boston, and Sacramento, and received her B.A. and M.A. in history in the mid-to-late '70s, from California State University in Sacramento. In the late '70s, she began her rise through the administrative ranks of two of the West Coast's largest law firms (Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliffe in San Francisco and L.A., and Pillsbury, Madison and Sutro in San Francisco), where she became well-known, respected and appreciated for her fairness, kindness and wisdom. Lee retired from managing law firms in 2001.

Lee treasured her family, especially her children and grandchild. She is survived by her children, Sheila Kathryn "Katie" Elliott of Boulder, Colo., and Stewart Gregory Elliott of Stuttgart, Germany, their spouses, Jimmy La Vita and Robin Elliott, and Greg's and Robin's daughter, Elizabeth; her father, William Sullivan of Poway; her sister, Martha Sullivan of Del Mar; and her four brothers, Chris Sullivan of Tampa, Fla, Ted Sullivan of Pasadena, Calif., Bob Sullivan of San Diego, and Don Sullivan of Seneca, S.C.; her sisters-in-law with whom she was very close, Pat Sullivan of Tamp, Fla., Judy Sullivan of Seneca, S.C., and Lynne Sullivan of La Canada-Flintridge, Calif.; her nieces and nephews, Brian Sullivan of Acworth, Ga., Alex Sullivan and Ashley Sullivan of Tampa, Fla., and Ben Sullivan and Emily Sullivan of La Canada-Flintridge, Calif.; dear friend, Deborah Williams and her daughter, Paige, of Brentwood, Calif., and a broad and deep network of family and friends she cultivated and cared for throughout her life, extending across the country and beyond.

A memorial church service is scheduled for 1 p.m. Monday, March 5, in the Chapel at the Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian Church, 17010 Pomerado Road, San Diego; and a nonreligious memorial will be held at 12:30 p.m. Friday, March 9, at Moonlight Beach in Encinitas, Lee's very favorite spot in San Diego County. A memorial service is also planned in San Francisco at a later date and location to be announced.

In lieu of flowers, Lee would wish you to honor her memory with a donation in joining her longtime support for the San Diego Humane Society and/or The Fisher House Foundation (www.fisherhouse.org), which enables family members to be close to their wounded military loved ones during their hospitalization, treatment and recovery.

Tags: