Patricia Sullivan

Patricia Ann Murphy Sullivan
8/4/1919 - 10/4/2020
Patricia Ann Murphy Sullivan was often found at the kitchen table, hand under her chin, reading the newspaper. Throughout her 101 years of children, marriage, work and travel she continually listened, engaged, and fostered independent thought. She went out of her way to educate her children and family in critical thinking and to pay attention to what goes on beyond our own small worlds.

Pat passed away peacefully at her home in Los Gatos on October 4, 2020. She was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin on August 4, 1919 to Neil Murphy (first General Manager of the Green Bay Packers) and Elsie Butler Murphy (a real estate agent and sometime opera singer).

Her beloved husband Jack of 67 years passed on almost 10 years to the day. They had a rich life together filled with family gatherings, traveling and entertaining international business associates and friends.

As a girl she was a basketball running guard at Wauwatosa High School, before her family moved West to Piedmont California in 1936. She studied at UC Berkeley when WW II broke out and subsequently joined the Shell Oil Research Department as a library researcher. There, Pat was a founding member of the "Shell Belles".

Pat had many adventures. In a 1959 Ford Country Squire station wagon and with her sister-in-law Nora O'hare in tow, Pat drove her five kids across the country which instilled in them a love of the diversity and complexity of America.

At the height of the 1960s, Patricia at 50 years old, earned her Bachelors in Library Sciences. As a dedicated lifelong reader she enjoyed her career at the Los Gatos Library for the next 20 years. She volunteered at Ming Quong (a center for developmentally and emotionally disabled children), assisted in Patterning (a revolutionary hands-on therapy for the severely physically disabled) and gave her time to Loaves and Fishes, St. Mary's and the Scouts.

At age 93 she high-tailed it to the desert for the arts festival Burning Man accompanied by her longtime library and bridge playing pal, Jean Krchik.

Her sister Kathleen Reilley, at 99 is sharp as a tack and resides in sunny Los Angeles.

She leaves behind her children: Nancy (Michael Apicelli) of San Francisco, John (Kina) of San Francisco, Jim (Jackie Marr) of Santa Cruz, Margi (Bill VanDyk) of Pt. Richmond, Terry of Santa Cruz and Jane of Sausalito will continue to celebrate her.

Grandkids—Meghan, Caitlin, Daniel, Jamie, Colette, Jake, Cody and Jameson.
Great grandkids—Ethan, Aldon, Quinn and Harper.

She was predeceased by her brothers Fr. John, Neil and sister Joanne.

She was well loved.

Donations in her name may be made to Southern Poverty Law Center: http://donate.splcenter.org.