Raymond A. Sullivan

1923 - 2014

Raymond A. Sullivan
Feb 2, 1923 - Nov 16, 2014
Resident of Walnut Creek
Ray Sullivan, a resident of Walnut Creek, passed away after a brief illness.
A native of San Francisco, Ray was the youngest son of Mary and Patrick Sullivan of County Cork, Ireland. He was preceded in death by siblings John, Tim, Jim, Danny, Herb, Jerry and Muriel. He is survived by his brother Paul and many cherished nieces and nephews. He was a loving husband of 66 years to his wife Virginia and adored by his daughter Donna Costello (Terry) and granddaughter Coleen.
Ray attended St. Paul's Grammar School and graduated from Sacred Heart High School in 1941. Starting with selling newspapers on the corner in grammar school, he worked at every type of job throughout high school from bike messenger to molding hot steel in a mattress factory. When war was declared he enlisted in the Navy and served as a signalman on an LST and was decorated for his participation in many amphibious invasions in the South Pacific.
Upon returning home and marrying his sweetheart, Virginia, he made his living as a butcher, working in his own shop and finally at the Safeway plant in Richmond after moving to Walnut Creek in 1969. From 1969 to the present he was a parishioner at St. John Vianney where he served as an usher and a member of SIRS. His "hobby" was serving others. "What can I get you" or "How can I help" were his most often used phrases. He was selfless, supportive, tireless, brave, loved to laugh and joke, ALWAYS there when needed, and to those who called him friend, he was the best one ever.
It's impossible to sum up the life of a man with a heart as big as Ray's, except to say that he quietly lived his faith and by doing so he brightened the hearts and lives of everyone he met.
Friends and family are invited to a visitation on Sunday, Nov. 23, 2014 at Hull's Mortuary, 1139 Saranap Ave., Walnut Creek from 4:00 – 6:00p.m. with a Vigil following. Funeral Mass on Monday, Nov. 24, 2014, 11:30a.m. at St. John Vianney Catholic Church, 1650 Ygnacio Valley Road, Walnut Creek.