Dennis "Sully" Sullivan

Sully was born in Houston, TX to Dennis Smith Sullivan and Ruby Mae Sullivan.At age three he and his mother moved to Vallejo, CA where he attended McKinley, Lincoln, Vallejo Jr. High and Vallejo High Schools. Sully quit school in the 10th grade and shipped out in the Merchant Marines for one year.Shortly after turning 14 years old Sully was hired by the Mare Island Ferry Co. as a deck hand. Six months later he applied for and received his license from the Coast Guard to operate the ferry boats. He worked there for approximately 45 years both full and part time. When Mare Island closed down he piloted the last ferry to land at Mare Island.At the age of 18 Sully met his future wife, Pauline Carlson. Six months later they were married. Their marriage lasted 61 years. They had three children, Dennis Jr., Sharon Denise and Kenneth Wayne (Cynthia).In 1950 at age 21 Sully applied and was hired by the Vallejo Police Department. Due to his motorcycle riding skills he was placed in the Traffic Bureau where he spent approximately 12 years patrolling around the Vallejo High School and North Vallejo. He was transferred to Investigations where he and his partner received a commendation for having high clearance rate for burglaries solved. The department sent him to Polygraph School where he received his license to conduct polygraph exams. After his retirement in 1981 he worked for Vallejo and numerous other local cities doing polygraph work and background investigations.When Sully was 35 years old he met his father and was told he had two half brothers, Bill (deceased) and Howard (Marion) of Idaho, and two half sisters, Louise (deceased) and Gwen of Tulsa, OK.Sully loved the outdoors. He was an avid water skier and won numerous trophies in water ski racing and tournament skiing. He sailed Hobie Cat sailboats and raced jet skis in the Police and Fire Summer Games winning over 50 gold medals. Even at the age of 87 he was still riding motorcycles.Sully was a past member of NorCal Ski Club and Marina Lions, a current member of Moose Lodge, Spyder Riders of America-Sacramento Chapter and Iron Steed HOG Motorcycle Club of Vacaville.In addition to his children, Sully leaves behind his grandchildren, Danielle Jackson (Vic Smith), David Gondola (Emily), Dustin Sullivan (Adrienne), Carina Sullivan; great-grandchildren, Isaiah, Nadia, Scarlett, Dawson, Aubry, Harrison and Genevieve and his friend and partner of several years, Glenda Cooper. He will be missed by many.
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