Obituary: Helen Marie Sullivan, 93, formerly of Branford

Obituary and photograph courtesy of the family:

Helen Marie Sullivan, 93, died peacefully on January 17, 2024 in Tustin, California.
She was born on January 22, 1930 in New Haven, Connecticut, to Charles McCarthy and
Annabelle Lawlor.

Helen grew up in Fair Haven in a house full of love and children. She had four brothers (Charles,
James “Mac”, John “Jack” and Donald) and three sisters (Estelle McCarthy, Doris Pfeiffer and
Mary “Betty” Keating).

Even after they all moved away from Fair Haven and settled in other parts of southern
Connecticut, the McCarthy clan remained close, spending holiday gatherings together with their
ever-expanding families. The brothers and sisters, along with their spouses, would always end
the evening gathered together to share their love of stories and songs, singing and laughing well
into the night.

Helen graduated from St. Rose’s High School and went on to work as a bookkeeper at Geometric
Tool Co. It was there that she met Harry Thompson, an aspiring metallurgist. They would marry
on 1952 and move to Branford, Connecticut, where they would have five children starting with
Elizabeth Thompson Lloyd (Rick Lloyd), Kenneth Thompson (Rita Thompson), David
Thompson (Liana Thompson), Harry Thompson (Joy Thompson) and Barbara Mills (Tom
Mills).

In addition to supporting her children’s interests by driving them to various school and athletic
activities and serving as a chaperone to various school trips and functions, Helen was actively
involved in local politics, serving as a registrar with the League of Women Voters. She was also
an avid bowler and loved to play lawn jarts in local leagues.

After her husband Harry passed away on December 4, 1977, Helen returned to the workforce as
a bookkeeper in addition to being there for all of her children, including the ones who had moved
away from home. She married Thomas Sullivan in 1979. They moved to Northport, Florida, in
1989 where they lived until Tom passed away in 1994. Together they would spend hours walking
Florida’s sandy beaches looking for shells and shark’s teeth. They also became avid collectors,
Tom with baseball cards and Helen with Beanie Babies.

Helen remained in Northport for several years, taking care of her older neighbors and spending
time entertaining her children and grandchildren, who loved to visit and play in her pool. She
especially cherished when her sisters Betty (along with her husband Jim) and Doris would escape
the New England winters and spend months together in Florida shopping, going to lunch and
watching Turner Classic Movies after dinner.

Helen moved to Santa Ana, California in 2011, where she first lived with her daughter Elizabeth
before taking up residency at Town and Country Assisted Living. She loved to go to lunch with
her daughters and her niece Marie McCarthy. In her later years she moved into Living the Dream
Care Home where she would sit outside and enjoy the sunshine as she watched planes fly
overhead on their way to John Wayne Airport.

In addition to her five children and her brother Donald, Helen is survived by nine grandchildren,
13 great-grandchildren, and multiple nieces and nephews.

Helen will be buried alongside her first husband Harry at St. Agnes Cemetery in Branford, with
her children and members of her family, including her brother Don, there to say goodbye.