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Margaret Rose Sullivan
1938 – 2024
A life of warmth, curiosity, and extraordinary love.
Welcome
Margaret Rose Sullivan spent eighty-six years moving through the world with a rare kind of grace — the sort that noticed the wildflowers beside the highway and still remembered the name of every child she ever taught. Born in rural Vermont, raised on stories told by firelight, and shaped by decades of quiet courage, Margaret was a woman whose life deserved to be read like a great novel: slowly, gratefully, with a cup of tea in hand.
This was her story — told in her own words and in the words of the people who loved her most.
Her Story, Chapter by Chapter
Milestones
Born in Stowe, Vermont, during a March snowstorm
Reads her first grown-up novel — Little Women — and decides she will be a teacher
Becomes the first woman in the Sullivan family to attend university
Graduates with honours; begins teaching at Riverside Elementary, Burlington
Marries Robert Sullivan on a September afternoon in Vermont
First child, Daniel, is born
Youngest child James arrives — the funniest surprise of our lives
Named Head of English Department at Westport Middle School
Retires after 34 years in the classroom
Becomes a grandmother for the first time — Lily is born
Celebrates 60 years of marriage with Robert and all seven grandchildren around one table
Quotes & Reflections
"The most important thing I ever taught wasn't grammar or literature. It was that every person has a story worth telling — including you."
On her teaching philosophy
"I have never once regretted stopping to look at something beautiful. Not once. The world rewards slowness if you let it."
In conversation with her daughter Susan, 2019
"Robert and I have had our hard seasons. Every marriage does. But I chose him on that September afternoon, and I would choose him again every morning."
On sixty years of marriage
"My advice? Be curious. Stay curious. Curiosity is the only thing that never gets old."
To her grandchildren, Christmas 2023
A Life in Photographs
(Illustrative photos — sample only)
Vermont, 1952
University days, 1958
Wedding day, 1964
Family summer, 1978
In the classroom, 1988
With Lily, 2012
What the Family Remembers
Daniel Sullivan
Son
"Mum came to every single one of my football games in middle school — even the ones she clearly didn't understand. She'd cheer at completely the wrong moments and then ask me very sincere questions about 'the round one' afterward. I didn't care. She was there."
Susan Sullivan-Marsh
Daughter
"When I was nine, I was struggling to read aloud in class and I came home crying. Mum sat with me every evening for three weeks. She never once made me feel like I was slow — she made me feel like I was someone worth waiting for. I think about that now every time my own children struggle with something."
Lily Marsh
Granddaughter (age 12)
"Gran always has hot chocolate ready when I come over and she asks me what I'm reading like it's the most important question in the world. It makes me feel like reading is something cool."
A Letter to My Grandchildren
My darlings —
I've been asked to write something for you to read one day, perhaps when I am no longer here to say it out loud. Here is what I most want you to know:
You are the best chapters of my life. Each of you arrived and made the world more interesting, more surprising, and more full of laughter than it was before. Watch over each other. Argue sometimes — you'll miss it when you can't. Be curious about other people's lives. Read books that make you uncomfortable. Forgive quickly. Call your parents.
And if you ever find yourself walking through a field, or sitting in a garden, or standing in the kitchen at midnight making tea — and something ordinary strikes you as beautiful — stop for a moment. That feeling is a gift. It was the thing that made my life feel like more than the sum of its days.
I love you more than I have ever managed to say.
All my heart, Gran
— Margaret Rose Sullivan, December 2024
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