Schoharie County NYGenWeb Site

Mrs. Joan O'Sullivan obituary

contributed by Tonya Frickey

Joan O'Sullivan
religious and political activist, 76
[Published 1-Aug-2001]

     SCHOHARIE - Mrs. Joan O'Sullivan, 76, formerly of Route 30, Schoharie-Central Bridge Road, died Monday at the Budd Terrace Nursing Home in Atlanta, Ga., after a long illness.
     Mrs. O'Sullivan was born in New York City and had lived in Schoharie from 1968 to 1991. She later moved to California, Florida and Georgia.
     She attended St. John's University in New York City, Grailville College in Ohio and the University at Albany.
     In the 1940s, Mrs. O'Sullivan worked for Dorothy Day in the Manhattan headquarters of the Catholic Worker.
     She became chairwoman of the Schoharie County Department of Social Services Advisory Committee in 1974. She served on the board of the Community Action Program, which helped bring more medical care to the Middleburgh-Schoharie area. Mrs. O'Sullivan served on the advisory committee of the Office for the Aging and represented Schoharie County in reports on nutrition to former President Carter. She also served as a New York state delegate to the 1981 White House Conference on the Aging.
     She worked for Catholic Charities from 1979 to 1990.
     She and Marie Pracher founded Family and Community Services of Cobleskill, where they started the first program for training home health aides in upstate New York.
     She was the inter-county home care recruitment coordinator for the Albany diocese.
     Mrs. O'Sullivan was active in the right-to-life movement in the 1970s.
     She was a communicant of St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church and its Altar Rosary Society. She was a religious education teacher for 16 years and served on Bishop Howard Hubbard's Albany Diocesan Pastoral Council. She was a delegate to the Washington, D.C., Conference on Diocesan Councils. Mrs. O'Sullivan professed as a Third Order Franciscan in 1983.
     Survivors include four sons, Denis O'Sullivan of Melbourne, Fla., Kieran O'Sullivan of Portland, Ore., Sean O'Sullivan of Cambridge, Mass., and Chris O'Sullivan of Cotaki, Calif.; four daughters, Rez O'Sullivan of Chico, Calif., Doreen O'Sullivan of New York City, Anne O'Sullivan of Atlanta, Ga., and Katie O'Sullivan Pittman of Ashland, Ore.; a sister, Regina Kinny of Louisville, Ky.; and four grandchildren.
     A Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, Main Street.
     Calling hours will be from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday at the Langan Funeral Home, 227 Main St.
     Burial will be in Old Stone Fort Cemetery.
     Contributions may be made to Catholic Charities, Family and Community Services, 41 W. Main St., Cobleskill, NY 12043.

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