Sullivan, CSJ, Dennis Marie
Sister Dennis Marie Sullivan (Denise Jane Sullivan), a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Chambery, West Hartford, CT, died at Bojnowski Manor, New Britain, on May 22, 2023. Born in Waterbury, CT, on April 15, 1926 of the late Dennis Patrick Sullivan and Mary Elizabeth (Mccarthy) Sullivan, Sister Dennis Marie entered the Sisters of St. Joseph on October 15, 1948 and celebrated her Profession of Vows on August 24, 1954. She was 97 years of age and in her 74th year of Religious Life.
Sister Dennis Marie earned a Bachelor of Science Degree from Diocesan Sisters College, West Hartford, CT, and a Master Degree in nursing with a major in Educational Administration from the Catholic University of America, Washington, DC. Sister next devoted forty three years ministering at St. Francis Hospital, Hartford, CT, first as head nurse in medical and surgical and in obstetrics, followed by the position of nurse instructor at St. Francis Nursing School and, later she became Assistant Director at this same school. In 1966, Sister Dennis Marie became Director of St. Francis Nursing School, a position she held for twenty eight years. In 1967, Sister directed the move of the nursing school to Desales Hall on Asylum St., Hartford, CT (formerly The Bond Hotel) where in the 1970’s, 300 student nurses resided and studied. During her tenure, Sister Dennis Marie oversaw 2000 students become St. Francis Nurses.
While at St. Francis School of Nursing, Sister Dennis Marie served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Connecticut Nurses Association, was a chairperson of the Association of Diploma of Schools of Nursing and a chairperson of the Council of Deans and Directors of Schools of Nursing. In 1990 Sister was recipient of the award from the Connecticut League of Nursing for her Outstanding Contribution to Nursing in Connecticut and, in 1994 she received the Spirit Award for her Outstanding Performance and Commitment to St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center. While retiring in 1994 as Director of St. Francis School of Nursing, Sister Dennis Marie remained a corporate member of the hospital and a supporter of its activities. She also remained in service to the Alumnae Association of St. Francis School of Nursing, always attending their yearly gatherings and keeping in touch with the former graduates. Sister Dennis was witness on June 15, 1997, to the last graduating class of the nursing school, a school that numbered 5818 graduates in the 98 years of its existence. Many nurses have shared how she has positively impacted and formed their lives – describing her as gentle, strict, authentic, gracious, kind, understanding, direct and pleasant.
Sister Dennis, on retiring, cared for the elderly Sisters in the Provincial House of the Sisters. Being a deeply spiritual woman of peaceful serenity, she quietly went about tending to the Sisters’ needs, never looking for anything in return. In her later years, losing partial eyesight, she still managed to help the Sisters at table, in chapel or anywhere she met them. She was a gentle woman filled with love and gratitude for the friends she made throughout the years at St. Francis Hospital and among the many Sisters she loved and who loved her in return.
In addition to her Sisters in community, Sister Dennis Marie is survived by many nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews. She is predeceased by her brothers Joseph, John, William, Roger, David Stephen and Thomas Sullivan and her sisters, Esther Sullivan, Anne Sullivan Grise, Patricia Sullivan Savage and Helen Sullivan Fox.
The Sisters of St. Joseph are deeply grateful for the tender care given to Sister Dennis Marie at Sedgwick Cedars (the Provincial House of the Sisters of St. Joseph) and at Bojnowski Manor in New Britain, CT. Calling hours will be held at the Sisters of St. Joseph Provincial House at 27 Park Road, West Hartford, CT on Thursday, May 25, from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. There will be a Mass of Christian Burial on Friday, May 26th, at 11:00 a.m. at the Sisters of St. Joseph Provincial House Chapel, with a calling hour from 10:00 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. Burial will be in the Sisters of St Joseph Cemetery on Ringgold Street in West Hartford immediately following the Mass. In lieu of flowers, we ask that you consider a memorial donation to the Sisters of St. Joseph, c/o of Office of Mission Advancement, 650 Willard Ave., Newington, CT 06111. Fisette-batzner Funeral Home, 20 Bonair Ave., Newington has care of arrangements.