Obituary of Joel P. Sullivan
Our warrior, Joel Sullivan passed away on September 25 from Glioblastoma, a brain tumor nicknamed the Beast. He fought the Beast for over 27 years with everything he had. He died as he lived, surrounded by his beloved family.
Joel was born on October 4, 1957. His early years were spent in Southern California with his parents Barbara and Bill, 3 brothers David, Mark, and Jeff, and sister Teryl. He had a large extended family nearby with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and many cousins. With his mother's remarriage, the family instantly expanded with the addition of 6 more brothers and sisters. Lots of stories are told of many adventures during that time while crammed in the back of a giant station wagon.
Joel and Beth met in the early days of college, married four years later and went on to raise three beautiful children; Kirstin, Andrew, and Tyler. Joel found his true calling when he became a father. His children benefited from his boundless love, endless patience, and energy for them. He was the dad who would walk in from a long day at work and fling himself down on the floor to play with his small children. Later; sports, camping, hiking, biking, school events. He taught, guided, and showed them by his own example how to; navigate through the world, treat those around him with kindness and respect, live with a strong moral code, find humor in everyday life, and change a tire and check the oil.
Joel was such a multi-faceted guy. He was interested in all sorts of things like history, science, theater, music, woodworking, mechanics, and electronics. A great one to have at a trivia game! He was a talented and graceful athlete. As a young guy he played many sports including football, baseball, softball and tennis. In college, he played lacrosse on the Cal Poly Lacrosse team. Later he coached, refereed, and umpired youth soccer and Little League.
While Joel worked for many years in computer technology, he found his greatest satisfaction building homes for Habitat for Humanity. He loved being outside, working alongside the other volunteers, and the lovely families he helped. The Beast shut that down for him far too soon and he tried very hard to get well enough and strong enough to get back to it.
Throughout his entire life Joel was known for; his generous and helping heart, patiently walking the halls at night with a sick child, working the tv remote, and diligently topping off the fluids in the cars. He was also well-known for being hopelessly late to everything, watching boring history shows on tv, and heaven help you, don't ask him for directions to anything.
Joel leaves behind his wife Beth; his much loved children Kirstin (Daniel), Andrew, and Tyler; his most precious granddaughters Avery and Elise; his mother Barbara, brothers David, Mark, and Jeff; parents in-law John and Janet; sibs in-law Karen, Abby, Sarah, and Ben; extended siblings Lee, Robert, Jacquina, Rossilyn, and Alice; half-sister Michelle; and many aunts, cousins, nieces, and nephews.
To honor Joel's legacy and memory; reach out to help someone, treat those around you with humanity, dignity, and humor; spend time with a child. In that way, he will live on forever. Joel will stay in our hearts forever smiling, forever laughing, forever missed.
