Mariana Sullivan

Mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, aunt, churchgoer, and friendly neighbor, Mariana Sullivan passed into eternal life on August 13 after a brief and brave struggle with cancer. She died at home surrounded by all eight of her daughters and two sons.

Mariana was born in Racine, Wisconsin on March 16, 1933. Her father, Guillermo Garcia-Morán, was a Mexican national who worked as a translator. Her mother, Roberta Moran (née McNelty), was a nurse. While Mariana was still an infant, the three resettled in Mexico City, where Mariana spent most of her childhood with her siblings and numerous nearby relatives. She attended local Catholic schools and became proficient not only in Spanish but also French.

After the family moved to Torreón in the Mexican state of Coahuila, Mariana was old enough to return to the United States for high school, and her parents sent her to Mount St. Gertrude Academy in Boulder, Colorado. There, she excelled in her studies, mastering English and keeping up her Spanish and French. Her high-school yearbook noted that she was the Academy’s language star.

After finishing high school, Mariana worked briefly for her father’s business in Torreón and then returned stateside to pursue a nursing career at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Denver. While caring for Agnes Sullivan, Mariana met Agnes’s son, Raymond, with whom she became engaged. The two were married on June 13, 1953.

At the time, Raymond was a chaplain’s assistant at Lowry Air Force Base and the newlyweds lived in Denver. But soon after, the couple moved to Cañon City, Colorado, where Raymond began his longtime career with the Colorado Department of Corrections and later with the Division of Juvenile Parole. Mariana became a busy stay-at-home mom, raising the first of seven children there. Opportunity took the family to Pueblo, Colorado, and then to Denver, during which time Mariana gave birth to three more children, rounding out the number of offspring to ten.

In addition to perfecting domestic arts (she was an accomplished seamstress and her Mexican casseroles were a favorite of family and friends), Mariana worked for a time at a nursing home in Aurora as well as in the cafeteria of a local junior high. She always enjoyed the summer camping trips her family took in the mountains of Colorado as well as numerous excursions back to Mexico and a monthlong tour of France, Spain, England, and Ireland with her husband and four children, where she impressed all with her trilingual skills.

The family moved a final time in 1978 to the rapidly expanding community of Littleton/Centennial, where they joined St. Thomas More Church and became stalwart parishioners. Mariana joined Helping Hands and other volunteer and spiritual programs at the parish. When Raymond passed away in 2012 after 59 years of marriage, Mariana continued their commitment to St. Thomas More by keeping an hour vigil in the adoration chapel during the wee hours every Sunday morning. She took courses with Denver Catholic Biblical School and also joined a group of worshipers from the parish who met weekly to read and discuss the Gospel and Epistles for the upcoming masses.  A lifelong devotee of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mariana always marked her feast day every December and visited the Virgin’s image enshrined in the Basilica in Mexico City.

Mariana was an avid bird watcher and kept a number of feeders in her backyard. Hummingbirds in particular delighted her. To her family’s amazement, she was visited by one that hovered for a moment at the window next to her bed on the day she died. Those who witnessed it couldn’t help remarking that it was most likely her beloved husband, Raymond, coming to take her soul to heaven.

Mariana is survived by sons Peter, of Castle Rock, Colo., and John, of Middletown, Calif., and daughters Kathleen Snyder, of Albion, Mich., Mary Theresa Bialick, of Beverly Hills, Fla., Anne Sullivan-Norungolo, of Tierra Verde, Fla., Roberta LaPlante, of Hancock, N.H., Mary Agnes Wisentaner, of Grand Rapids, Mich., Monica Javorcic, of Aurora, Colo., Ruth Saout, of Highlands Ranch, Colo., and Christine Martinez of Aurora, Colo. She is also remembered by her brothers Thomas Moran of Tijuana, Mexico, Jim Moran of Fallbrook, Calif., and her sister Patricia Dunselman of Santa Barbara, Calif. Honoring her as well are a daughter-in-law (Rhonda Sullivan of Castle Rock, Colo.), seven sons-in-law (Daniel Snyder, Robert Bialick, Daniel LaPlante, Jay Wisentaner, Bob Javorcic, Hassan Saout, and Adrian Martinez), 24 grandchildren, and 26 great-grandchildren. Mariana was predeceased by her sons-in-law Joseph S. Tryon and Anthony Norungolo along with her granddaughter Laura LaPlante.

A recitation of the rosary will be held Thursday, August 18, 2022, at 6 p.m. at Horan & McConaty Family Chapel, 5303 East County Line Road (one block west of South Holly Street) in Centennial, Colorado 80122. A funeral Mass will be held on Friday, August 19, 2022, at 11 a.m. at St. Thomas More Catholic Church, 8035 South Quebec Street, in Centennial, Colorado 80112.

In lieu of flowers or other gifts, the family asks that donations be made to the Order of Carmelites Discalced c/o St. Thomas More Church (8035 South Quebec St., Centennial, CO 80112) or to St. John Vianney Theological Seminary (Development Office, P.O. Box 101360, Denver, CO 80250) in memory of Mariana Sullivan or please make a donation to St. Thomas More Catholic Parish, 8035 S Quebec St Centennial, CO to the Respect for Life Fund .