George W. Sullivan

George W. Sullivan, the son of Irish immigrant parents, was born in New York on July 5, 1882. After graduating from the U. of New York, he went to Montreal in 1906 when the town and its iron ore mining were in their early stages. He served as a teacher and principal at the Old Location and Roosevelt grade schools until retiring fifty years later. His teaching influenced the academic, cultural, social, and spiritual lives of families with grade school children, and students who passed through his classes benefited from the high standards of education he maintained. With intense interest and dedication, he guided children of immigrant parents in learning to speak, read, and write English and to become self-confident. He encouraged children to seek knowledge and remain responsible and decent citizens, and in later years many of his students were the children and grandchildren of his first students. He also voluntarily helped immigrant families meet the requirements for naturalization. His teaching career paralleled Montreal's mining era: he arrived in the year the Montreal Mining Co. authorized the sinking of its No.4 mine shaft and fifteen years before excavation began for the famous No.5 shaft. When mining in the town ended in 1962, he had been retired only six years. He became renowned for his long and devoted service to children and townspeople, leaving a lasting mark of humanity in the history of Montreal, The City Beautiful.

Montreal, Wisconsin · United States