o be a great Pastor. Indians need unceasing pastoral calling. We claim about 350 communicants, although many have been inactive too long.
Salary is $4,800 plus pension and 7¢ a mile for travel plus rectory and utilities. Ethete is 14 miles from Lander (population 3,500) on a good road. Lander has good schools, doctors, hospital, stores, etc.
Bishop Hunter formally offered the position to Tim in mid-January, 1959 and Tim gladly accepted. Tim, Reinette, and Anna arrived in Ethete in early February where Tim plunged into the work with a ready willingness to be a priest and pastor to the Indians. In addition to the usual pastoral ministry, responsibilities included the overseeing of the property (everything from water lines and septic tanks to building maintenance) and providing direction to staff members, working with committees, and dealing with personal problems among the Indians, including the excessive use of alcohol by some of them.
Tim, who long had a reputation for fast driving, continued this pattern in Wyoming. A letter from the Archdeacon stated it in this way:
I learned something the other day in Lander which I felt I should pass on to you. Roger Budrow, Ernie Newton and I were having coffee the other day when I was in Lander, and the State Highway Patrolman joined us in the booth.
He mentioned to me that “one of my colleagues” was having an eye kept on him not only by the State Patrol, but also by the Lander City Police. The conversation left little to the imagination—it was you that he was talking about with regard to speeding both on the highway and in town.
As long as they seem to be aware of this situation, I thought that I would mention it to you and leave it up to your good judgment as to what to do about that, and also to suggest that you check to see what the status of your California license plates happens to be according to the reciprocal agreements between the two states concerned.
I am sure that a fine would not affect you financially, but the adverse publicity which might result could do you and the Church a good deal of harm, so I am relaying to you what I heard…period.
During the period Tim and Reinette lived in Wyoming, they made a trip to California. On the return trip they were involved in a serious auto accident that resulted in hospitalization for Reinette and Anna for a few days. The other driver was cited for the sad accident in which his small daughter was killed.
Apparently, early in 1960 some conflicts began to develop between Tim and members of the staff, resulting in an expression of concern by the Bishop. Tim met with the Bishop in February, and in a subsequent letter to another party Tim indicated that “…what he [the Bishop] had to say was as surprising as it was unexpected.” The situation seemed to improve somewhat, but on May 1 Tim submitted his written resignation. The Bishop accepted the resignation effective June 30, 1960. In his letter the Bishop stated ‘This has been a difficult decision to make, as I am appreciative of many fine things you have done since coming to Wyoming…but in view of you yourself having written out your resignation, I am sure you must have concluded that you could have a more effective ministry elsewhere.”
Writing again in July, the Bishop expressed his feelings thusly: “Frankly, you are a person who is very difficult to understand. One moment I think I understand you and then in the very next time I hear from you or talk with you, I realize that I don’t understand you at all. I’ve tried to support you—if you only knew how much criticism I’ve come into from time to time when I’ve taken or given certain advice!…I am very fond of you and your family and obviously would never hurt you or anyone, but it just came to the place where I felt that it was necessary that you leave Ethete because certainly in the time that you’ve been there, in spite of the many good things that you’ve done, there have been far too many disturbances.”
Tim’s unusual style of writing letters, as mentioned previously, was a sore point with the Bishop in Wyoming:
When I say that I do not understand you, I’ll give you a couple of illustrations. Tim, from time to time you write me and send my letters in care of Mrs. Nancy Hunter. I never heard of anyone writing to a Bishop, or anyone as a matter of fact, and putting it in care of his wife. After all, I think as the Bishop, I’m well enough known just to have letters addressed direct to me. And then from time to time, you are so overly explicit in your letters. For example, in this letter that I’m answering right at the present time, you say, ‘The first of this week a telephone call from Laramie, your Episcopal Cathedral City…’, now why did you have to go to the length of telling me where my Episcopal Cathedral City is—I know where it is!
From time to time you’ll write about Henry Hutto, and you’ll say he’s the vicar of St. Thomas’, Dubois. If I don’t know where my men are, then no one knows. If you could only just learn Tim, to speak with more restraint, and also write with more restraint, then perhaps I wouldn’t be as puzzled as I am whenever I talk with you and whenever I hear from you.
With his ministry coming to an end in Wyoming, Tim planned a trip to the Olympic games in Rome. This was no ordinary family excursion. An article in the Lander paper described the proposed trip as follows:
Rev. Timothy Sullivan Taking 14 to Europe and to Olympics in Rome
Fourteen Fremount County residents, including four Arapahoe and one Shoshone Indian, will sail from New York in August to attend the Olympic games in Rome.
They are being taken by the Rev. Timothy Sullivan, who is leaving as rector at St. Michael’s Mission. He has bought the Dubois home of Dr. and Mrs. E.S. Bovenmyer and will live there until he goes to another church.
The travelers will sail in two parties, the first on August 13 and the second August 16. They will return to the United States late in September.
The trip has required considerable organization and planning.
The article continued at length to explain the itinerary, with details about side trips to Paris, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, and Sweden by some of the members of the party, and plans to return with three of Tim’s cousins from Sweden.
Ministry in British Honduras (1961)
In the spring of 1961 Tim became aware of an opportunity to serve in British Honduras. The Bishop of Wyoming evidently wrote a supportive letter to the Bishop of British Honduras and as a result Tim was licensed and granted authority to serve as Priest in charge of St. Peter’s, Orange Walk and St. Paul’s, Corozal in the Diocese of British Honduras on July 21, 1961.
Tim, Reinette, and Anna arrived in British Honduras in July along with Hurricane Anna (and left in November with Hurricane Hannah!) The rectory, church, and the school were located in Orange Walk and Tim bought a British-built Land Rover, complete with instructions and tools. (Upon leaving the country Tim gave the vehicle to the Bishop of Honduras which the Bishop used in Belize.) There was a slight problem with the Land Rover—every time there was a parade, which was often, the villagers wanted to borrow it.
There were two main schools in the country established by the Anglican Church which was black and the Roman Catholics who were Hispanics. Regular Sunday services were held in Orange Walk, and Corozal, but getting to Gallon Jug and Lemonal was more involved. Anna and Reinette went with Tim one time. They left by a river boat in late afternoon, traveled all night on board the boat, and arrived the next morning at a place where a small train met the boat and then they rode through a forest most of the day to Gallon Jug which was a mahogany lumber settlement run by the British. Church services were held in a big hall. The following day they left by train for the boat landing, and from there took a small boat (like a dory) through river and forest. Finally, they were met by a man with some mules which they rode the rest of the way to Lemonal.
Lemonal seemed like a small island with lots of trees—no cars— and plenty of chickens! Services were held in the school house which was built high off the ground. At one end was a small room with a single bed for the priest and by pushing some desks together Anna and Reinette made a bed for themselves. The school teacher provided the meals.
Anna was always a curiosity because of her blondness and braids, with rubber bands on the end to hold the braid together. The black children’s curly hair held in place with nothing to keep their braids from unraveling. On the way out of the village one of the women made them wait while she caught a white chicken and gave it to Anna. Living in British Honduras was very different and very interesting!
The Later Years (1962-1996)
Upon returning to California, Tim, Reinette and Anna went to Grass Valley and stayed until June 1962. In 1962 they returned to Bakersfield, and lived there ever since.
Retirement in Bakersfield at first involved some psychiatric treatment for Tim resulting in following a drug treatment program using Lithium, a commonly used anti-depressant. The roller coaster existence of a manic-depressive diagnosis was the condition under which Tim had lived for many years, resulting in a high-stress married life, strained and fractured friend and family relationships, and the confusion, worry or anxiety that were attendant at personal encounters with Tim. These conditions finally leveled out when he started a consistent drug treatment, and social interaction became more acceptable to everyone whose lives bore on his.
By his mid-seventies when travel was not available to him, Tim turned to food as a way to occupy his attention; in particular going to Dewars ice cream shop for a malted milk, his favorite food of all. At first he could walk there, but gradually obesity and a lame knee put a stop to that and he used cajolery of family and friends to bring him a malt occasionally.
Along with overeating, he took up writing in notebooks almost nonstop, and because by this time his reasoning capacity had failed considerably his writing was mostly unintelligible. In the psychiatric literature this was a disorder for which the name “epigraphy” had been attached.
Attendance at church services was another passion of Tim’s at this time. Tim’s father was a Catholic, and in the late 1960s Tim decided to also become Roman Catholic where he had been baptized as a baby. Tim attended St. Francis Catholic Church faithfully until his physical condition no longer permitted him to get in and out of the car.
Timothy Eugene John Sullivan, I lay my hands upon you in the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, beseeching him to uphold you and fill you with his grace, that you may know the healing po
The High School Years
While attending Kern County Union High School Tim began what plainly turned out to be a lifelong love of writing about any and all topics. Sending and receiving correspondence of the social kind was his passion, and he did not hesitate to read others’ personal mail if he could lay his hands on it. This “fault” of his became the cause of much distress on the part of his new “siblings” after his marriage to Reinette. This ardor for writing expressed itself in high school where he served as Editor of the school newspaper, the Blue & White , in 1934 and 1935. During this period the newspaper was acclaimed the best high school newspaper in the San Joaquin Valley. Tim was a member of the Press Club and played on the football team, the “Drillers”, who were county champs in 1934; his number was “48.” He graduated from high school on June 7, 1935.
The following year Tim attended the 1936 Olympics in Germany where he had the opportunity of seeing Jesse Owens’ outstanding performance, an accomplishment that confounded Adolph Hitler. Perhaps this experience of being a spectator at an international event explains why throughout his adult life Tim took a special interest in the Olympics and attended a number of these games.
Stanford University (1935-1938)
Entering Stanford University in the fall of 1935, he became a member of Delta Tau Delta. In the summer of 1936 Tim and a friend from Stanford made a bicycle tour of Europe, followed by a visit to relatives in Sweden. Gustof Dahllöf went to pick him up at Herrljunga Station but didn’t recognize him. “No one could travel all the way from the U.S. and not wear a hat!” Gustof said.
In the fall of 1936 Tim began a second year at Stanford, enrolling for independent study, but the strenous bike travel of the summer before had taken its toll on Tim’s energy and his health broke down causing him to spend about two years recovering at the Livermore Sanitarium. During the time he was a resident at Livermore Mr. Holmquist faithfully visited him every few weeks.
Out of the depths have I called to you, O LORD;
LORD, hear my voice; let your ears consider well the voice of my supplication.
If you, LORD were to note what is done amiss, O LORD who could stand?
For there is forgiveness with you; therefore you shall be feared.
I wait for the LORD; my soul waits for him; in his word is my hope.
My soul waits for the LORD, more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.
O Israel, wait for the LORD, for with the LORD there is mercy;
With him there is plenteous redemption, and he shall redeem Israel from all their sins.
The Psalter, 130
Marriage and the War Years (1939-1943)
In 1939 Tim returned to Bakersfield where he attended the First Baptist Church and began a courtship with Reinette Poteete. They became engaged in February of 1941 and were married on June 1, 1941. The wedding was held on Sunday at the First Baptist Church, the Rev. Burton C. Barrett officiating. Monteen was the matron-of-honor and Lt. George W. Holmquist was the best man. The reception was held at the Poteete home from where they left for a honeymoon in Hawaii for a month. They sailed on the Mattsonia.
Wilt thou take this woman to thy wedded wife, to live together after God’s ordinance in the holy estate of matrimony? Wilt thou love her, comfort her, honour, and keep her in sickness and in health; and forsaking all others, keep thee only unto her, so long as ye both shall live?
Solemnization of Matrimony
Book of Common Prayer, 1549
For this honeymoon trip they bought a movie camera with which they took much footage of hula dancing. So much so, that even the novelty of seeing “movies” of hula dancing in exotic Hawaii began to wear thin for the provincial Poteete family there in Riverview. The newlywed’s arrival home brought with it souvenirs unlimited consisting of hula skirts, leis, shell trinkets, and memorabilia of all kinds. Tim not only loved to travel, but he loved to buy souvenirs for friends and family back home.
Because of his mental history Tim was rejected by the draft so during 1941-44 he worked at The El Tejon garage. He had an aversion to things mechanical but there he had to learn to pump gas and hassle with gas rationing coupons. This building housing the garage was built by Tim’s father in 1926, as a Mormon car agency (Mormon meaning the name of a car), later becoming a parking garage for the Haberfelde Building and the El Tejon Hotel across the street. Tim also contributed to the war effort in his own way by bringing home for Sunday dinner after church men in attendance who were stationed at nearby Minter Field air base. From being an only child and an orphan as well, Tim had the heady experience of having married into a ready-made large family with lots of girls of marriageable age. This Poteete family consisted of uncomplex, straight forward and in many ways naïve people who were not schooled in the social graces nor did they have the tools for resolving social conflicts skillfully. Such a family had its code words and body language automatically in place and an outsider, as well as an only child who was as unrestrained as Tim, was ably personified in the saying of being a “loose cannon” in its midst.
Tim entered the family enthusiastically with his Irish charm and command of language and the family was like putty in his hands. It was as if another childhood began for Tim with teasing, control of comings and goings, lavishing clothes, cars and everything and dominating any family get-together with his choice of conversation and behavior.
Looking back at these times one can see that Tim had to be in control or things would go sour. The only person who on occasion would not be left sputtering with indignation was Mother Poteete who with lowered voice and carefully chosen words would make clear to Tim when he had overstepped his bounds.
To allay any wrong perceptions by the reader that Tim was only an irritant to the family, it needs to be emphatically stated that he was an enrichment to the family well beyond the material ways. Each person was impacted favorably and profoundly with lifetime benefits which mainly seem to be intangible.
Throughout his life Tim gave every person who got his attention a nickname with himself being the only person who did not have one, probably because he moved among friends who were not imaginative enough to give him one. Frequently the name he gave was a corruption of pronunciation of the name or usually something completely original but pertaining to a physical or character trait. Often the names were clever but many times they were painfully and accurately funny. “Squire” Poteete and O.P.L.A. were the names that stuck with Mother and Daddy throughout their lives. (Opla was Mother’s given name.)
In 1943 Tim and Reinette visited Mexico, one more of the many trips they would take together. This trip gave Tim an opportunity to indulge in his favorite pastime of writing cards and letters and buying foreign stamps. (During his younger adult years Tim collected volumes of stamps, amassing an impressive stamp collection.) Addressing and stamping the blank face of an envelope became an art form for Tim where he could get almost as much information on the front and back of the envelope as was in the contents of the letter. Again, armloads of souvenirs came back to Bakersfield in the form of jewelry, clothing, bric bracs, and trinkets.
University of Southern California (1944-1946)
Tim enrolled at USC in 1944 where he majored in journalism. As a sideline he recruited lots of young men as escorts for Ruth (unsolicited by Ruth!). From the USC yearbook this note is found: “Tim Sullivan, famed matchmaker.” This penchant for matchmaking quickly became one of the sources of friction between Tim and his new sisters, not to mention Mother Poteete. Pleas, tears, threats, and remonstrances of every kind fell on deaf ears with Tim as young men of all kinds were brought on to the scene. Mother Poteete was the only person before whom Tim’s willfulness would stop short, with this maternal interference sometimes resulting in a sullen retreat on Tim’s part for a while.
He was a member of the Roger Williams Club and Sigma Delta Chi (Professional Journalistic Fraternity). In 1945 Tim served in various positions on the Daily Trojan
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