Coun. Ron 'Sully' O'Sullivan passed away May 27, 2016.
Image Credit: Contributed
May 30, 2016 - 4:30 PM
VERNON - A longtime Armstrong city councillor will be remembered for his dedication to the community, heart of gold and good old Irish candour.
Coun. Ron O’Sullivan, better known as Sully, died Friday, May 27 at the age of 79.
A truck driver in Richmond for most of his life, Sully and his wife Barb moved to Armstrong 19 years ago and it wasn’t long before he was elected to council, Mayor Chris Pieper says. Sully was first elected in 1999, and was re-elected every term after that.
“What everybody is going to remember Sully for is his absolute dedication to making Armstrong a better place to live. He worked for that every day,” Pieper says.
Earlier on the day he died, Sully had attended a council meeting and stopped by the curling rink, of which he is the association’s president.
“It was just such a shock,” Pieper says. “He had a few health issues like all senior people do, but he would never let his health issues slow him down as far as being involved in the community. He never stopped.”
During his time on council, Sully served on every committee and was deeply involved in parks and recreation. He advocated for a new arena and a new pool, both of which were realized during his time in office.
“As a player in his early years he was involved in every sport possible — baseball, softball, lacrosse. Later on in his years he was coaching them all. He was just possessed by sports,” Pieper says.
Sully was known to show his Irish side every once in a while, and while he never made long speeches at council, Pieper says "he never left anybody with any doubt of what was on his mind."
“He had a heart of gold. He was just Sully. They broke the mould when they made him,” he says.
A celebration of life will be held Saturday, June 4 at 1 p.m. at the Armstrong curling rink. In lieu of flowers, people are asked to made a donation to the Armstrong Curling Club or the charity of their choice. The service is open to the community.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston or call 250-309-5230 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.
News from © iNFOnews, 2016