Paul Joseph Sullivan of Wendell MA, age 78, passed away peacefully on October 2, 2025 shortly after a diagnosis of congestive heart failure. He was born in Dorchester MA, the son of Paul J Sullivan and Katherine P Buckley Sullivan, and attended St Peter’s School and Boston College High School. He received a degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1968 and then married Christine Anne Pelzarski. Shortly afterward they set out on a cross-country journey to San Francisco, where their daughter Julia was born, and the family lived there for a few years. The emerging folk singers of the day captivated him and he taught himself to play the guitar. After his return to Massachusetts, Paul began thinking about building a house in the Pioneer Valley with which he had fallen in love in his college days. He began looking for his dream location, as different from urban Dorchester as possible, and found it in 7 acres of virgin woodland with a stream in the little town of Wendell. Over the next few years Paul drafted plans for a cozy 2-bedroom house and ultimately built the house by himself as a self-taught general contractor. In the pioneer spirit he hauled water from a nearby spring and spit kindling for his wood stove while living in the house under construction. In his spare time he played the guitar and loved hiking and birdwatching.

Although mostly content to be at home, Paul broke the tradition a few times and traveled internationally. Most memorably, in 2002 he went with a group of cousins to the hometowns of their maternal grandparents near Killarney in County Kerry, Ireland. Most of Paul’s formal career was spent with the Massachusetts Highway Department’s Northampton District, where he supervised reconstruction and maintenance of bridges on State Route 2. After retirement Paul pursued another dream, to find an oceanfront cottage on the coast of Maine, which reminded him of his beloved childhood summers in Situate, MA. This he found in 2008, again in a small town, Steuben ME. He thoroughly enjoyed the summers there, walking the beach and wooded trails, watching the gulls from his deck, and socializing with his wonderful neighbors. Paul leaves his daughter Julia Sullivan Flannery and grandson Connor Jackson Flannery (deceased husband and father, Massachusetts Superior Court Justice, Francis Emmett Flannery), both of Holyoke MA, his sister Katherine Sullivan Ryan (deceased husband John F Ryan) of Medford MA, and several nieces, nephews, grandnieces, and grandnephews.

Funeral services will be private. A small family gathering will be planned in the coming months.