Tom Sullivan

Tom Sullivan, family man, business man, Irish man and resident of Garden County for 99 years, left this world peacefully just before 5 a.m. on Tuesday September 29, 2026. He died at the Knolls assisted living apartments in Lincoln, Nebraska, where he had moved to be with his wife of 76 years, Shirley. He had a wealth of family–seven children, more than 20 grandchildren and great grandchildren, and scores of cousins, nephews, and nieces. His final years were filled with music, friends, family, old stories, and thousands of jokes.

But Tom’s heart was always in Garden County: Until the very end, he talked about living out his last days in Oshkosh. Even though that dream did not come true, so many others did . . .

As a young man Tom lived on a farm on the South Table with his parents and six siblings. After his mother Mayme died and his father Ed moved to Oshkosh, Tom ran the farm for a few years before selling out and going to work for the CONOCO Oil Company, delivering heating oil far and wide, including in weather so cold that he had to re-heat his hands several times just fill his truck with oil. He met the most important person in his life, Shirley Wyatt, at a dance Broadwater. Shirley had come with someone else, but Tom caught her attention, she said, because he was the only boy there who didn’t seem to be begging for attention. When Tom was just 21 and Shirley just 17 they got married.

Their first home was a drafty old country house ten miles north of Oshkosh, and miles from the closest neighbors. It was powered only by a windmill connected to a battery in the attic. Some nights, when the wind stopped blowing, the heater would begin to fail and the lights would dim. Tom and Shirley’s first child, Mike, was born into that house.

One day, Tom tied a broken water heater to the back of the oil truck, and took it to town to repair and sell. Something clicked, and the dream of owning his own business was born. In 1960, while still working for CONOCO, he borrowed money from his father to buy a building on Main Street, along with the used furniture and cream processing businesses it had housed. By that point Shirley had tired of life in the country, in that house she found so lonely and spooky when Tom was away.

The young couple moved to Oshkosh, and they were blessed with more children–John, Nancy, and Bill. But as the family grew, expenses rose, and Tom was under constant pressure to increase his income and make precious dollars last longer. Splitting his time between delivering heating oil and running his own business wasn’t working, so he made one of the hardest decisions of his life. He quit his CONOCO Oil job, with the little financial stability it provided, and bet everything on his little business on Main Street.

The ensuing years were full of exhilaration, fear, and very little money. The cream business was less than lucrative (and not much fun), but the used furniture business showed promise, gradually growing larger and more profitable.

Thank goodness, because the children kept coming–David in 1962, Mark in 1967, and Kate in 1969. In 1970 an opportunity to buy the building directly across Main Street led to the opening of a new furniture store, Tom’s Furniture. The new furniture business expanded into carpet and linoleum, then window coverings, and even gifts. During the 1970s he launched yet another business, Tom’s Auction Service. Tom was working long hours, but things were picking up. In 1971 the Sullivan clan moved into a larger home with a spacious yard on the north edge of Oshkosh. They would stay there for 55 years.

By the 1980s, Tom had become a leader in the community, along with his good friends Jack Nerud, Glen McCormick, and Bill Olson. He served on the City Council, the Chamber of Commerce, the Volunteer Fire Department and was president of the Country Club for a time. He got his realtors license and began selling houses and land in partnership with King Rhiley Realty. He bought, managed, and rented rental houses around town.

The Church was always his anchor. He looked forward to Sunday mornings when he would attend mass, visibly happy and at peace, surrounded by his family. He loved and needed the community he found with his fellow parishioners at the Catholic Church.

As Tom and Shirley aged, they spent more time mentoring younger people. Tom advised numerous people who were trying to grow businesses in and around Oshkosh, and both he and Shirley were active in TeamMates of Garden County, through which they “adopted” and mentored a number of local kids. They sponsored numerous people seeking confirmation to the church. The impulse to help was seated deep in Tom’s DNA: As a farm boy during the Great Depression he carried food and clothing out to desperate people passing by on the road headed somewhere West, and he never forgot it.

He also never forgot farming. During the 1990s he bought a small farm just outside of Oshkosh with a modest parcel of land around it. He loved that plot of land, and began planting rye in it. With the help of some contract farmers he planted and harvested his crop, then sold the bales of rye to local cattle growers. He grew to love that field. He put a chair at one corner of it where he could sit in the shade and watch the small winds ruffle the surface of the rye.

With their health declining, Tom and Shirley left Oshkosh for good in July of 2025 and moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, eventually entering an assisted living facility. At the end of September Tom took ill. He began to experience nausea and stayed in bed all day September 28th, but he was still bright, aware, and pleasant. In the early morning hours of September 29th his illness intensified, and his heart rate slowed. Even in his last hour he was in motion, his legs moving in his bed, as if walking. The hospice nurse asked him where he was trying to go, to which he said “home.” His body then settled and his breathing slowed, and he slipped away.

Memorial gifts will be donated to TeamMates of Garden County and The Oshkosh Creative District 77.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:00am Friday, October 30, 2026 at St. Elizabeth's Catholic Church in Oshkosh with Father Joe Hannappel officiating. Burial will follow in the St. Elizabeth's Catholic Cemetery. A time for lunch, music and memories will follow the burial.

A rosary and prayer service will be held at 7:00 pm Thursday evening at the church with the family greeting friends beginning at 6:00 pm.

Holechek-Bondegard Funeral Home and Cremations in Oshkosh is serving the Sullivan family.

Family and friends can leave condolences at www.bondegardfunerals.com.