Ivy Walbrook Sully, formerly of New York City and a resident of Fairview died Tuesday morning. She was 93.
Mrs. Sully was born in England on September 13, 1909, the daughter of William and Alicia Robinson Walbrook. Prior to her family’s emigration to the United States in 1924, they lived in the section of the city that housed “seafaring men,” her father being a Merchant Marine who later served in World War I.
Although very young at the time, Mrs. Sully could recall the excitement her family shared with their neighbors the day her playmate’s father next door left as part of the crew aboard the largest, most advanced ship of its day, considered unsinkable by its builders. “But he never came back,” her voice still echoing grief so many years later. He perished on the doomed maiden voyage of the Titantic in 1912.
Talented in pottery design and decoration, she was employed at Artistic China Manufacturers in New York, and later was housekeeping supervisor at the Endicott Hotel on Central Park West. Always committed to senior citizens, Mrs. Sully served as a volunteer in the Senior Outreach program at the Riverside Church in Manhattan.
Mrs. Sully married Jackson G. Sully in 1947 and the couple had one daughter, Janice Ann. He died in 1971. She later moved to Groton’s Fellowship Manor after the marriage of her daughter to Lawrence E. Wilson III of Stonington.
In addition to her daughter and son-in-law, she is survived by her grandchildren, Jillian Gloria, and Lawrence E. IV, and several nieces and nephews.
She is predeceased by her sister, Stella, who died of tuberculosis in 1937 at the age of 21, and her brother Rev. Reynold L. Walbrook who died in 1989 at the age of 95.
The family will greet relatives and friends at The Dinoto Funeral Home, 17 Pearl Street, Historic downtown Mystic on Thursday from 6:30-8pm. Her funeral service will be conducted on Friday at 11am at the funeral home. Burial will be in Elm Grove Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Fairview Nursing Home, Lestertown Rd., Groton CT 06340 or the Groton Senior Center, North Rd., Groton.