Sixty-four years after sailor Paul Patrick Sullivan was
lost at sea, new chapters in his story continue to be written.
Sullivan's tale is not simply a war story about an Akron man who left home to join the Navy and died when his submarine disappeared in World War II.
It is a ghost story, and a saga of love, loss and reunion.
Sullivan joined the Navy after graduating from Garfield High School in 1933.
In 1940, he married Norma Wolff, who grew up next door to him on Neptune Avenue in Firestone Park.
He became a pharmacist's mate 1st class.
On July 31, 1942, his submarine, the USS Grunion, disappeared off the coast of a Japanese-occupied island in the Aleutian chain of Alaska.
The sub had confronted a Japanese freighter before sinking, taking the Grunion's 69 crew members with it.
After Sullivan's death, a wooden sea trunk containing his personal belongings was shipped home to his parents, Basil and Florence Sullivan.
In 1969, when Patti and Fred Christ bought the old Sullivan home on Neptune, the empty sea trunk was still in the basement.
Over the years, Patti and other members of her family said they had seen the image of a man in their home, a man they believe to be the spirit of Paul Sullivan, who died at 27.
The first time Patti Christ saw him, she was sleeping on a couch. She said she saw Sullivan on a love seat.
She said she has seen a full-size body image of Sullivan once and other times has seen only his legs.
When her daughter was in high school, she confessed to her mother that she had seen something when she was a child.
``I want to know if anybody else has seen this besides me so I know I'm not crazy,'' she told her mother.
In the early 1990s, she said, her grandson said he saw a man in the house who called him by his name.
After talking to neighbors, Christ, 59, who is retired from a trucking company, learned that Paul Sullivan had lived in the house and had died on the Grunion during World War II.
She said her family was never afraid of the man they often saw, and in fact welcomed him into their home.
When Dawn Kmet, now 36, Christ's daughter, was a teenager, she said everybody who knew her family knew that the spirit of Sullivan was always present in their home.
One time, she said, she and her boyfriend even set up a video camera in the house in hopes of taping an image of the lost sailor.
Not knowing who lived in the Sullivan house on Neptune Avenue, Linda Sullivan of Castro Valley, Calif., the niece of Paul Sullivan, sent a letter to the home four years ago. She wrote that she and her father, Stanley Sullivan, and brother Arno and sister Kathy Nichols were coming to Akron and would like to see the house again.
Linda Sullivan and her family moved from Akron to California in 1961.
When the Sullivans arrived at their old family home on Neptune that year, they rang the doorbell and Christ answered.
They hit it off immediately.
Christ told them that she and her family felt they knew Paul.
While walking through the basement, the Sullivan clan spotted the sea trunk.
Christ described the Paul Sullivan she and her family had gotten to know to his family.
``What amazed my Dad was she was right on with his personality,'' Linda Sullivan said. ``She described how he looked and what he was about with no picture.''
Christ and Linda Sullivan became friends and often spoke or wrote e-mails to each other.
Stanley Sullivan, 79, now retired from the U.S. Postal Service and American Can Co., said he was 12 years younger than Paul.
Stanley had polio as a child and Paul helped him deal with the disease. Paul often would put him in a wagon and pull him around the neighborhood.
Search for sub
In late August, the Sullivans heard the news.
A large underwater mass believed to be the Grunion was found by an expedition led by Bruce, Brad and John Abele, the sons of Mannert L. Abele, commander of the submarine.
Bruce Abele, 76, of Newtonville, Mass., the oldest son, said the group, using side sonar, detected an underwater image that is clearly not a land mass.
He said the length and breadth of the image are consistent with what would be expected from the Grunion and the location is in the area where they figured the submarine would be.
He also said there is no evidence of other subs being sunk anywhere close.
``It's very encouraging,'' he said.
He said the group would likely go back to the spot next summer to attempt to get a better view of what he believes is his father's submarine.
When word spread that the submarine may have been found, the Sullivans and Christs were elated.
Linda Sullivan said the expected discovery of the Grunion ``doesn't take the pain of losing someone special away,'' but does bring some closure for the family.
She said it brings the family ``a step closer to what happened'' and that can bring some relief.
Her father said he is ``grateful'' that the sub may have been found, and said there now can be ``peace and closure.''
In the backyard of Christ's house is a piece of a maple tree that was cut down several years ago.
The tree was the one planted in Sullivan's memory by his mother after he was killed.
``It feels like he is a member of the family,'' she said.
Trunk to stay
She said anytime the Sullivans want the trunk back, she would be happy to let them have it.
And Linda Sullivan said the family would like the trunk back some day, knowing that Patti Christ would give it back to the family ``in a heartbeat.''
She said she believes the trunk is where Paul wants it to be.
For now, the trunk will remain in the house on Neptune.
Linda Sullivan said she regrets she never knew her uncle.
The Sullivans will visit Akron in mid-October and once again will stop by the Neptune Avenue home to visit the Christs.
That the Christs have gotten to know Paul Sullivan, she said, is comforting.
``I have always believed that there is something to the other side,'' she said. ``It is not anything to fear.''
And Dawn Kmet said she feels her family's home on Neptune has in a way been ``heaven'' for Paul Sullivan, the sailor who died seven decades ago.
``To us, he is someone we care about,'' she said.
``We love his family. We want him to be found.''
For more on the search for the USS Grunion, go to www.ussgrunion.com.
http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/15441 ... =ohio_news
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