EVERETT – A library security guard relied on Jerry Sullenberger as an extra pair of eyes to deter vandals and thieves. On Everett’s streets, some homeless people viewed him as a gentleman who would give them blankets. A cashier at McDonald’s felt safer because Sullenberger insisted on walking her to work.
Sullenberger was also homeless, with barely enough to survive. But friends knew him as a man who did what he could to help others.
Sullenberger died the night of Dec. 9 after he fell on the sidewalk in the 2000 block of Hoyt Avenue, striking his head. Sullenberger had an alcohol problem and had been drinking earlier that night, friends said. He was 54.
The cremated remains of the Vietnam veteran were interred Jan. 12 without a ceremony at Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent.
Matthew Geraghty, 45, remembered Sullenberger as someone who thought of others before himself.
“He was a kind, gentle person, very sharing,” said Lori Cain, 46, who stood with Geraghty outside Word of Truth Christian Church, 2822 Hoyt Ave., before a recent weekly dinner for the homeless. Sullenberger sometimes handed out chocolate, coats, shoes and blankets that others would give him, they said.
Another friend, Eva La Strange, 67, of Snohomish said she suggested Sullenberger apply for veterans benefits. Sullenberger was too proud to accept the help, she said.
Shirley Austin, 49, who helps run a weekly dinner in downtown Everett for Gospel Outreach Northwest, said Sullenberger insisted on carrying out the garbage for her.
“He was so chivalrous,” she said. “He never allowed me to lift anything. And he wouldn’t allow anyone to curse in front of me.”
When Sullenberger wasn’t alerting downtown library guard Pete Gessell to problem patrons, he was reading in a cushioned chair in a corner of the second floor, Gessell recalled.
Terry Dahlin 48, a cashier at McDonald’s, 2001 Everett Ave., served Sullenberger coffee each morning. Several months ago, she trusted him enough to invite him to sleep on her couch.
He watched her dog when she was at work. When Dahlin was recovering at home from a fall, Sullenberger “waited on me hand and foot.” He walked her to work each morning despite her insistence that it wasn’t necessary.
Sullenberger got by on money he earned from temporary landscaping and construction jobs. He was frustrated that he couldn’t find full-time work, Dahlin said.
“People stereotype homeless people,” she said. “People classify them as a bunch of drunks and say, ‘Go get a job.’ But there are people like Jerry who help other people and try to get out of where they’re at. He taught me to understand homeless people and give them a chance.”
Sullenberger had a troubled childhood while growing up in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma, said his brother, Jeffrey Sullenberger, 52, of Fort Worth, Texas.
The boys’ parents divorced when Jerry was 9, his brother recalled. Their father would sometimes physically abuse Jerry. He placed his children in an orphanage before he moved to Memphis, where he was murdered.
But what really scarred Jerry Sullenberger was the post-traumatic stress disorder he suffered after serving in Vietnam, his brother said. He started getting into fights, began drinking heavily and started stealing from family members. The two brothers became estranged in the early 1980s and never saw each other again.
Jeffrey Sullenberger plans to go to Kent one day.
“I’d like to talk with him for a minute,” he said. “I think he deserves it. Not so much that he deserves to see me, but everybody needs someone to pray over him.”
Reporter David Olson: 425-339-3452 or dolson@heraldnet.com.
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