The Spanish flu epidemic ended the life of a former Pajaro Valley orphan.

Thomas J. Sullivan was born about 1889 in Salinas; however, because of the absence of his parents he and his brothers James, Edward and Michael were raised and educated in the Pajaro Valley Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum. When he reached adulthood, he was released from the orphanage and worked for a number of years at the Z. A. Hughes ranch in the Pajaro Valley. Later he moved to the Sacramento Valley where he resided prior to World War I.

Sullivan registered for the draft in Sacramento in June 1917. In August 1918 he had relocated to San Francisco where he was inducted. Sullivan was sent to Camp Lewis, Washington, for his basic training and where, during the month of September, he contracted influenza. He remained hospitalized at the Washington facility until his death on September 23, 1918.

His remains were returned to California and were interred in the San Francisco National Cemetery in the Presidio.

(CAG; USCR, 1910 US Census, CA, Monterey; USDVA; WRP September 24, 1918 6:3)