Elizabeth Marie Aluia

It is with a heavy heart to announce that on March 19th, 2024, Elizabeth Marie Aluia, also known to her friends and colleagues as “Betty Sullivan”, passed on to her next journey, she was 92. Born in San Francisco on March 13th, 1932. Daughter to James and Margret Sullivan, sister to the late James Sullivan II, and sister to the late Honorable Judge Alan Haverty. She met Salvatore “Sam” Aluia in 1961, married and had one child, Christine Marie Aluia. The marriage was short lived, but not her ability to make it all happen. She was a woman of great strength and fortitude. Elizabeth started her career in the secretarial pool in early 1950’s at Fireman's Fund Ins. and worked her way up through the ranks of a male dominated arena to Systems Analyst, a job that she loved and enjoyed for 33 years. She had great respect for her job, and was always impeccably dressed for it. Woman’s skirt suit with matching shoes and accessories. Respect for who she was and for her career. Then after 33 years of dedication to the company, she was invited to the elite “Pioneers of Fireman's Fund” retiree’ yearly celebrations. She was one of very few woman invited to the clubs’ events. She enjoyed being a part of the company bowling league and an avid fan with season tickets to the 49ers football games. As a single, divorced mother in the late 60’s, women were not able to get a credit card in their own name, let alone get a bank loan to buy a first home without the co-signature of a man. She challenged the odds, and the male dominated banking world, and by 1970, got a loan from her bank to buy her first home. The loan, along with the deed to the house, had one signature, Elizabeth Marie Aluia. A huge accomplishment for any woman back then, especially for a divorced single mom. She was a pioneer extraordinaire. When Elizabeth retired, her desire was to see the world, and so she did. She cruised on the QE2 to New Zealand, yachted on the Imperial Russian waterways, cruised through the Panama Canal twice, cruised the Caribbean islands and bus toured the continental U.S. many times over. Her adventures also took her to Japan, Ireland, England, South America, Central America, Canada and the Amazon. Amazing adventures for an amazing woman. Elizabeth is survived by her daughter, Christine Aluia, and grandson Anthony Piro, whom she loved and adored. Also, her best friend of over 50 years, Carol Gabriel, whom she and I are most grateful for all her love and friendship. As her daughter, I am reminded of all the strengths and the life lessons she had to learn the hard way. Through her examples and experiences, I learned to be a strong, independent woman, and am grateful for her teachings. You are missed mama, aka. Grammy, but will never be forgotten.

Tributes

Elizabeth Marie Aluia

March 19, 2024